From Google to NVIDIA | Leadership Lessons for Women in Tech: Careers in the Cloud – E40 with Shivam Khullar

Episode overview

In this episode of Careers in the Cloud, we are joined by Shivam Khullar, a senior technology leader currently leading engineering and enterprise applications at NVIDIA, with previous leadership roles at Google, Salesforce and Deloitte.

Shivam shares an honest and deeply reflective look at her career journey, from growing up in New Delhi with a passion for building and problem-solving, to becoming a trusted leader inside some of the world’s most influential technology organisations. This conversation goes beyond job titles and explores what leadership really looks like when things do not go to plan.

We discuss how to build credibility in tech, why resilience and curiosity matter more than perfection, and how leaders can support women meaningfully rather than performatively in high-pressure environments. Shivam also reflects on failure, burnout and the responsibility leaders carry to protect both outcomes and people.

The episode explores the rapid evolution of AI and its impact on productivity, leadership and the future of work, alongside Shivam’s personal definition of success, one rooted in legacy, kindness and long-term impact rather than accolades.

This is a thoughtful and grounded conversation for anyone navigating leadership in tech, building a career in cloud or rethinking what success should really look like.

What we discuss in this episode

• Building credibility and confidence as a woman in tech
• Leadership lessons from Google, Salesforce and NVIDIA
• Resilience, failure and leading through pressure
• Supporting women in high-performing tech teams
• AI, productivity and the future of work
• Redefining success beyond titles and promotions

About Shivam Khullar

Shivam Khullar is a senior technology leader with experience across NVIDIA, Google, Salesforce and Deloitte. She is also the co-founder and host of the Real Women in Tech podcast, where she amplifies underrepresented voices in the industry and champions intentional, human-centred leadership.

Follow Shivam on LinkedIn

Listen to the Real Women in Tech Podcast

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Disclaimer: All views and opinions shared in this episode are expressed in a personal capacity and do not represent the views or positions of NVIDIA or any other organisation Shivam is affiliated with.

Episode Transcript

Stacey Yu (00:07)

Welcome to the Montreal Associates podcast, Careers in the Cloud. Today, we're joined by a leader who has spent her career shaping how some of the world's most influential tech companies operate from the inside out. She currently leads enterprise applications at NVIDIA, driving the next generation of employee experience. Before that, she guided product and engineering teams at Google and Salesforce, always with a focus on clarity, empathy, and bringing people together to solve complex problems.

She's also the co-founder and host of the Real Women in Tech podcast, where she amplifies stories and perspectives we don't hear nearly enough in this industry. Her work is rooted in mentorship, community, and intentional leadership, all while raising her 11-year-old daughter. Shivam Khullar, it's a pleasure to have you with us today.

Shivam (00:55)

Thank you, Stacey. It's pleasure for me as well.

Stacey Yu (00:59)

As a woman in tech, how did your journey into the technology space originally begin?

Shivam's Journey into Tech

Shivam (01:05)

Well, it goes back to all the way to when I was growing up back home in India in New Delhi. It was a.

It was an interesting times back in the day. Today, people growing up, kids growing up in India have a plethora of choices of careers to pick. Back in the day, and I feel like I'm dating myself, I don't feel that old, but clearly I am because it is a whole different era that I'm talking about. You either grew up to be a doctor or you grew up to be an engineer. I did not really like human bodies and the blood and that mechanics of that, but I was very keen about how devices worked.

how instructions given by humans actually translate into a machine action. And from a very early age, was reading up on this or ⁓ catching up on science fiction that showed me the world which was, which we live today, but was almost just a dream back then. And that planted the seed of you can use technology to do things that are not possible. And then the art of impossible is something that I've always been chasing. And that really led me down the path of saying, I'm going to curate a career in this field. ⁓ It evolved over time, to be very honest. I didn't start by saying I'm going to be an enterprise applications expert over the years. It started with, I like building. I like breaking things apart and understanding why they don't work and then putting them back together. And building was a very big part of growing up, there was a phase of life when I wanted to be an architect actually, and that traces back to again the joy of building and communication. I was a national level debate champion back in India and enjoyed all sorts of communication platforms. And I always wondered if there are jobs that let you be at that intersection of communication and technology. And here we are, we're at a point where that has actually become reality.

