Laureli Mallek
Lead with Confidence based in Experience, Data, and Research
Studied at Northwestern University
Works at Postman
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
Laureli's Offerings
Custom hourly · $100/hr
Laureli also coaches for Project Management, Career Coaching, Product Operations, and Break Into AI Careers. View all.
Laureli’s Leadership Coaching Qualifications
Coaches professionally
Experience level: Manager
With a robust background in team effectiveness, organizational development, and working hands on with teams at al levels to drive change, I draw from all of my experiences. I've partnered with leaders to help them develop the skills needed to succeed at the next level, design and implement programs to achieve previously impossible goals (for individuals and groups), and as a thought partner to confront problems that resist resolution. This coaching succeeds because we work together to understand what is actually holding you back at this instant using a combination of design thinking, co-active coaching techniques, and strategic problem solving methodologies. In addition to years of professional experience, I completed a year long leadership and change coaching certificate at Northwestern University as part of my MS in Learning & Organizational Change. Let's work together to unlock your leadership potential and drive impactful change in your organization. Reach out to start your journey!
Laureli also coaches for Project Management, Career Coaching, Product Operations, and Break Into AI Careers. View all.
About Laureli
I offer a perspective shaped by over a decade navigating the dynamic and often complex environment of technology companies. My career has touched upon many key areas, including Product, Engineering, Security, and Privacy. This diverse exposure has given me a comprehensive understanding of the internal mechanics, common challenges, and opportunities that exist at various levels of a tech organization. This multi-faceted background helps me identify the root causes of systemic issues and professional roadblocks that individuals and teams commonly face, allowing me to provide strategic guidance that goes beyond simple, surface-level advice. What I believe makes my approach to coaching particularly effective is the blend of this real-world experience with a strong commitment to learning and theory. My Master's in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University equipped me with knowledge of proven development frameworks and organizational effectiveness strategies. My legal background also contributes to my ability to help leaders think through issues of compliance, risk, and structured problem-solving—a necessity in today's high-stakes business environment. This combination of practical experience, academic insight, and analytical rigor ensures that the support I offer is not just motivating, but also grounded, strategic, and focused on helping clients achieve tangible progress. As your coach, I aim to be a dedicated thought partner. I draw upon my experiences—from helping teams redefine their approach to work to building new security programs—to assist you in clarifying your objectives and developing a practical plan. My commitment is to help you examine your assumptions, recognize patterns in your responses, and discover the most effective next steps for your professional journey. I am here to support clients in overcoming obstacles to growth, enhancing team performance, and refining their problem-solving skills, ultimately helping them gain the necessary clarity to lead effectively and with greater resilience.
Why do I coach?
I am driven to coach and advise because I believe in the transformative power of unlocking potential within individuals and organizations. Having spent over a decade navigating the complexities of product, engineering, security, and privacy in high-growth technology companies, I've witnessed firsthand how deep self-awareness and strategic choices made by individuals can be the ultimate accelerators for success. My unique palette of experience (delivering products, overhauling company-wide approaches, and leading major transitions) is directly leveraged to craft essential, tailored interventions for my clients. My commitment to coaching is rooted in a desire to empower others to drive their own outcomes. The satisfaction comes from partnering with leaders, from C-suite executives to team managers, as they investigate their assumptions, identify default responses, and co-create breakthrough strategies. By integrating my graduate-level expertise in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) and my practical, cross-functional tech experience, I bring a robust framework of analytic tools and development methodologies that are both well-tested and highly relevant to the challenges faced today. Ultimately, I coach to facilitate tangible progress. Whether the focus is on overcoming professional blockers, enhancing team effectiveness through heightened self-awareness, or redesigning approaches to complex problems, my role is to act as a confidential, informed partner. I love providing that concrete thought-partnership and accountability, enabling clients to gain confidence and make the critical next steps toward sustained professional success and organizational resilience.
Work Experience
Senior Product Operations Manager
Postman
April 2025 - Present
Improve product road mapping to enhance decision quality, reduce friction, and promote cross-functional collaboration. Leading initiatives to implement both new and refined processes to refine the product development lifecycle that streamlined operations and fostered organizational collaboration resulting in heightened quality, better user experiences, and fewer delays. Support company culture by taking ownership of key company milestones, from weekly Engineering / Product / Design meetings to major planning ceremonies.
