Prashanth Kokati

Architect and Technical Lead

Duration: 5 years

• Metadata Orchestration: Designed and implemented a workflow for ingesting and updating metadata across the content catalog, transcoding, playback, content management system, syndication platforms, and ad servers.

• Ad Manifest and Stitching Platform: Architected the initial version of a server-side ad stitching platform to dynamically insert ads into content manifests, powering services like Discovery+ and WBD Max.

• Ad Policy System: Developed an ad-policy engine to dynamically control ad visibility for video playback services.

• Playback Service: Created the early version of a playback service to vend manifest URLs for video-on-demand content, integral to Discovery+ operations.

• Dynamic Configuration Server: Built a dynamic configuration management server to support metadata workflows across multiple services.

• Durable Workflow Platforms: Designed and implemented durable, queue-driven workflow platforms with centralized job management to streamline operations.

• Authorization Platform: Designed a centralized RBAC-based authorization system utilized across organizational UIs.

• Message Bus-Based Workflow: Contributed to the creation of a metadata delivery platform using choreography principles, enabling metadata flow across global services.

• Kafka Integration: Built foundational modules for Kafka message bus management, including prioritized readers to handle urgent updates and business as usual traffic and replay capabilities.

• Global Video Platform Rebuild: Played a key role in rearchitecting the global video platform to support diverse metadata types, tenants, and regions.

• Rapid Service Onboarding: Seamlessly onboarded services onto a newly built compute platform, meeting tight deadlines for global product launches and high-profile events like the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.

• SaaS Project Management: Oversaw MongoDB and Temporal SaaS projects, liaising with vendors, consultants, and external support teams.

• Leadership Advising: Advised senior leadership on technology stack evaluation and acquisition integrations, ensuring alignment with global platform goals.

• Hiring and Mentorship: Supported organizational growth by participating in hiring processes, mentoring employees, and guiding managers through promotion cycles.

Current Role – Google Cloud Project

Cloud Solutions Architect

Duration: 1.8 years

• Multi-Cloud Integration: Leading the onboarding of the transcoding team to a multi-cloud environment (Google Cloud and AWS), ensuring seamless transitions.

• Infrastructure Development: Building CICD pipelines, compute and storage infrastructure, and managing IAM/permissions for a robust cloud ecosystem.

Key Achievements

• Delivered globally successful platforms like Discovery+ and WBD Max.

• Supported large-scale launches, including high-demand events like the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, ensuring platform stability and scalability under extreme loads.

• Conversations Platform: Architected and delivered Brand Expedia’s Conversations Platform, enabling chatbot integrations with clients like Facebook Messenger, LINE, Skype, and Alexa, enhancing user engagement across multiple channels.

• Scratchpad Project:

• Led the end-to-end architecture, design, and development of the core platform services for the Scratchpad project, ensuring scalability, usability, and seamless integration into Expedia’s ecosystem (see “My Scratchpad” on Expedia’s header).

• Successfully drove the project from MVP to production, meeting delivery timelines and exceeding performance expectations.

• Travel Graph and Real-Time Trends: Developed Travel Graph Services to enable intelligent recommendations and newsfeed functionalities. Engineered real-time travel trends as a service to support urgency-driven scenarios across multiple lines of business (LOBs).

• Scalable Recommendations Platform: Reengineered the recommendations platform to make it reactive and highly scalable, improving performance and aligning with Expedia’s long-term growth goals.

• Technical Leadership:

• Provided hands-on technical leadership by researching emerging technologies, delivering proof-of-concept prototypes, and guiding teams through successful project delivery.

• Actively addressed common technical challenges, establishing strong foundational frameworks for ongoing and future initiatives.

• Innovation Focus: Actively explored opportunities to apply Data Mining and Machine Learning for enhanced business insights and product capabilities.

Technologies: Java, Scala, MongoDB, NoSQL, Apache Storm, Hadoop Ecosystem, and other Apache projects.

Research and Development Engineer

Apple | IS&T Division

• NoSQL Evaluation: Conducted an extensive evaluation of leading NoSQL solutions, including Apache Cassandra, Voldemort, MongoDB, CouchDB, and commercial products like EMC Atmos and Cleversafe, to identify scalable infrastructure solutions for Apple’s online services such as Apple Online, POS, iTunes, and iCloud.

• eDiscovery Platform:

• Played a key role in Apple’s legal response team, contributing to the design and development of the eDiscovery platform used in high-profile legal battles, including Samsung vs. Apple.

• Designed and implemented critical components, such as:

• Security modules for safeguarding sensitive data.

• Case and document retention management workflows to streamline legal processes.

• Notification and auditing systems to ensure transparency and compliance.

• Encryption and remote transfer utilities for secure data handling.

• Distributed agent frameworks leveraging open-source technologies.

• Internal Cloud Solution: Designed and developed the admin and provisioning console for Apple’s internal cloud computing solution, hosted in North Carolina data centers, enabling efficient resource management.

• Custom Legal Projects: Supported Apple Legal by creating custom solutions for identifying, extracting, analyzing, and retrieving critical information for use in patent litigation and other legal cases.

• Technologies: Java, Lucene, Solr, Apache projects, and the Hadoop ecosystem.

Automation Engineer

EDS | Event and Configuration Management Group

• Role Overview: Delivered solution engineering, software design and development, and high-level production support for the Virtual Control Centre (VCC), an in-house, real-time OSS solution critical to the organization’s operations.

• Leadership and Strategy: Provided leadership for a global development team, offering guidance on emerging technologies, product management, and overseeing setup, deployment, and migration processes. Acted as a key point of contact for immediate resolution of technical challenges and roadblocks.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Coordinated with diverse stakeholders, including vendors, customers, L3/L2 support teams, operations, business analysts, and product engineers. Ensured seamless communication to track, investigate, and resolve technical issues, requests, and escalations efficiently.

• Training and Knowledge Sharing: Facilitated training sessions on the Virtual Control Centre, equipping teams with the knowledge to manage and optimize the system effectively.