Stacey Yu (02:57)

It's really interesting to know the area where you're the most passionate about and then this is the path that you have picked. ⁓ once you get into the technology space, was there any moment when you realized that this was the right field for you?

Finding Belonging in Technology

Shivam (03:14)

Yes, it goes both ways. Sometimes you realize that the other, it's almost sometimes that you want to believe that I can do this and then you do something and you just go like, yeah, that was purely not for me. So yes, there were moments where I felt like I do belong here, but there were also moments where I did not belong in those other spaces. And that was very clear to me. So, you the power of negatives can actually be pretty strong sometimes. And it was the case for me. There was a brief period after I left, I graduated from school and I was like, I wanted to put

journalism as a career at some point in my life. again, as was communication was a big part of growing up. ⁓ I was raised in a family of very strong communicators. And ⁓ I remember being taking some classes in undergraduate school and just getting a flavor of that would feel like and I felt like an anomaly in the room because every time the professor would talk about some very abstract concepts, I wanted to look for logic in them. And that was just not possible. So it's like this is how literature came about.

And my question is like, yeah, but we were living in better times. There was fire. Why is the author talking about a concept which we'd far outlived that era? So I realized that sometimes you have to get that signal of you also don't belong in all places. And it's OK. And your body should tell you that. And your mind should tell you that. So a lot of that happened early on in my career where I felt like I did not belong in certain places where logic, critical thinking was not encouraged. A big push for me.

to actually pursue a master's in the US was that because I have always followed the unconventional path and the conventional path suggested that after getting an engineering degree in India, I'd pursue a role in one of the big fives or the small fives, I used to call them back in the day ⁓ and become a developer and take that path. But it wasn't, I realized I did not belong to that either, which pushed me to say, well, why don't we just continue studying a little bit and maybe a path will unfold over time and it surely did. ⁓ So there were definitely moments when I realized that there is probably a better place for me to thrive and over time drifting into tech in the way that as any young graduate would led me down to the path of saying, now I do belong. And I think the first moment I had where, like I mentioned, I'm a passionate communicator.

And when I joined consulting, which was my first official job, I did not start my career in corporate. I was a consultant before I was an employee of a big tech. ⁓ It was... ⁓It was right at the intersection of technology, problem solving and communication, right? Because you're sitting out in front of the customer on day one. It's not like somebody is going to shield you. You're not going to have a mentor come and say, now you're ready for this big meeting with the big boss. You are in the meeting with the big boss on day zero and you need to just put your game on right there. So I remember sitting in one of those few first few meetings ⁓ and thinking, yeah, this is what I was talking about where I can clarify the intent coming from a very engineering heavy ⁓ audience to a very business centric audience fairly well. I'm early in my career, but this is where I'm finding the joy of somebody say something and the business says, I don't know what you're talking about. Or the business says, you're not empathizing with me. And I'm the little translator in the middle saying, well, actually what they meant was this or what they're really trying to say is this. And that was the moment where I said, yeah, you need translators in tech people who can speak both the languages equally. ⁓ and land impact in that way.

Stacey Yu (07:00)

Yeah, for sure. And it's definitely important for any woman who is still at the early stage of their career and to come to realization, understanding and develop themselves throughout the journey and knowing and learning their strength in between the process. And it's really great to hear that you were able to know what you wanted and you kind of stick to what you were the best at. how their journey has continued on, right? And from your earlier in the career, were there any influences or supporters that helped you throughout the process in the beginning?

