Shilpi Mittal is a cybersecurity and application security leader with extensive experience designing and scaling enterprise-grade security programs across cloud-native and hybrid environments. She currently works as a Lead IT Application Security Engineer, where she drives large-scale initiatives spanning secrets management modernization, API security, CI/CD security automation, and cloud risk governance. Her work includes leading the migration from HashiCorp Vault to Akeyless, implementing dynamic secrets across AWS, GCP, and Kubernetes, integrating security tooling such as Prisma Cloud, SonarQube, and GitLab Security, and building executive-level KPIs to measure risk reduction across hundreds of applications. Alongside her industry leadership, Shilpi is pursuing a PhD in Information Science with a concentration in cybersecurity, where her research focuses on post-quantum cryptography and its implications for API and microservice security. She actively bridges theory and practice by translating emerging research into real-world security architectures, governance models, and roadmaps. She has contributed to cyber risk assessments, architecture review boards, and enterprise security standards aligned with NIST, CISA, and modern zero-trust principles, while also mentoring developers and security teams on secure-by-design practices. Shilpi is an active contributor to the global cybersecurity community through speaking engagements, publications, judging hackathons, and professional service. She regularly presents at industry conferences, collaborates with academic and industry peers, and contributes to organizations such as ISACA, IEEE, and EC-Council. With a career rooted in both technical depth and strategic leadership, she is committed to advancing secure cloud adoption, resilient application architectures, and the future of cybersecurity in an era shaped by AI and quantum computing.