Staff technical program manager, security strategy
Aurora
December 2023 - April 2025
Managing a portfolio of multiple concurrent cross-functional security projects, spanning product security, software infrastructure, manufacturing, and risk management, realizing 10-15% efficiency for key risk management initiatives. Defining engineering timelines and deliverables for cross-functional, launch-blocking features, ensuring on-time delivery and preventing organizational bottlenecks. Drove prioritization, planning, and dependency management for software teams delivering critical cloud and hardware infrastructure; streamlined decision-making, enabling timely escalation of issues to senior leadership. Author of key playbooks translating risk policies into operational processes, identifying and addressing policy gaps, and accelerating a critical acceptance timeline by 15%. Portfolio Management, Strategic Programs and +6 skills
Director, Information Security and Privacy
Artblocks
July 2022 - November 2023
Orchestrated cross-functional efforts to develop and implement a comprehensive security and privacy roadmap, including risk assessment and mitigation strategies. Delivered upgrades to critical systems including endpoint management and IAM tooling. Fostered a culture of security ownership across the organization to enhance overall security posture. Integrated security and privacy risks into the company risk register as strategic outcomes. Collaborated with Legal to assess security and privacy compliance risks for operations in specific regions. Partnered with the Head of Product to redesign the product development lifecycle, incorporating diverse stakeholder input into product and organizational priorities. Business Agility, Strategic Programs and +10 skills
Program Management Lead
Thistle technologies
July 2021 - July 2022
As the 2nd employee, lead program management efforts designing company processes to gather key feedback and implement strategic operational practices. Managed end-to-end product lifecycle, including milestone development, validation, and optimized delivery strategy to prioritize rapid incremental improvement. Identified and delivered essential policies and practices by collaborating closely with SMEs to ensure coverage of key business functions including people, finance and marketing. Grew & led team from ideation to delivery: defined roles & recruiting pipeline, drove hiring to build effective team, created team practices & structure to streamline execution, defined goal-based planning to translate vision to action. Business Agility, Strategic Programs and +11 skills
Senior Security Program Manager and Team Coach
Atlassian
March 2019 - July 2021
standardized Agile work methodology across Atlassian with 5 other coaches, resulting in a 5-10% reduction in planning time for participating teams. Designed comprehensive training content and delivered embedded team engagements (1-3 months) to optimize model and adoption. Contributed to the creation of an internal team engagement survey and intervention program to measure and enhance coaching effectiveness. Coached 10 teams concurrently, identifying necessary interventions, securing leadership buy-in, delivering training, facilitating workshops, and promoting data collection. Mentored program managers & engineers to improve performance using strength-based coaching practices & goal setting to track improvement. Initiated & drove for the CISO a transformation of the Security leadership operating model & planning process to foster leader cohesion, boost efficiency, & enable cross-team collaboration while the organization doubled in size. Improved execution capabilities by using Agile practices to identify & remove blockers, developing partnerships with client teams to reduce friction, & refining milestones to explicitly encourage innovation.
Program Manager, security & privacy
January 2017 - March 2019
Maintained strategic and team alignment by partnering with cross-functional leaders during rapid scope expansion and developed a scalable team model of up-to 14 cross-functional contributors. Improved planning and resource management tactics that were adopted across 60+ team members by utilizing data-based feedback and reporting mechanisms to inform decisions. Launched and operated programs to deliver targeted review and analysis of processes and products to meet business requirements. Analyzed and improved release process to reduce complexity and align work with organizational requirements.
Education
Northwestern University
MS in Learning & Organizational Change (MSLOC), Business and innovation
2019 - 2024
Capstone title: Push and Pull: The Influence of Goal Commitment and Fear of Failure on Risk Taking for Innovation at Work My focus is on organizational effectiveness, strategic & human-centric approaches to change and designing resilient systems. Specifically, I've focused on development in these areas: - delivering strategic business initiatives by adapting processes to changing business needs - data-centered approaches to organizational effectiveness - theoretical methods applied in business contexts - increasing the learning speed to improve iteration and deliver better results
UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)
Juris Doctor, Law
2008 - 2011
Activities and societies: - Senior Acquisitions Editor, Hastings Science & Technology Law Journal - Mediator for SF Small Claims Court, Dispute Resolution Clinic (Negotiation and Mediation)