Every great innovation begins with someone willing to ask a better question. On International Women in Engineering Day, we celebrate the women who look at a broken process and decide to build something new. At Tanium, we have plenty of those women. This June 23, we're proud to shine a spotlight on Julia Grunewald, a product leader who thought differently, changed how our customers understand risk, and earned two U.S. patents along the way.
Before joining Tanium, Julia Grunewald spent more than seven years at BitSight, a cybersecurity ratings company, where she held roles across customer operations, product management, and cyber insurance solutions. She arrived at Tanium with a strong foundation in how organizations measure and communicate risk. Over the past five years, she has grown into her current role as VP of Product Management and Portfolio Lead for Exposure Management and made her mark on the cybersecurity industry along the way.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Julia to hear her story.
Tell us about your patents in plain English. What problem do they solve, and why are they impactful?
Julia Grunewald: Our two patents protect the Benchmark UI that displays risk scoring relative to other companies in the same industry.
Where did the idea come from? Was there a specific moment or challenge that sparked it?
Julia Grunewald: When we first launched Benchmark, we received customer feedback that objective risk scores weren't landing with their executive teams and boards. They weren't sure if a risk score of 340 was good or needed to be addressed. We decided the best way to solve this was by comparison. If you have a risk score of 340, and that puts you in the top 20% of your industry, that's a much more valuable metric. No one else in the industry was visualizing risk scores as an industry percentile, so we wanted to protect that.
What does it mean to you personally to be a patent holder?
Julia Grunewald: My favorite part of being part of the Tanium product team is being able to use our technology to help our customers with difficult problems, especially when we can make very technical security information accessible to broader audiences. The Benchmark UI does exactly that, and being awarded these patents recognizes our novel solution to a customer problem.
What advice would you give to a woman just starting out in engineering or tech?
Julia Grunewald: Don't be afraid to ask questions! We have a great team here at Tanium with a wealth of knowledge about our products, the industries we support, and just about anything else you would want to know. It might feel intimidating at first to ask someone more senior for help, but you'll learn faster and build valuable connections with the rest of the team.
Julia's work is a reminder that some of the most impactful ideas start simply. In her case, listening to the customer was the foundation for innovation. She saw room for growth, built something the industry had never seen, and helped Tanium secure a unique asset that no competitor had protected.
Julia is one of many incredible women at Tanium whose talent, curiosity, and drive have helped shape this company. To every woman on our team who shows up, builds, and pushes the boundaries of what's possible—thank you. Happy International Women in Engineering Day.