Darby is an Executive in Residence at Engine Ventures, where she brings firsthand experience building and scaling operations for some of the most ambitious deep tech companies in the world. Her operating experience spans the full arc of deep tech company-building from early-stage R&D through commercial production across the areas of manufacturing, facilities, quality, and safety.

Previously, Darby served as Vice President of Advanced Manufacturing & Production Strategy at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the world's leading private fusion energy company, where she led the development of manufacturing technology and factory infrastructure required to bring fusion power plants to commercial scale. Before CFS, she spent a decade at SpaceX developing and leading the manufacturing scale-up of the Dragon spacecraft to deliver cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

Darby holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from MIT. She has been recognized by Business Insider as one of the Most Powerful Female Engineers (2017), named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (2018), and included on Fast Company's Queer 50 List (2024).