Our people
16 January 2026
A former contemporary dancer who once split her time between rehearsals and recitals, Haleigh Dalke is now a software engineer in Macquarie’s Corporate Operations Group. Her journey from NYU Tisch to technology shows how following your curiosity, and being supported by the right culture, can unlock new possibilities.
Haleigh Dalke grew up in Gilroy, California, a small farming town in the Bay Area. From an early age, Haleigh was equally drawn to precise problem-solving and the expressive discipline of dance. That dual passion took her to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she immersed herself in performing while minoring in computer science to keep her technical instincts engaged.
I’ve always loved the challenge of building something from scratch, whether it’s a choreography or a piece of code,” she says.
After graduation, Haleigh danced professionally in New York City, taking the stage at iconic venues such as Radio City Music Hall and New York City Center, and performing at festivals sponsored by New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. While she loved the artistic side of dance, she also worked as a nanny and barista to supplement her income during downtime between gigs.
She found herself craving work that blended creativity with tangible impact. Technology had always been that outlet for her.
A permanent hip injury made dance unsustainable as a long-term career, which, coupled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, led Haleigh to take the leap into a technology career by enrolling in a coding boot camp. She quickly landed a contractor role at a top-tier financial services firm, where she began her journey as a technologist.
Haleigh credits much of her career advancement to networking, which ultimately connected her with Jessie Chen, a leader in the Commodities and Global Markets Technology team at Macquarie. After interviewing with Jessie, Haleigh joined Macquarie as an entry-level opportunity hire and quickly demonstrated her value, earning back-to-back promotions. She began working on collateral management tools to be used by the Commodities and Global Markets team and developed a custom application, affectionately named "Clio", to automate and streamline bespoke client processes.
We named it Clio because there are too few apps named after women – and representation matters,” she says.
Haleigh explained that the choice to build an in-house solution stemmed from the highly customized nature of the business, which off-the-shelf software couldn't adequately support. Her ability to learn quickly, adapt and upskill, such as teaching herself new programming languages like Angular and Java, was supported by her managers, who provided her with the time and space to grow.
Throughout her journey, Haleigh has found that many lessons from dance apply directly to software development. On any given day, Haleigh moves from designing small service enhancements to collaborating on features that improve internal users’ experience. The switch from rehearsal schedules to release trains has been surprisingly familiar: both require discipline, iteration and a team you can trust.
Dance taught me how to take feedback, iterate fast, and perform under pressure. Engineering uses the same muscles, just in a different medium,” she says.
She sees a strong connection between constructing and deconstructing patterns in choreography and coding. Her experiences in dance also honed her communication and collaboration skills, which have been invaluable in mentoring younger developers and working across teams.
Transitioning from dance to development required a community that welcomes divergent backgrounds and meets people where they are. Haleigh credits Macquarie’s approachable engineering culture, mentors who pair regularly, peers who share context generously, and leaders who make time for growth conversations, with accelerating her learning curve.
Outside of work, Haleigh and her team favor daytime gatherings, often going out to lunch together. She describes her colleagues as dedicated, intelligent and supportive, all sharing a commitment to excellence while maintaining a healthy work-life balance, a key advantage she sees at Macquarie compared to other big tech companies.
Her advice for those considering a career change is simple: networking is crucial, and it’s never too late to reinvent yourself.
Haleigh’s story is a testament to adaptability, lifelong learning, and the power of following one’s passions—whether on stage or in the world of technology.
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