Hi, my name is

Rafi.

I am a Seasoned Engineer, Software Architect and an Engineering manager.

Engineering Leader with 17+ years of experience, more recently in architecting large-scale data and AI-driven systems, with a strong foundation in machine learning, LLM personalization, and data platform engineering. Proven track record in leading high-impact cross-functional teams, managing end-to-end lifecycle of AI and data products, and aligning technical strategies with growth outcomes. Expertise includes building scalable data platforms, managing training pipelines for LLM fine-tuning and reinforcement learning, and delivering AI-powered features such as plagiarism detection and personalized experiences. Passionate about applying AI to solve real world problems and mentoring teams to push boundaries of innovation.

More about me

I am a software developer with a passion for data at scale. I have a background in computer science. I am currently working as an Enginnering Manager at QuillBot in India.

I like to tinker with electronics, a fan of SBCs and constantly work on crappy ideas during my free time. I am a Father of 2 and a typical family man.

Here are my favourite tech stacks
  • Python
  • Java
  • Big data stacks on distributed computing
  • Big Data warehouses like Snowflake, Redshift, Bigquery, Cassandra
  • AI specific toolsets like Langgraph, LangChain, n8n, Weaviate etc

Work Experience

Engineering manager - Data Engineering and Growth - QuillBot
Jun 2022 - May 2025

Lead a high performing team comprising of Data Engineers, AI Engineers and BI developers

  • Managed AI platform for creating and training datasets, quality review process etc. Enabling LLM finetuning, classifications, reinforcement learning, RLHF etc.
  • Developed a data platform for 50M MAU from the ground up and created features and products for personalization and core LLM model improvements.
  • Streamlined Data Platform architecture with Snoplow, Iceberg, Kafka, DataFlow, Bigquery and Bigtable among others
  • Established a data engineering roadmap, driving strategic growth and technical excellence
  • Created a top-ranked plagiarism engine, achieving 3rd place in industry benchmarks.
  • Lead cross-functional projects aligning data engineering with growth goals, mentoring team members.
  • Transitioned into Growth focused Engineering management.
Principal Architect / Manager: Data Analytics, Data Science - Pitney Bowes
Apr 2017 - Jun 2022

Managing Data Analytics / Data Science team for Sendtech vertical of PB. Building high performance teams, creating DS models to help Business and improving products

  • Leading Data Analytics / Data Science team for Sendtech business
  • Build and manage Reporting solutions, Business Intelligence Dashboards and Data science products
  • Developed an AdTech platform based on Location Intelligence (PB) and Location Trace data
Principal Engineer - niki
July 2016 - Mar 2017

Managing and mentoring team of Engineers Building a chat bot which works as a concierge for doing transactions for Indian markets.

  • Filed a patent on “Dialogue manager using Dynamic State machines”. This is the central engine for the chatbot at Niki.
  • Developed a generic Natural language generator to support multiple languages and dialects.
Senior Software Engineer - InMobi
May 2013- July 2016

Worked in multiple teams, worked closely with product

  • Geo Enrichment Service, App Metadata and Performance business
  • Geo used to serve over 2 Billion request per day
  • Worked in technology diverse tech stack which includes Hadoop, Pig, Hive, R, Python, Java and JavaScript.
  • Under Geo: Built a framework for Ingesting all third party data.
  • Developed learning Models with Enriched (Geo, Places, POIs etc) AdServe Data to achieve better performance.
  • Under Performance I was responsible for UAC (Universal App catalogue) and LTV based prediction and service associated with it.
  • Under Data we built a BSSID Geocoder for Infering locations based on Wifi SSID, a lot of reporting and feedbacks were incorporated.
Senior Software Engineer - Google
July 2011- January 2013

Worked as a Senior Software engineer - Full Stack

  • Worked on a Project management tool which was used by Google’s internal teams like Maps and Street view to streamline their processes.
  • Achieved readability in Python, to do code reviews for Python across Google
Senior Open Source Developer - HT Media
December 2010- July 2011

Worked as a Senior Software engineer - Full Stack

  • Worked as Search expert on Shine.com, a job portal.
  • Also worked on htcampus.com on a module which lets students apply for colleges directly through htcampus.
  • Rebuild and Inhoused Shine.com within 9 months. It was a celebrated achievement throughout the company
Senior Software Engineer - Position2
June 2008- December 2010

Worked as a full stack engineer

  • AutoBidding Platform for PPC which basically used historical keyword level data to predict bids for Platforms like Google Adwords, MSN and Yahoo.
  • Keyword Generation Tool (SEO) For creating a lot of related keywords based on the base set for optimization purposes, It created something like WordNet.
  • Brand Monitor, A Tool for monitoring online social media/ mainstream media presence. This tool was later sold to ThisMoment Inc.

Education

2004 - 2008
Bachelor of Technology
ICFAI Tech, Hyderabad
GPA: 7.4 out of 10
B Tech

Projects

Wedding website
HTML Javascript
Wedding website
My Wedding website using scrollorama
VitaVim
HTML Javascript
VitaVim
VitaVim. Your Essential daily intake for Vim.
Social Media AI agent
ChatGPT MiniGPT-4 Social Media
Social Media AI agent
An AI agent which tunes your Insta reels and YT shorts algorithm to only show based on your preferences. Combat Doomscrolling.
Localized image Store as a replacement to google photos or icloud
immich home-automation
Localized image Store as a replacement to google photos or icloud
Uses Immich primarily and then displays memories to a digital photo-frame

Achievements

Get In Touch

My inbox is always open. Whether you have a question or just want to say hi, I’ll try my best to get back to you!