The Role of Mentorship and Support

Shivam (07:37)

You know, there are there are supporters and influences for every season and every reason. And then the seasons pass and then you continue your journey. They continue yours. So I think I've had a very similar journey myself. I don't have any long lasting mentors who've known me from the beginning of time. I unfortunately that hasn't been my case. But every organization I joined, they were certainly the sponsors and mentors that ⁓ would come into my field of influence and I would come into their field of influence. In fact, and we had this symbiotic relationship that benefited the company, benefited them and benefited me. It was more of seeking them in the environments I was in rather than seeking them from the outside.

⁓ or continuing many. I am very fond of all the network and the relationships that I've built in tech over the years. And I still go back to people who I worked with in my first job. And just over dinner last night, we were talking about ⁓ one of my ex-colleagues who had, who when I visited China for work had actually helped me understand the culture. And then when they visited San Francisco, we actually hung out for the whole weekend because, you I've always learned so much from my professional circle and they are my extended family.

So I've always had those friends in the network, but not necessarily a supporter or a mentor that just spans across all the jobs and roles that I've done. And that's an interesting point, I think, because people are usually shy of switching roles a lot, right? Especially when you're coming out of college and if immigration is a part of your DNA, which sometimes happens, you tend to stick in the same role in the same company. And then you end up having those sponsors and mentors who take care of you through the journey. I did not follow that path really because I didn't feel like I need to... all down on my career ambitions just because I need a green card or an immigration from a company. And I think I was sharing it with somebody who's like, what's the worst case going to happen? They're going to send me back home. Like, I would not have sponsorship for employment, which is not a bad scenario at all. I'm getting a free ticket ride to go back to my country. have no problems in doing that.

But it's a, as I switched a lot of roles early on and ⁓ companies, it was not a steady presence, but there was definitely a steady presence in the duration while I was at the company. And people who I still fondly go back to and seek advice from. But I do believe that as you evolve in your career, the guidance, the coaching, the sponsorship, the mentorship that you need also evolves. And it's important for you to ⁓ make sure that you are seeking that advice in the right context. I would just give you an example of Nvidia and Google. Advice that would work for company like Google does not work for a company like Nvidia. It just pulls apart. They're very different DNAs. They're very different cultures. So sometimes you just have to let go and say, well, I'm going to find my mentors in the new world. But you keep the good memories and the friendships that you make.

Building Credibility and Confidence

Stacey Yu (10:28)

Yeah, it is really important to step out of the comfort zone because like you mentioned, a lot of people tends to stay in within the bubble or the area that they're the most comfortable with. And then they forget, there could be more things out there that they can actually learn and progress throughout these different experiences. but for your career as it progressed and as you step into the bigger roles, what have helped you to build the credibility and confidence as a woman in tech?

Shivam (11:07)

There is no recipe, it's all hard work. There is no other recipe.

Stacey Yu (11:22)

for sure.

Shivam (11:25)

As you can imagine, I get this question quite a lot. ⁓ Especially people look at your trajectory and they're like, wow, you're at Salesforce and then Google and then NVIDIA. You must be, there is some formula that you're seeking. And I say the formula is hard work plus opportunity. If you are putting in the hard work and building the credibility through your work, ⁓ through your interactions in the communities that you're building, then over time, the right opportunities will manifest for you. And you have to be wise enough to then grab the right one and run with it. And sometimes you can go wrong, but you just have to take the risk because the price that you pay for not taking that risk is stalemate. And it depends upon person to person. ⁓ I can deal with a lot of things, but I cannot deal with a stale ⁓ nine to five job. That's not.

I would not survive as a human if that was what I was offered as a cup of tea. ⁓ So what has really worked for me is you enter an organization, you understand the dynamics of what does success look like for them. You understand why have they not achieved the success. They brought you in for a reason. Silicon Valley is built with people who have such amazing minds and so much energy and so much brilliance. So they brought you in. They took a chance on you. They're paying you the big money.

