Why they move
A psychology degree is how I read a room: trust, fear, status, the click that should not have happened. I learned it first on a horse, then in a funnel, then in a breach story. Buyers and boards are still people under pressure.
Catherine “Cat” Allen, Product Marketing Engineer, senior product marketing manager and aspiring CISO
I am a digital native with a passion for marketing and building technology that is socially responsible, sustainable and ethical, the kind that helps build a better world.
I am gainfully employed and not looking. I am planning the long road to CISO one principal role at a time, because a path like that takes years of the right experience. A serious conversation about a hard problem is always welcome.
Technology should protect people, not only from one another, but from the machines we build.
I am a data privacy advocate, and I work to defend and create a future worth inheriting.
- 10 Years full-stackComputer engineering, put into practice.
- 5 Security and infrastructure teamsNetwork, identity, data and developer platforms.
- 2–5% Funnel conversion liftNetwork DDoS, repositioned.
Strength
Ten years of building things that hold.
WhereI could thrive
Marketing engineering
Campaigns, demo centers, battlecards and automation, architected full-stack and built by the same person who wrote the story, with attribution I can defend with data.
Product and product marketing
Positioning, launches and pipeline for technical products, led from the buyer back to the roadmap. Ten years of full-stack work means engineering trusts the brief.
Security leadership
A master’s in cybersecurity engineering finishing in Fall 2027, and a program philosophy built on adoption, evidence and plain language for the board.
Formaleducation
How it holds
I finish in Fall 2027, on top of ten years as a full-stack, composable architect. That depth carries through network, identity and secure-access security. A story is only useful if the control behind it is real, and this is how I make sure it is.
- Principal product marketing manager
- Principal marketing engineer
- Software architect
- Full-stack application architect
- Full-stack composable architect
- Principal product manager
- Aspiring CISO
- Cybersecurity engineering
- Aerospace and defense
- Network security
- Hands-on AI
- Ten years full-stack
Grace
Explaining hard things without the noise.
Therecord
Two platformsin under a year
In my current role I designed, built and deployed the Battlecard System and the Demo Center, working at AI speed. Both run inside the company and both are used by more than 100 people. Every battlecard and every demo is its own working app.
- 2Platforms deployedThe Battlecard System and the Demo Center.
- 100+Internal usersDeployed inside the company and in use.
- Under 1Year in the roleDesigned, built and shipped at AI speed.
- Claude
- OpenAI
- Grok
The Battlecard System
Deployed internally, 100+ usersA competitive intelligence platform, built and deployed internally at AI speed, and used by more than 100 people.
Demo Center
Deployed internally, 100+ usersWorking applications behind one demo page, built and deployed internally at AI speed, with synthetic data so a walkthrough never touches a real customer.
The Making of Mammut
Conceived, storyboarded and producedA four-episode series I conceived, storyboarded and produced with one designer and one editor. One of the projects I am proudest of.
Hardwarenot decoration
Four pieces of equestrian equipment, four rules I carry from the ring into a security program.
- Control without forceServant leadership through humility and empathy
- Protection forged in fireNobody said cybersecurity would be easy
- Pressure is a privilegeNever take your stirrups for granted
- Secure by defaultRigorous field testing beats unproven design
Discipline
Showing up for the long road.
Raised in a ringand still in one
I have spent nearly thirty years in the saddle, riding, training and rehabbing horses for hunter/jumper arenas across the United States. When I am not riding, I am training Muay Thai and kickboxing.
My mission in the ring mirrors my work: to restore the popularity of the American Thoroughbred in the competitive hunter/jumper arena by showing the power of second chances. My partner in that is Unbridled Dixie, the big bay mare that could.
My equestrian writing lives at catallen.media: selected athlete profiles and features from my years in equestrian sport media.
Cybersecurityengineeringin progress
I am pursuing it in public and finishing in Fall 2027: Python for data science, ethical hacking, network security, secure software engineering, AI for cybersecurity, and algorithms for data science and AI. Ten years of full-stack engineering sit underneath it, and the AI work is already shipping.
Freedom
Choosing the problems worth the climb.
- Network security
- Cloud networking
- Identity protection
- Secure access
- Developer platforms
- Security media