Join the businesses who have begun to edge out competitors by scouring the web for alternative data.

Peloton puts exercise equipment into the living rooms and bedrooms of customers who sign up for the company's streaming fitness content. But if the delivery and installation experience isn't a great one, customers' brand perception can sour quickly - and publicly.

Peloton has used delivery logistics and last-mile partners to get its bikes and treadmills into customers' homes. But as the company scales out and ultimately goes public, new hiring data appears to indicate plans to bring the delivery and install experience in-house.

Here's how we know:

We noticed a massive spike in hiring at the company in the past week, with job openings moving from 300 to 393 — a company high — seemingly overnight. That's notable, but we then had to ask: who are those 93 new employees the company is bringing on board?

It turns out that a major reason for that spike is due to a new job category listed — and populated — on Peloton's careers site. It's called "Field Operations", and virtually overnight, it's become the most in-demand job category at Peloton.

The new category includes a refreshed search for "Brand Ambassadors" who will ride along with Peloton delivery professionals in a "Peloton branded 3.5t Mercedes sprinter van". The energized search and new division appears to be part of a move by Peloton to build up, scale, and own its delivery and last-mile operations.

On August 1, Peloton posted 153 job openings for the new category. Titles include "Warehouse Associate", "Field Specialist", the aforementioned "Brand Ambassador", and more. The jobs are located virtually everywhere, in a signal that Peloton's plans to handle last-mile itself are exhaustive.

In fact, they're spread across 37 cities across the United States, Canada, and UK.

The most in-demand jobs are for "Tread Specialists" and "Field Specialists" followed by "Seasonal Field Assistants".

Title Title (Count) Tread Specialist 25 Field Specialist 24 Seasonal Field Assistant 20 Seasonal Warehouse Associate 19 Seasonal Tread Assistant 18 Warehouse Associate 18 Field Operations Supervisor 6 Field Operations Manager 5 Inventory Specialist 5 Brand Ambassador 2 Refurb Technician 2 Field Operations Manager 1 Manager, Reverse Logistics (Repair and Refurb) 1 Operations Manager (NPI) 1 Strategic Sourcing Manager – Mechanical (California) 1 Strategic Sourcing Manager- Accessories 1 Strategic Sourcing Manager- Electromechanical 1 Sustaining Operations Manager 1 Warehouse Manager 1 Warehouse Supervisor 1

The in-demand "Field Specialist" positions will "deliver and assemble Peloton products and accessories in members [sic] homes" as well as educate new customers on setup, features, and esage. They will also perform in-home product repairs and maintenance.

This isn't the first time that Peloton has hired Field Specialists, to be clear. But those were largely part of Peloton's Operations & Logistics team and have never been split out into their own category until August 1. This new categorization, combined with the aforementioned hiring spree for the category, certainly indicates the company is looking to bring its first (and, in many cases, only) real-world touchpoint with customers in-house.

According to a source close to Peloton, this is all just part of a seasonal hiring trend leading into the busy holiday season and they plan continue to work with their current logistics and last-mile partners.

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.

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