Why do you think they're doing that? So what is it that you uniquely bring to the setup? ⁓ Make that your charter. And it cannot be very misaligned with the charter of the organization. It won't be if you follow the logic of it. And just get down to doing it. ⁓ As you start your ⁓ execution journey, I think it's very important to remember two things, and I say this especially in the economy that we're in. You're never going to have perfect conditions.

You'll join an organization and you'll say, this team doesn't, I mean, this is not a skilled team. I cannot run transformations with them. Or you'll join an organization and say, well, I don't have the support from my top leadership, right? They don't have the sponsorship to do these projects. So you as a leader who's out here to bring change is basically going to work with a lot of constraints. And those constraints are even narrowing down on you more and more.

as we go through this phase of the economy that we are in. So you cannot use that as an excuse and say, well, I was there at Nvidia for a year and I just couldn't get anything done because I didn't have the right team. That's not going to work. That's not why you were hired. And so ⁓ learn to operate with the constraints that are in front of you. Try to see what leverage you have in the system. Build that leverage over time and start landing results. And as I was reminded, we had a very ⁓ crisis weekend

Stacey Yu (14:04)

Okay.

Shivam (14:20)

just this last weekend, I could probably see some puffiness on my face and some tired eyes because we had a very, very long harrowing set of events. We were taking the company live on a particular platform and technical issues and we had to roll back. Not a rollback I wanted on my card, most definitely. And I was beating myself up for it a whole weekend. I was cheering the team and saying, we got this, this is the right thing, we'll get there. But I was beating myself up and somebody, a colleague actually at work, she reminded me.

And she's like, you're seeking outcomes. And for you, the definition of that outcome is that this should have landed. But there is an outcome here that you're ignoring. And that is that you rolled back in time, and we were able to ⁓ save the productivity, the loss that the company was facing. And that is an outcome too. And so ⁓ like I said, sometimes people say, she landed five projects, and that is where she got the growth direction that she did. And sometimes,

It may not be those landings of those five projects, but the how of what you delivering. So you join, you first of all ignore the constraints, make them into leverages, find ways to work around that, create a strategy, go down at it, and be nimble in what success would look like because you're new, you don't know the environment. Don't rush yourself into it.

Shivam (15:38)

land, make some landings and as you do that, you launch initiatives, as you build confidence of your company in you, you build confidence of your leadership above and below you, will come. And there is no fast track to that. You can't have the opportunities come before you've actually put in the hard work.

Embracing Failure and Resilience

Stacey Yu (15:58)

Yeah, for sure. And it's definitely important to remember ⁓ what you were brought to the company on what you are passionate about and also ⁓ what you are in this specific industry and the achievements that you're trying to work towards for. And but throughout these areas, was there any specific challenges ⁓ that you have faced other than where you may have to face like some situation like what you just mentioned where things don't really turn out to the way that you planned and how did you usually handle that and from the mentally perspective.

Shivam (16:36)

Yeah, yeah, definitely there are two aspects to it, right? There's you on the ground and then there's you when you come back to your cube and you're like, I need space for myself to actually process what's going on. You know, I'll say one thing, if you're in tech or for that matter, you're in any industry, as a professional, you have to embrace failure in different parts of your, know, phase of your life. It's going to happen. It's going to come get you. You cannot be an all-star.

And that's where it starts, right? If you're chasing perfection and like a five on five score, you shouldn't be in tech. You should do something else with your life, is what I'd say. So you have to embrace failure. And then I've ⁓ had my own share. think ⁓ I was just, my daughter is part of a theater group here in the area called the Peninsula Youth Theater. And the kids had a performance yesterday and we took a few families out dinner and I had this look on my face which was like I'm tired and you know all things are great and one of the kids very close friend of my daughter he asked me and he said do you have any regrets?

