Her Story
About Zehava
Zehava Vardy serves as Senior Director of Engineering, bringing more than 30 years of experience in software technology. She specializes in building mission-critical infrastructure and platforms spanning multi-cloud, data center, and on-prem environments, with deep expertise in Kubernetes, security, networking, storage, developer productivity, and FinOps. Vardy earned a degree in computer science and math from Tel Aviv University, a master's degree in business, and pursued additional education at Stanford focused on digital transformation, M&A, and AI. Throughout her career at organizations such as EMC, VMware, and Autodesk, she has delivered substantial business results, including a platform that generated $2 billion in value, a platform that drove 5X business growth, and initiatives that reduced costs by $10 million. She leads teams of approximately 250 people, emphasizing strategy, architecture, delivery, and a growth mindset. Vardy is committed to fostering diversity in technology, particularly increasing representation of women in platform and infrastructure roles, and she actively mentors others while volunteering in her community near Moss Beach, California.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Zehava
01What do you attribute your success to?
My DNA. I was growing for a family of five. I was the oldest one, and my father always believed that men's are better than women, so I wanted to show the opposite.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Listen to your own voice, and be fearless to accomplish what you want. There will always be people telling you that you cannot do one or two or three.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Do what you like to do. Ask yourself what you like doing, and if you like technology, you'll find a way to do it with technology. Things may shift with AI but I'm still optimistic. Believe in manifestation and your dreams.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
AI is both challenge and opportunity - building infrastructure to support AI workloads, cost per token, acceleration. Also, lack of diversity with mostly men in platform infrastructure; need more women and diversity.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being honest, respect to each other, integrity. In work: customer focus, sense of urgency, growth mindset. Failure is part of the learning.
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