In our Team Spotlight series, we’re highlighting the people behind Vijil – what drives them, how they work, and where they see AI going next. Today we’re thrilled to feature Radina Mihaleva, who leads strategic business development and operations at Vijil. Radina is a business leader with two decades of experience across cybersecurity, consulting, and financial services. Recognized for building strategic partnerships and scaling go-to-market operations, she stands out for her leadership at Cloudflare, Lacework and Astronomer. At Vijil, she’s poised to shape how we bring our platform to market.

What’s your background?

I’ve spent my career at the intersection of strategy, partnerships, and growth helping scale companies across data infrastructure, cybersecurity, and fintech. 

I’ve had the privilege of working with some truly remarkable companies throughout my career, beginning in NYC working in investment banking and management consulting with companies like Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and PayPal/Braintree. That foundation sparked my passion for scaling go-to-market functions in fast-paced, high-growth environments – a passion that’s shaped every chapter since. 

In 2014, I joined Cloudflare and helped establish the business development and partnerships functions. Over five years, we scaled the business to over $100M in revenue and 1300+ people, as well as grew the partner ecosystem to over 5000+ organizations across verticals and geographies. The company went public in 2019 and remains a market leader in the space.

In 2019, I joined Lacework as Vice President of Corporate & Business Development (2019– 2023), where I built the business development functions from scratch – spanning technology integrations, cloud providers, channel, and strategic partnerships. Partners were instrumental in reaching $100M in revenue, in accelerating our global expansion as well as in our funding efforts, including a $1.3B Series D – the largest in cloud security at the time – with partners driving more than 60% of the overall new business.

Most recently, I was Head of Business Development & Operations at Astronomer, where I helped scale their partnerships business and led key strategic growth initiatives for the company’s Apache Airflow-powered platform. 

Now at Vijil, I’m excited to bring all of my experience and passion for building to grow a category-defining company at the forefront of AI trust and safety.

What inspired you to join Vijil?

When deciding whether to build a new venture, I look for three things: market, product, and team. Vijil checks those boxes. The market is dynamic and evolving rapidly at the forefront of AI, data, and technological innovation. The team has built a strong, flexible product that can scale with our customers. And above all, I was drawn to the incredibly talented and experienced people here at Vijil. I also look forward to attracting top talent to the GTM side and helping make Vijil a recognized and trusted name.

What excites you most about working at Vijil?

I love building and seeing the direct impact of my work on the company, our customers, and the team each day. It's incredibly motivating to collaborate with such a talented group of people with complementary skillsets. I'm especially excited to help establish a strong foundation for our go-to-market strategy.

What’s the biggest opportunity for Vijil? What challenges come with it?

The biggest opportunity is the growing momentum around agent adoption and AI innovation. The market is moving in our direction, which gives us a real chance to capture both attention and market share. At the same time, this creates a challenge. We need to move quickly and establish our product and brand in order to take full advantage of the moment. Building the systems and infrastructure to operate a successful business at scale is no small task, but it’s essential if we want to lead in this space.

What’s one lesson from your experience you’re applying directly at Vijil?

In an early-stage company, prioritization is everything. There’s always a long list of things to do, so it’s essential to focus on what matters most and hold ourselves accountable for the quality of our deliverables every week. It’s easy to get distracted, which is why staying focused, organized, and milestone-driven (on both the big goals and the small wins) is so important.

What’s a widely held belief about AI that you question?

Many people think of AI as something entirely new, but it has been around for decades. What we’re seeing now is the rapid evolution and wider application of these technologies. While today's tools are more accessible and powerful, the underlying concepts have been developing for a long time.

What’s something about you that might surprise others?

I used to be a professional ballroom dancer growing up and continued competing all through college. I’ve always loved the competitive side of ballroom dancing and the unique combination of athleticism and artistry it demands.

Want to learn more about how Vijil is helping teams build safer, more reliable AI agents? Sign up to try Vijil for free here.