You know, that was interesting. 11 year old, 11 year old at a dinner table like 24 hours after, you know, we've just had a very big event ⁓ unfold. He got me thinking. And, you know, there were many 11 year olds on the table. And so I had to like contain my philosophy on it. And I said, regrets? Well, you can still learn from them. Right.

Stacey Yu (17:43)

that's deep. That's really deep.

Shivam (18:06)

Why do we expect that we're going to succeed every single time? Unless you fail, how will you know where your weaknesses are? And sometimes you fail even though you put in your 100%. Because that lesson is teaching you that not everything is under your control. We as humans, as type A personalities with brilliant minds, we think we can control the entire ecosystem. And you cannot. I mean, cannot, while I'm doing something that's a cable step between two countries because of which data is not coming over, what can Shivam's mind or Shivam's team or Shivam's or her track record, do about that. That's a snip and a cable and I can't send a drone to go fix it. I just have to find another way to get data over. So it's what you do with failure that really matters. And there the muscle that we all have to build is resilience and grit. ⁓

It's not easy, right? It doesn't, it's not like the first thing. We don't wake up in the morning and say, it's like today I'm going to be a resilient person. Let's be honest, right? We say, I'm going to be happy. I'm going to be thankful. Nobody talks about resilience as God give me the gift of resilience, right? I don't think that's that, that features. Resilience only shows up when you have failed. You're in a crisis. It's an extended phase where you feel you're being tested. And in that moment, what you have to remind yourself is, you know,

Strong influences and bad times don't last, but strong leaders do. So this is going to be behind you. There will be a better day. And it is a journey that we're on. And we just need to stay put, stay focused, stay clear on what the goals are. ⁓ Take care of the people around you. That's very important for me. ⁓ I think I lean a little bit more on the side of when we were during this crisis over the weekend. I was most concerned is that the same team that is putting in the 14 hours over all nighters are actually going to be working on Monday back on fixing the problem in the long run. It's not like another set of had in the conditional up so we have we're gonna have a burnout situation. ⁓ So resilience, grit, how are you going to practice it every day? How are you going to remind yourself in those moments when things fail that this is a glitch, it's temporary and what is not temporary is your character and how you get through this phase. What is not temporary is your warmth that will bring people together. Eventually, and it's done right. ⁓

Shivam (20:31)

So have had many of those stories, I think in the context of this, but it always comes down to two things, Stacey. One is that you have take care of the people through this because they're going to be the ones who going to help you learn this in the future. ⁓ You cannot leave them behind. And the second is, how can you build that resilience muscle every single day? That's not easy. We all work on it. think that's an area where sometimes we show the face of resilience and grit and we'd really not that. I think I was sharing on where

I was you know you go through a period and you just go like what was this? What was this for? Right? None of us needed to go through this. We've done our homework. We've done these dry runs Why is this happening? And it's and then you will not find meaning if you try to look for a logical answer to what happened Yes, there will be a technical reason I'll come out but that's not going to be enough for you to tell your family that hey I Spend the last 72 hours in you know without speaking to any of you But what's going to help is that in those 72 hours? I saw a side of me that I probably had not seen before.

Evolving Leadership Style

Stacey Yu (21:35)

And definitely the failure is always the time when we actually grow and learn and there's always a solution. As much as people, it's really easy to just blame the situation and blame whatever that just happened and then just stop right there. But there's always a solution and definitely using the situation to your advantage and that would actually take you to the next level.

Yeah, and over the years, how has your leadership style developed?

Shivam (22:05)

Hmm, I don't know if it has I think that's a question for the people who have had to deal with me than me rather but ⁓ I was thinking harder this one, I think there are things that who you are and you can't really change that. And there are things that you learn to learn from these experiences that we were just talking about and say, well, my leadership toolkit is missing certain tools that I need to add to it. And then you pick them up along the way. So my leadership philosophy from the very beginning, even when I and I don't believe that you become a leader once you start managing people for the record. I think you're a leader from the day you're literally born because you have the agency to get people around you to rally with you to achieve outcomes which could be for the environment, for your good, for their good. So you as a leader start showing up very early in life.

