Gaurav A.
Sunnyvale
Summary
Engineering Executive with 15 years of experience building and scaling high-impact organizations at Airbnb, Waymo, Google, and Meta. Specialized in organizational architecture, fiscal optimization (OpEx/CapEx), and the governance of high-scale AI/ML platforms and distributed systems. Proven track record of translating multi-year technical roadmaps into multi-million dollar business outcomes for products serving 1B+ users.
Overview
2026
2026
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of Data, AI/ML and Anti-Bots Engineering
Airbnb
San Francisco
2023 - Current
- Organizational Architecture: Scaled a multi-functional organization from 24 to 45+ members; architected a specialized "Pod" structure (ML Infra, Signal Processing, Bot-Detection) that increased delivery velocity by 35% and eliminated cross-functional friction.
- Fiscal & Operational Strategy: Directed "Build vs. Buy" audits across the security stack; transitioned legacy external dependencies to in-house signals, securing $4M in annual OpEx savings while increasing system efficacy.
- Business Impact: Spearheaded a global initiative to secure the marketplace, delivering $10M in annual bottom-line savings and reducing production incidents by 30% while maintaining frictionless checkout flows for legitimate users.
- ML Governance & Quality: Established org-wide governance structures to standardize modeling and evaluation; improved Tier-2 model iteration speed by 2X and reduced time-to-production by 40%.
Senior Manager, Head of Pickup-Dropoff
Waymo
Mountain View
2019 - 2023
- 0-to-1 Commercialization: Directed the 25+ person organization that launched the industry’s first autonomous Pickup-Dropoff (PUDO) system; scaled coverage by 350%, a key milestone for Waymo’s commercial viability.
- Global Safety Leadership: Defined safety-critical behavior standards and spearheaded the autonomous honking program, improving accident scenario coverage from 18% to 98.8%.
- Technical Compliance & Regulatory Policy: Acted as a key technical liaison for Legal and Public Policy teams; translated safety-critical performance metrics and behavioral data into compliance frameworks required for global driverless permits.
- Strategic Reliability: Directed the development of motion planning fallbacks for degraded driving conditions (heavy rain, steering failure), establishing the gold standard for vehicle reliability.
Tech Lead Manager
Google
Mountain View
2012 - 2019
- Global Product Scale: Led the delivery of 30+ innovative features across Assistant, Maps, and Chrome, serving 1 Billion+ daily active users.
- Product Incubation: Spearheaded the launch of Live TV for Google TV; projects showcased at Google I/O for excellence in large-scale system architecture.
- Leadership Development: Built and scaled teams from the ground up, mentoring 20+ engineers into leadership roles across the company.Leadership Development: Built and scaled teams from the ground up, mentoring 20+ engineers into leadership roles across the company.
Software Engineer
Meta
Mountain View
2010 - 2012
- Algorithmic Impact: Optimized Newsfeed recommendation kernels, driving a 10% lift in global engagement and revenue via improved signal processing.
Education
B-Tech - Computer Science
IIIT Hyderabad
01-2010
Core Accomplishments
- Industry Leadership: Key initiatives and product launches regularly showcased at Google I/O (2013, 2014, 2016, 2019) as benchmarks for technical scale and excellence.
- Global Problem Solving: Ranked #3 in the world on SPOJ (2009); Top 50 global problem solver.
- ACM-ICPC World Finalist: Two-time world finalist (2009, 2010).
- Intellectual Property: Awarded 5+ Patents on autonomous vehicle and AI technologies.
- Mathematical Distinction: Bronze Medalist in the Mathematics Olympiad.
Executive Competencies
- Strategic Leadership: Org Design, Fiscal OpEx/CapEx Oversight, Headcount Strategy, Resource Allocation (70/20/10).
- Governance: Regulatory Compliance (Autonomous Permits), AI Ethics, Technical Standardization.
- Stakeholder Management: Navigating Product/Security trade-offs, Board-level reporting.
Timeline
Head of Data, AI/ML and Anti-Bots Engineering
Airbnb
2023 - Current
Senior Manager, Head of Pickup-Dropoff
Waymo
2019 - 2023
Tech Lead Manager
Google
2012 - 2019
Software Engineer
Meta
2010 - 2012
B-Tech - Computer Science
IIIT Hyderabad