Zongjie Diao’s Notable Career in the Software Industry 

Zongjie Diao has led a notable career in the software industry and product development. Currently, Diao is the director of product management for the AI and Computer Enablement Team at Google. She previously distinguished herself as the senior director of product management at Splunk. As a non-native English speaker, an immigrant, and a woman in the tech industry, her journey to success has not been easy at times, but she is proud of what she has achieved and her career progression. 

The Intrapreneur

Diao has two decades of experience in her field of expertise. Her intrapreneurial spirit has been a hallmark of her career, spanning her time at Cisco and Splunk. At Cisco, she spearheaded the strategic product launch of the company’s first AI server, an initiative that showcased her ability to blend innovation with customer needs. At Splunk, she led a team of 13 product managers with the support of 200 engineers, focusing on improving customers’ monitoring and troubleshooting experiences through innovative platform enhancements.

Often described as an intrapreneur due to her penchant for bringing innovation to the work that she does, Diao’s ability to transform ideas into impactful solutions has set her apart. While at Splunk, she worked to revamp the Observability team platform to make it more efficient and reliable, addressing key customer challenges such as data overload and troubleshooting inefficiencies.

“We’re helping our customers, mostly developers and IT folks, improve their productivity with the data we can provide and correlate for them. Sometimes, too much data is also a problem,” Diao explains.

Diao worked as the leader of her product management team, and she built the strategy and roadmap for the software, ensuring that products were developed on time. She also ensured the efficient collection of customer feedback and gave support when needed. Working closely with her engineering counterpart was another important part of Diao’s duties, as product managers typically manage the products and work with the engineering team.

Building on her successful tenure at Splunk and Cisco, Diao now leads a 16-person product management team at Google, where she collaborates directly with over 800 engineers. Her current work focuses on developing software and processes to ensure IT infrastructure availability, powering Google’s AI and Compute needs.

A Successful Storyteller

The journey to success has not always been an easy one for Diao. She faced obstacles others in her industry didn’t have to deal with. Despite those issues, she has worked hard and has achieved a level of success in her career that gives her pride. 

Diao received a Bachelor of Engineering in electronic and information engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China in 2003, a Master of Science from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 2004, and a Master of Business Administration from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 2011 with dean’s list and “Fuqua Scholar” designation. 

A sign of Diao’s unique accomplishments is that she received job offers from many prestigious consulting firms, such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain and Deloitte upon graduation from Duke. Diao was the only person among all her MBA classmates to achieve such an honor. During her time at McKinsey, she learned many valuable lessons that helped advance her career. 

“One is what I learned at McKinsey, which was really about how you tell a story. Whether you’re building a business case to convince the executives or trying to motivate your team, you have to tell them your story very simply so they can understand and feel motivated. Being a simple storyteller is really important to influence others,” Diao says.

Another vital lesson Diao gleaned from her time at McKinsey and Cisco was how to lead her team. Diao doesn’t simply tell them what to do; she also helps them succeed in their jobs. She actively seeks opportunities for them to shine, teaching them to take ownership of their work and to grow into a proactive role in the team.

“Open up your mindset on how you can help others and how you can help the business. If you show that, then it’s better for your career growth and the business. That’s how I encourage my team to grow,” Diao explains.