⁓ So there were certain things that were innately present, think, thanks to my parents. ⁓ One definitely is an articulate communication. You should be able to take a dense matter.

and just be able to explain it. Like I said, as a translator, to those who are seeking more technical depth, you should be able to give that to them. to those who are seeking a little bit of a higher level overview, you should be able to give that to them. So my leadership style has hinged on appropriate and audience targeted communication at all times. It has hinged on complete transparency. There is nobody ever in the dark on what Shivam thinks about a particular situation, a particular talent.

particular ⁓ project, there are no two faces. ⁓ I don't have strive very hard to be authentic and that's why find when there a lot of people talking about authenticity on media, just feel like, isn't that your natural skin? Like how not to be authentic is like putting on a mask and so you have to do a makeup and go out in the world. But the easiest thing to do is be yourself and be authentic. But make sure in your authenticity you are communicating in a targeted way.

⁓ to the audiences that may want different ⁓ elements of leadership from you. So that's the second part. And those have always been there. I've always been a transparent ⁓ leader and a communicator. The things that I picked up along the way, actually, that really is a very deep question. The first is to ask for help.

Stacey Yu (24:40)

That's really important. And a lot of the women in tech should always learn how to ask and communicate that out.

Shivam (24:48)

Yeah, and we sometimes think of as martyrs, right? Like, I can kill myself through this. And that's not going to help you. You're just going to get killed through this. Nobody's going to come and, yes, people might come to your funeral and throw some flowers, but that's not what you should be aiming for. So you have to ask for help. And the other side of it, you know, there's always a but or yes and to all of these things, is don't wait for the results to come. Right? Don't wait for you.

asked for help and you raised your hand and said, I need this. Now the other side might have its own challenges and there are reasons why they're not showing up or they're choosing not to show up and you can't really control that. So now this is where what I was talking about earlier is like I've asked for help but if you don't have any help to give me then the outcomes are going to show the result of the lack of collaboration. I'm just going to simply keep doing what I can but hey I asked for help it took took a lot of courage for me to say that I cannot carry this burden on my own.

and I asked for help.

Just that and I want women especially to understand that sometimes Because we hold it all together that I have to figure it out and I can't I can't look weak if I ask I mean I look weak if I say I can't do this people be like She's so weak. She can only do five projects at a time right ⁓ It doesn't matter what people think first of all because Their context is very different from yours. So it's irrelevant what they think but for you to just get it out of your system and say I asked for help and

I need it and you know and whether I received it or not is a separate story and so asking for help is something that I've picked up out along the way without expectations so I asked for help I raised my hand I say this is what I want and if you can't deliver to it well there will be consequences and I'm just my conscious is clear it wasn't me holding it up the second thing is related is

Stacey Yu (26:41)

Okay. Okay.

Shivam (26:48)

Perfection is not the goal. And that's hard. I can see a deep sigh as I even say that. And I work with my coach on this, who also is a perfectionist. It's a joke between us. And I'm like, what am I going to learn here? You are in the same boat. But she and I discussed this topic because we were talking about these sabotage that come as we ⁓ grow in our careers. Because if you think about it at...

I don't want to say younger levels but lower levels or early on in your career you have a camaraderie, you have lots of friends to talk to and share your fears and joys with. It's very lonely once you cross a certain bar, right? It's extremely lonely. You don't have anybody else. So most of the time you're talking to yourself. When you're talking to yourself, now you have this inner critic that is going to be very loud. It's going to tell you things that, you know...

Stacey Yu (27:30)

Okay.

Shivam (27:36)

It's like you could have done this better and why did you trust this team and why would it's that inner critic is very loud and there is these saboteurs that come in that are sabotaging you very actively in your mind and you have to be conscious of them. So the thing that I was learning is like because I'm a very hyper rational person I can rationalize my...