Saurabh Khanwalkar

I’m seasoned AI/ML, Data Science, and Product Engineering executive with 20 years of transforming ambitious technical vision into business impact across defense R&D, digital publishing, EdTech, HRTech, Supply Chain Intelligence, and 2-sided marketplace platforms. I build AI/ML organizations and intelligent systems from first principles — scaling teams, architecting algorithms, platforms, and user experiences — all in service of shipping AI/ML products that generate measurable revenue and operational impact. My approach combines hands-on technical leadership with strategic product thinking, moving fluidly between code, architecture, and business strategy. WHAT I'VE BUILT: - AI/ML organizations from 0 to 75+ engineers across multiple companies - Systems serving 30M+ daily users and processing billions of events - ML platforms generating $200M+ in recurring revenue impact - Production-grade solutions in NLP, search, recommendations, knowledge graphs, computer vision, and generative AI RECENT FOCUS: Building next-generation AI systems that combine classical ML with modern LLMs and agentic AI design patterns — from fine-tuned models for domain-specific tasks to reinforcement learning for marketplace optimization. Particular expertise in taking research prototypes from 0-to-1 at production scale while maintaining engineering excellence. I'm energized by complex technical problems, building and inspiring high-performing teams, and companies where AI is a core competitive advantage, not a feature experiment. TECHNICAL DEPTH: Generative AI | LLMs | Deep learning | NLP | Search & Recommendations | Knowledge Graphs | Computer Vision | Reinforcement Learning | MLOps | Distributed Systems DOMAINS: B2B SaaS | Marketplaces | Supply Chain | EdTech | Consumer Electronics | Defense R&D Let's connect if you're building AI systems that matter.