Influential Woman · Healthcare Technology

Maya Najarian

Director, Data Science Engineering, Turquoise Health

Zephyr Cove, NV

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's degree in Physics and Computer Science Degree Master's degree in Computer Science

Her Story

About Maya

I manage a team and that's probably the first and foremost thing that I care about from a perspective of making sure my team is happy, satisfied, and challenged. I do a lot to give them independence and make sure they are working on the highest impact projects and are unblocked. At a leadership level, I'm involved in really anything data-related at the company, so I work cross-functionally with software engineering managers, engineering leadership, and product managers to make sure that the data solutions we're building are of high impact and high quality. I'm doing less hands-on coding nowadays, but I make sure that the goals our leadership team has set forward, we're actually executing on. What I really like about the field is I get to do problem solving on a daily basis with a very real-world application. I have the ability to have a fairly big impact, and that's the thing that has drawn me to data science and engineering as a whole.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Maya

01What do you attribute your success to?

I attribute my success to making sure I am working on the highest impact things. I move fairly quickly and share feedback or ask for feedback sooner rather than later. I'm very open and transparent about the work that I'm doing, where I am along the process, and I ask for feedback earlier on in the process. I think one of the things I attribute to my success is I really like the ability to talk to people. As an engineer, and particularly as a woman in engineering, it's pretty rare to have folks that can talk to customers and work cross-functionally with other teams. Especially in a remote world, I've really owned the ability to get things done with other teams and been able to enjoy that collaboration.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say talk to people and figure out what kind of work you want to be doing. I think that's really important from a communication perspective. One of the things that I attribute to my success is I really like the ability to talk to people. As an engineer, and particularly as a woman in engineering, it's pretty rare to have folks that can talk to customers and work cross-functionally with other teams. Especially in a remote world, I've really owned the ability to get things done with other teams and been able to enjoy that collaboration. So I'd say pursue the thing that you're interested in, but really focus on communication.

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think both a challenge and an opportunity is probably the use of AI. I think data science and folks that can really talk to customers and are really fluent in data is still going to be a valuable asset. I think we'll have to change a little bit how we have traditionally gone about our work, given that AI can get us, let's say, 75% of the way there. So I think the challenge is figuring out where there's still value in having an analytics human or a human who has skills in analytics and data thinking coupled with AI.

04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

From a work perspective, the first value is making sure the work that my team and I are doing is really tied to impact and understanding that impact. I think when you don't see that, it's really hard and you're probably not working on the highest leverage thing. That's really important. I'd also say honest communication is important, being straightforward with people on what they're really excelling at and what I need them to do more of. I think that's something that I very much value from a management perspective too.

Keep Exploring