Technology consulting has long been a male-dominated field. At X by 2, however, the number of women building technical careers has steadily grown. That growth has been matched by strong retention, with women continuing to build and advance their careers here.
For many women evaluating employers, particularly in consulting—career advancement is only part of the equation. Work-life balance, flexibility, mentorship, and access to opportunity all influence whether someone can envision building a career with a company.
Are there women ahead of me? Will I have the same opportunities to grow and lead as my peers? Can I build a meaningful career while maintaining a life outside of work?
At X by 2, the goal isn’t to create a separate career path for women. It’s to make sure women have access to the same challenging assignments, technical opportunities, mentorship, visibility, and leadership responsibilities as their colleagues, while creating spaces where shared experiences can be discussed openly.
The careers of women at X by 2 show what that looks like in practice.
Growing Into Technical Leadership
Leadership at X by 2 doesn’t always begin with a title. Often, it develops by taking on increasingly difficult problems, learning from the people around you, and being willing to step into roles that may initially feel outside your comfort zone.
Abby Mann has experienced that progression firsthand.
Abby joined X by 2 as a software developer and was one of the company’s earliest women working on the technical side of the organization. At the time, there wasn’t a more senior woman in a technical role whose career path she could look to as an example.
Today, Abby has become that person for others.
Over the course of her career, she has grown from developer to architect and technical leader, helping organizations navigate complex modernization efforts and guiding teams as they design systems intended to support clients for years to come.
Her role now sits somewhere between architect and project quarterback. While Abby has always considered herself primarily technical, one of the important moments in her development came when her adviser encouraged her to step outside that comfort zone and take on a project quarterback role.
She took the opportunity—and excelled in it.
The experience expanded the way she thought about leadership. Technical expertise remained central to her work, but she also developed skills in guiding teams, communicating with clients, balancing priorities, and helping a project move successfully from problem to solution.
That willingness to stretch has become part of how Abby now supports the next generation of consultants.
Through X by 2’s Adviser Program, she mentors junior team members as they develop their own technical skills, navigate unfamiliar situations, and decide which opportunities will help them grow.
There is a meaningful full-circle element to that experience. Abby entered the company without a senior woman in technology ahead of her to look toward. Now, women joining X by 2 can look across the organization and see people like Abby already doing the work, leading teams, and shaping technical strategy.
Creating Opportunities to Be Seen and Heard
Growth also happens when consultants have opportunities to take their expertise beyond an individual project.
Jessica Boudalia experienced that when she represented X by 2 at the V12 Product Advisory Conference in Nashville, presenting and demonstrating Monarch, X by 2’s provider data management platform.
Monarch helps healthcare organizations address one of the industry’s persistent challenges: migrating, validating, cleaning, and maintaining provider data. By reducing manual effort and improving data quality, the platform helps organizations modernize important business processes while minimizing the risks associated with large-scale data initiatives.
At the conference, Jessica showcased capabilities developed by the X by 2 team and demonstrated how Monarch can support organizations tackling complex provider data challenges.
Being trusted with opportunities like this matters. Consultants aren’t limited to executing work behind the scenes. As their expertise grows, they can become the people presenting solutions, advising clients, leading conversations, and representing X by 2 within the industries we serve.
A Community for Women in Technology
Career development doesn’t happen only on projects.
Women Xcel, X by 2’s internal women’s group, gives women across the company a dedicated space to connect and serve as a sounding board for one another.
The group meets monthly, with members taking turns leading conversations. Some discussions focus on professional topics such as navigating difficult projects, advocating for your growth, building confidence, developing leadership skills, and learning from challenges encountered throughout a consulting career.
Other gatherings are intentionally lighter; team-building activities, outings, or simply opportunities to spend time together outside the context of client work.
Both serve an important purpose.
Working in a field where women remain underrepresented can create experiences that aren’t always easy to talk about in a broader group. Women Xcel provides a space to have those conversations openly: to talk about the challenges and rewards of working in technology, learn how someone else handled a difficult situation, celebrate one another’s successes, or simply realize someone else has encountered the same thing.
The group also connects women at different stages of their careers. Someone joining X by 2 today enters a company with women across experience levels who can offer perspective that wasn’t available to some of the women who joined years earlier.
Looking Ahead
More important than X by 2’s growing community of women is the impact they’re making once they’re here.
They’re designing complex systems, guiding clients through transformation, mentoring consultants, building products, representing X by 2 across the industry, and supporting one another as they grow their careers.
For some of X by 2’s earliest women, there weren’t many examples inside the company of what the next stage of their careers might look like.
Today, they are becoming those examples.
And as the community continues to grow, so does the range of possibilities for the women who come next.
For more information about careers at X by 2, visit xby2.com/careers/
