Inside Illumio: Brian Pitta

Inside Illumio is a monthly series that highlights the exceptional individuals behind Illumio's world-class platform. Each post will peek behind the scenes to spotlight a member of our team. Come get to know us a little better and learn more about what makes Illumio's culture so unique.

This month, meet Brian Pitta, Global Distinguished Field Engineer at Illumio. Learn why running to challenges is the fun part of his job, how working with Illumio’s customers helps him stay curious, and his favorite things to do outdoors – when the New England weather cooperates.

Tell us about yourself. What do you do at Illumio?

I’m a Global Distinguished Field Engineer at Illumio and have been with the company for six years. I started out as a Sales Engineer at Illumio covering the Northeast region, and over the years, my role has evolved into this current overlay role where I get to work with field teams across the entire company.  

I get to split my time between existing and prospective customers. For our existing customers, I provide guidance on their Illumio deployment and help them explore new Illumio products. For prospective customers, I help them map Illumio’s solutions to the problems they are trying to solve.

What made you interested in working at Illumio?

When someone I knew joined Illumio, I saw how excited they were about the company, its technology, and its mission. I wanted to learn more – I was in the application security space at the time but was ready for something new.

Everyone I spoke to at Illumio was great, and I got excited about some of the ways I could combine my background in app dev with segmentation. Six years in, I’m still finding cool and exciting new ways to help our customers leverage Illumio.

What does a day in the life of Brian look like? What are you working on that excites you?

A lot of my time over the past few months has been focused on Illumio CloudSecure. I’ve really enjoyed getting involved in our newest technology which has opened the door to a lot of conversations with folks at our customer base that we wouldn’t have historically talked to.

I travel a decent amount each month and love the opportunity to get quality time with our customers and other remote team members. When I’m not on the road, I’m often giving demos and having architecture discussions with prospective customers. I also get the privilege of working closely with our amazing product team, providing feedback that we hear from the field and helping them shape our product roadmaps.  

What is the most important thing you’ve learned at Illumio so far?

There’s always a way to get it done – even if it first seems impossible.  

Our customers will often come to us with what seems like an insurmountable problem, and it’s easy to have the knee-jerk reaction that “we don’t do that.” But Illumio has some of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with, and once we start bouncing around ideas and talking through possibilities, we almost always end up with a solution that works for the customer.

What are you passionate about outside of your career?

My two kids keep me busy! They’re seven and five, and they’re at the age where we are trying all sorts of activities – soccer, dance, acting, singing, swimming – to see what sticks. It’s really fun watching them exploring different things.

If I can find the time and the New England weather cooperates, I also love to get outside. I’m an avid disc golfer, especially in the fall, and I live about 30 minutes from the beach, so my family spends a lot of time there in the summer.

Which Illumio core value resonates most with you and why?

Run to challenges. Every organization’s security needs are different, so there’s always going to be a unique challenge with each customer. At Illumio, the entire team rallies behind these challenges to find a solution. While these challenges sometimes sound stressful, working with the broader team at Illumio makes it fun and rewarding.

What do you want people to know about working at Illumio?

Illumio checks all the boxes. It has a great culture, provides well for its employees, offers innovative technology, and has so many opportunities to learn and grow. All of these things have kept me excited about my job the past six years and make Illumio a great place to be.  

Interested in joining the team? Check out our current openings.