Lauren Ochotnická

⚠️ Note: This website has replaced my LinkedIn profile. You’ll find my current portfolio and professional information here.

About Me Link to heading

After working in software engineering and program management for 17 years, I’ve transitioned to AI Safety with a particular interest in field building, Technical AI Safety Governance and Operations.

I’ve begun independent research on how well AI systems know and comply with legislation and how to make that knowledge more robust, correct and reliable. I’m also interested in exploring how governments, corporations and non-profits can work together to build safer AI.

I’m pursuing a rigorous self-study program, including guided coursework with BlueDot Impact and also self-study in neural networks, economics, governance, and public policy. I am actively engaged with the AI safety community and am continuing to build the combined technical and governance expertise required to contribute meaningfully to this space.

I’m seeking founding opportunities, internships, fellowships, and job opportunities within the AI Safety community.

Skills Link to heading

Structured Problem Solving • Strategic Decision-Making • Prioritization Under Constraints • Global Team Leadership • Strategic Planning & Roadmapping • Complex Program Execution • Executive Communication & Briefing • Stakeholder Alignment

AI Safety Work Link to heading

Alex Bores for Congress Fellowship | 2026 - Present Link to heading

Independent Projects and Research | 2026 - Present Link to heading

Career Transition Preparation | 2025 - Present Link to heading

Pursuing new expertise in AI safety, economics, and policy while refreshing foundations in technical research. Accomplishing this through a self-study plan, with the goal of finding where I fit best.

Community Engagement Link to heading

English Language Teacher | 2024 - Present Link to heading

Founder - Železné English Club | Jaroměřice Elementary School | BICF Conversation Club

  • Founded local English conversation club serving 25 community members (adults and children)
  • Developed curriculum, created teaching materials, and taught classes
  • Volunteered with regional organizations to support English language learning through native speaker conversation

Czech Language and Cultural Studies | 2019 - Present Link to heading

Masaryk University | Czech Courses Brno | Private Lessons

  • Engaged in intensive Czech language and cultural studies for over 7 years, dedicating 6-40 hours weekly to coursework and independent study
  • Achieved B1 certification and passed Czech culture exam for citizenship (both 2024)
  • Continuing study toward B2 proficiency

Volunteer | 2024 - Present Link to heading

Brno Expat Centre Logo Brno Expat Centre

  • Supported expat integration through monthly welcome sessions, educating newcomers on Czech healthcare system and hospital processes
  • Assisted with annual Brno Expat Fair coordination, delivering blood donation awareness programming

Work Experience Link to heading

Red Hat LogoRed Hat

Program Manager | Remote | 2020 – 2021
  • Led cross-organizational program to enhance security of internal product pipeline tools, managing a team of 20 across US and Europe
  • Coordinated 13 interdependent sub-projects, ensuring alignment and preventing system-wide failures
  • Prioritized development efforts, managed schedules, and facilitated stakeholder communication across global organizations
  • Delivered security improvements that reduced vulnerabilities while strengthening and updating critical infrastructure
Product Owner | Hybrid: Brno, Czech Republic/Westford, MA, USA | 2018 – 2020
  • Led team of 8 engineers distributed across US, Australia, China, and Czech Republic; owning internal product release pipeline tool for 2,000+ users
  • Planned and facilitated international team events to strengthen team dynamics and collaboration
  • Established stakeholder feedback processes and communication protocols that increased user satisfaction
  • Prioritized feature development to optimize release pipeline efficiency
Senior Software Engineer | Westford, MA, USA | 2017 – 2018
  • Developed Product Pipeline, APIs, and supporting infrastructure
  • Designed and implemented annual user survey to gather feedback, analyzing usage patterns to drive iterative tooling improvements
  • Triaged customer issues and escalations to maintain responsive support

IBM LogoIBM

Senior Staff Engineer | Littleton, MA, USA | 2015 – 2017
  • Designed, tested, and implemented a HashiCorp Vault-based secrets management solution with etcd and Consul backends, securing credential storage across Jenkins, Chef, and Ansible workflows
  • Owned and maintained CI/CD pipeline components and infrastructure
  • Provided technical guidance to developers and designed training programs for automated builds and internal software tools

Dell LogoDell

Senior Software Engineer | Nashua, NH, USA | 2010 – 2015
  • Served as technical lead for Dell/EqualLogic and Dell/Compellent performance teams, coordinating engineers across multiple sites on performance processes, documentation, and training programs
  • Directed platform performance analysis, identifying and resolving bottlenecks in storage stack and FreeBSD OS
  • Mentored junior engineers and partnered with external vendors to optimize hardware for Dell Storage systems
  • Developed automation tools (PowerShell, bash, Perl) to improve engineering efficiency

EMC LogoEMC

Software Engineer | Nashua, NH, USA | 2007 – 2010
  • Developed enterprise email archival and journaling software (SourceOne and EmailXtender) meeting legal and government compliance requirements
  • Designed and implemented SDK enabling third-party platform extensions, with working code samples and public APIs across C/C++, C#, and Web Services
  • Built automated smoke testing framework for EmailXtender, reducing early-stage QA burden and enabling more thorough downstream validation
  • Developed standalone utilities and tools to extend core software functionality

Intel LogoIntel

Event and Program Manager | Chandler, AZ, USA | 2005 – 2007
  • Led end-to-end planning and execution of 5-day annual engineering summit, scaling attendance from 500 to 700+ while managing budget growth from $1.6M to $2.1M
  • Directed 25-person cross-functional team of planners, engineers, and marketing specialists
  • Implemented structured feedback process that produced measurable year-over-year improvements in attendee satisfaction across scheduling, content, and operations
  • Managed all logistics including content sessions, vendor trade show, awards banquet, and attendee events
Software Engineer | Chandler, AZ, USA | 2004 – 2007
  • Evaluated performance of enterprise applications (Microsoft Exchange, IBM-Lotus Domino, SAP) on new Intel platforms, translating findings into actionable recommendations for developers
  • Performed initial testing and profiling of platform features, with analysis directly influencing Intel processor development and driving performance improvements
  • Developed automated testing frameworks to minimize human error during data collection
  • Authored white papers and presented findings at major industry conferences and internal forums
  • Mentored new team members on performance analysis tools and methodologies

Education Link to heading

University of Rochester Logo University of Rochester | Rochester, NY, USA | B.S. Computer Science

Last updated: 22 May 2026