Aubrey Blanche, who helped create Atlassian's great workplace vibe, has signed on with Culture Amp

Melbourne unicorn Culture Amp, the workplace HR and employee engagement startup has made a key hire to drive its own workplace vibe and apps, luring Atlassian’s long-term global head of diversity and belonging, Aubrey Blanche, to join the business.

Blanche signs on as Culture Amp’s Global Head of Equitable Design & Impact after six years with Atlassian, where she championed inclusion and diversity as the tech giant went through exponential growth.

Culture Amp now has more than 400 employees across offices in Melbourne (HQ), San Francisco, New York and London. The company hit unicorn status last year after a $120 million series E raise last September, the company counts the Altassian co-founders among its investors Mike Cannon-Brookes via Grok Ventures, and Scott Farquhar via Skip Capital, the fund his wife Kim Jackson runs.

Blanche will be based in San Francisco, working with the leadership team to identify how Culture Amp can create a more inclusive experience for its employees and a global customer base of more than 2,600 companies.

Culture Amp co-founder and CEO Didier Elzinga said he was “incredibly excited” Blanche was joining the business.

“Aubrey will not only help Culture Amp continue to hold itself accountable for growing and learning in the field of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)- but will help Culture Amp contribute to the broader DEI dialogue and provide direct, and effective, tools and data to our customers and our community as a whole,” he said.

Blanche praised Culture Amp’s leadership’s “visionary” belief that business can be done differently.

“I believe their products directly enable the outcomes I’m most passionate about,” she said.

“We know that equitable workplaces are happier, more innovative, and more financially sustainable. For too long, businesses have chosen to tolerate culture that doesn’t work for everyone, and while that’s never been acceptable, employee and consumer expectations are changing.

“It’s possible to design workplaces that help people be the best versions of themselves and do the right thing, which is going to be a business advantage as we move into the future of work.”

Blanche said she was “born into circumstances that made the opportunities I’ve been given an anomaly”, which drives her passion for inclusion and opportunity.

“I can’t think of a better thing to do with those opportunities than make sure that people–regardless of their background and life experiences–are given the opportunities they deserve to reach their potential,” she said.