In recognition of Women’s History Month, Boon is proud to highlight the contributions of Software Engineer Mona Chitnis. Mona currently leads Boon’s engineering team—establishing the AI/ML strategy and balancing hands-on technical work with leadership responsibilities to ensure company-wide success. Read on to learn more about Mona’s career trajectory, inspirations, and advice for other women in engineering.

An International Background and Career Journey

Growing up in Mumbai, India, Mona had a passion for STEM subjects such as physics and math from an early age. Even before choosing her academic path, she knew she wanted a career centered around project-based learning and problem-solving. “I wanted to be in a field where I could build something,” she explains. After earning her BTech in Computer Engineering from VJTI in Mumbai, she completed her MS in Computer Science at Georgia Tech in the U.S.

Prior to joining Boon, Mona spent more than a decade at a few of the world’s leading tech companies based in the Bay Area of California. She worked on a diverse range of projects including applied machine learning, big data processing, and privacy solutions. Mona joined Boon towards the end of 2024—making a significant pivot from business-to-consumer (B2C) to business-to-business (B2B) products.

At the larger companies she worked at previously, Mona noticed that the further she progressed in her career, the less actual engineering she got to do. In her new role at Boon, she is loving more hands-on work. “Having ‘heads-down’ time to work on projects is something I really enjoy at Boon,” Mona notes. “One of the reasons that I wanted to shift to a startup was to be on the frontline of doing fun things.” 

Now leading a 10-person engineering team, Mona dedicates her time to supporting their growth and success. “I prioritize unblocking other people in my leadership role and figuring out what my team needs help on,” Mona says. To accomplish this, she sets the technical vision, establishes clear objectives and key results (OKRs), and develops her team members so they can reach the highest levels possible.

Mona’s core competencies include a robust balance of machine learning, software infrastructure, and customer-facing product features. While she already felt confident in these skills prior to joining Boon, in her current role she feels she is upleveling her previous experience at a faster pace than ever before. She’s energized by tackling ambiguous problems, failing quickly, and testing out creative solutions to get products exactly right for Boon’s customers.

Advice for Women in Engineering

When she first moved to the U.S., Mona observed cultural differences in gender representation in engineering. During her undergrad studies in India, about half of her classmates were women; in the U.S., she had far fewer female peers in the technical workforce. “In India, young people pursue higher-earning-potential jobs in technical fields regardless of gender,” Mona notes.

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As a parent of young children, Mona has noticed that girls are often associated with less technical fields from an early age. “I think that there is a tendency to fall into some traditional preconceived notions about how STEM fields are for boys and non-STEM are for girls,” she explains. She believes that early exposure to engineering and hands-on learning experiences are incredibly important, so she encourages girls to engage in STEM activities as early as possible to develop abstract thinking, project-based approaches to learning, and patience. She also highlights team sports as a great way to build collaboration skills and resilience—both essential for success in engineering.

While Mona has crossed paths with many other successful female peers in tech, she’s seen that over time many women transition away from core engineering roles as they progress in their careers—leading to a lack of representation in technical executive roles. “Stick with it, grow deep technical competencies, and you’ll be able to reap the rewards at big tech companies and startups,” Mona advises.

Looking to the Future

Mona aims to take on greater leadership roles in the future, with a long-term goal of joining the C-Suite. She has noticed that while many women hold leadership roles at large tech companies, fewer hold similar positions in startups. However, Boon stands out with a female CEO and founder, Deepti Yenireddy. Mona deeply admires Deepti for her intense focus, profound understanding of the industry and product, and core belief that success comes from serving the customer. “Deepti is a huge inspiration for me,” says Mona. “It is a privilege to be in my position, and with these kinds of role models, I’m very confident that we will have more women in leadership.”

Beyond Deepti’s direct influence, Mona feels that the culture at Boon is inherently supportive of women in engineering. The team is very open to learning from each other, even in cross-disciplinary roles; she shared that the sales team, in particular, has been very receptive to collaboration with her engineering squad. Mona appreciates this culture of mutual appreciation and respect at all levels of the company. “Our culture is very conducive to taking ownership and to just go do things.”

Mona is excited to see more women joining Boon and will continue to foster an inclusive and innovative team. If you’re interested in joining a company that values and supports female engineers as an integral part of its mission, consider exploring career opportunities at Boon.

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