Ring, 'smart doorbell' company, plans to hire 200 at new Scottsdale office

“Caller ID for your front door.”

That’s how Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff describes his company’s flagship product.

The self-described “smart doorbell” has an HD camera, microphone, and speaker so you can see, hear and speak to anyone at your door via your smartphone or tablet. The $199 device also includes a motion detector so it can automatically alert you to those on your property. And because everything’s communicated through your Wi-Fi network, the device doesn’t need an existing doorbell system to function.

Siminoff said the company’s rapid growth has demanded more than the current 45-person customer experience team could handle, but it couldn’t hire customer-service reps quickly enough in Santa Monica, where Ring is headquartered. Ring began searching for new locations until it ultimately settled on Scottsdale, where it plans to open a technical and customer-support center and hire 200 new customer-service representatives over the coming months.

The CEO said the close proximity, educated work force and general happiness of the people he met all factored into the decision to open an office in the Phoenix area.

“We want our customers to have a great experience, and that starts with having someone who, you know, is a happy person,” Siminoff said.

Expanding the customer-experience team was the main objective, but Siminoff said the company has received numerous resumes from computer engineers looking to work in the area. Engineering and customer-service teams work together in the Santa Monica office, and Siminoff would like to do the same in Arizona.

“If engineers are out there that want to work in this (area) and companies like ours, I mean we're happy to hire engineers here and have them in our office here.”

Siminoff said he came up with the idea about four years ago in his garage. The inventor spent his days building things in his garage, but grew annoyed when he couldn’t hear the doorbell. So, he built a Wi-Fi doorbell that eventually became the flagship product of his growing company.

He said Ring’s mission is to reduce crime in communities. A smart device doesn’t need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the doorbell, meaning owners can see and speak with whoever’s at their door as long as there’s an Internet connection. Owners can also pay a three dollar monthly fee or $30 annually to store videos on Ring’s cloud network for up to six months.

Siminoff said the company will hire new customer-service reps in weekly chunks and raise or lower the number of hires depending on how smooth the process is. His goal is to reach 200 new hires within six months.