At the cutting edge of tech, Mike Masiello helps audio storytelling thrive

Over the years, Mike Masiello has had a front-row seat to technology’s sea changes, and he loves continually learning and exploring. “I’m a curious person by nature,” he says. As Audible’s Head of InfoSec and Security Engineering, he has put that curiosity to work by leveraging cutting-edge tools and ideas to help bring many of Audible’s most innovative experiences to life, including the AI-powered personalization that enables customers to discover and engage deeply with our content.

A native of Queens, New York, Masiello spent more than two decades building the software systems that supported telecommunications networks across the United States and around the world, moving from engineer to manager to a leader in the industry. In 2014, he joined Audible, where his first role was spearheading a team helping to build some of Audible’s educational products. Since then, he’s overseen cybersecurity for countless new product launches and infrastructure evolutions here.

Masiello says Audible is the ideal place for people who, like him, have a passion for discovery and growth. “It’s no surprise that I enjoy coming to work each day, where everyone I come in contact with has been selected for their ability to (as Audible’s People Principles say) Imagine and Invent Before They Ask, and to Study and Draw Inspiration from Culture and Technology.”

How would you describe your philosophy of leadership?

I am a big believer in servant leadership. My role is to create an optimal environment for my team to flourish and do their best work, and I’m always exploring ways to do that. In Daniel Pink’s great audiobook, Drive, his research showed people are happiest and most productive when their environment gives them three things: a purpose (are they doing something important, interesting and fun?), broad autonomy in how they achieve that purpose, and the opportunity to asymptotically approach being the best in the world at what they do (mastery). Those three things are what I look for in my job and they’re the most important things I can give my team.

What have you found most helpful for balancing a leadership role with your personal life?

This may sound odd, but it’s my commute. Having an extended period of transition from home life to work in the morning, one where I can reload all of the important context that I need to have during the work day, that’s a very important ceremony. And in the evening, having the commute home to process the working day and plan the next, and then put it aside so I arrive home with a different focus — that’s equally important.

What’s the most exciting thing about leading at Audible right now?

We are at a precise point in history where the tools we use to create art and technology are being reinvented. As someone who has been involved in the craft of software development for my entire career, I’ve watched the pace of change accelerate. It used to be a new framework every couple of years. Now, new agentic engineering paradigms drop every month. What a challenge and a privilege it is to lead the teams that will make sense of all this. The same goes for art: so many artists are going to be heard in the next few years that, if not for these technology changes, might not have had the opportunity. This is one of those “change the world” moments, and I’m excited to be a part of making it happen at Audible.

If you were stuck on a desert island and could only bring one piece of tech, what would it be?

There’s this thing that has a water pump and a mattress pad that can cool or heat your mattress. You know how when you flip your pillow over, you get the cool side and it feels great for five minutes? It’s that, but for the entire mattress, all night. I’d bring that. And a mattress. And a bed. In hindsight, I didn’t think this through adequately. Scratch that: satellite phone.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

The ability to see forward in time to understand the result of a choice I make before I make it. Like the thing Doctor Strange did in Avengers: Endgame. That superpower, it’s the whole thing. If you have that, you win.

Lightning round

• Coffee or tea? Coffee, but mostly to make my consumption of sugar and milk more socially acceptable.
• Morning person or night owl? Morning person for listening and working out. Night owl for doomscrolling.
• Where are you working from currently? Our Newark, NJ headquarters.
• How long have you been with Audible? 4,537 days, as of October 28.
• Who is your biggest inspiration, career-wise? It’s between Jeff Bezos and Don Katz.
• Dine in or take out? Take out.
• Favorite hobby? Listening to audiobooks and podcasts.
• Favorite Audible listen, go. For pleasure, the Expanse series. For practical reasons: Tales from Both Sides of the Brain, Consciousness and the Brain, and Life 3.0.