Jiun Kim is Helping Customers Find Their Perfect Listen

Jiun Kim is driven by two goals: exploring the exciting potential of data and helping as many people as possible. She achieves both of those things at Audible, where she leads our product data science team in optimizing our content discoverability, connecting millions of people with the education and entertainment they’re looking for.

Kim first developed her passion for using big data to make a positive difference when she was a statistician at the United Nations. “I saw the potential in big data that was booming,” she says. “I thought, ‘I want that sort of skillset: how to handle enormous amounts of data to make meaningful decisions.’” She returned to school to earn a master’s degree and further develop her expertise.

After graduating, Kim joined Audible in order to use her data science skills in an innovative environment where the focus is on making the best possible customer experience. Audible’s relationship with Amazon means Kim and her team are able to harness market-leading tools and datasets while benefiting from the employee experience made possible by Audible’s distinctive culture. “To be able to employ cutting-edge machine learning technology with a mission is really unique,” she says. “It’s a playground for us!” Such advanced data technology provides Kim’s team with a range of insights about users and content, allowing them to explore ideas and develop more creative solutions than they might otherwise. “Every day is a pretty unique opportunity; it doesn't happen everywhere,” she says.

Underscoring Kim’s work is our principle of Customer Obsession. She’s focused entirely on the user, on improving their experience and delighting them in ways they may not expect. As her team develops better data tools and solutions, they learn more about users, and the more they learn about users, the better the tools they can build for them. For Kim, it’s about connecting people with optimal content, and doing it faster. “Impacting millions of customers every day—it's a meaningful and inspiring mission; to enrich customers’ lives with education, entertainment, and information.”

Her dedication to making a positive impact is shared across Audible, and Kim is grateful to be part of a company defined by its People Principles. She points to Newark Working Kitchens (NWK), which has helped keep local restaurants in business during Covid-19 by activating them to provide nutritious meals to low-income seniors and families in the community, as “an example of what our company can do.” She adds, “Helping people has always been in my heart, so this kind of project makes really proud to be part of Audible.”

Kim’s Current Listen: Kim recommends A Promised Land, written and narrated by Barack Obama, as a morale booster to get through difficult times. “The fact that Obama is actually narrating it and talking about his own life journey and story is really intimate and inspirational.”