Anu Bharadwaj, the current President of Atlassian, grew up in India and took an unconventional route to reach her current position. She began her career at Microsoft and spent over a decade creating various products for Microsoft Visual Studio. In 2014, she joined Atlassian as the Head of Product for Jira and has since held several other positions at the company, including Chief Operating Officer. She is now the highest-ranking woman at the collaboration software company. She has a reputation as a powerful executive, known for growing businesses worth over $500 million, building strong teams, and delivering successful products.
Anu is passionate about creating positive transformative changes wherever she goes. She strongly believes in developing diverse teams and advocating for women's empowerment to help them advance their careers and make a difference.
Take a look at Anu's session "Long-term resilience: How to manage your energy to manage your time"
⚡️ Save the date:
Women in Tech Global Conference 2024 will take place on April 23-25
Are you excited to speak at the Women in Tech Global Conference and what motivated you to join our community of 100 000 women in tech, minorities, and allies?
I’m thrilled to be joining this community and speaking to women at various stages in their careers. Women need to build each other up, form communities, and lay the groundwork for future generations. The greatest gift we can give to women in tech is to speak up about our experiences and make the path easier and more equitable for the next generation of women leaders.
Share with us about your background, your journey in tech, and what inspired you to develop your career in this direction.
Microsoft hired me straight out of school, and my first job was building video games as a developer. As a nerd and a gamer, I thought it was the best gig ever. For the next few years, I built different kinds of products in different roles. After a decade at Microsoft, I joined Atlassian – this spunky and innovative Australian startup that today, and nine years later, has over 10,000 employees. I was previously our Head of Product for Jira, Chief Operating Officer, and now President. As for my inspiration, to this day I am so energized by figuring out solutions to customer problems and seeing the real-life impact on end users. The feeling of delighting customers never gets old!
Why is the topic “Long-term resilience: How to manage your energy to manage your time” important to you?
This idea of finding balance is close to my heart because women often have to tackle their careers on what I call the “beast mode” level. Being a woman or a minority woman is like playing a video game at the highest level of difficulty. So while playing in beast mode is gratifying, it should be a choice – not a default expectation. While I will always encourage women to be the fiercest, most powerful versions of themselves, that shouldn’t mean compromising your internal peace and balance.
Who would you advise to attend the Women in Tech Global Conference and why?
Regardless of where you are in your career – if you are eager to meet other women in tech, build a stronger network with tech communities worldwide, and learn how to become a better version of yourself, both personally and professionally – then this is the conference for you.
