SRIDHAR YADAV MANOHARAN
Santa Clara
Summary
Software Engineer with over a decade of expertise in applied machine learning, recommendation systems, and natural language understanding. Demonstrates visionary leadership in guiding technical teams and driving innovative AI initiatives at leading tech companies. Passionate about utilizing cutting-edge technologies to enhance user engagement and propel organizational growth.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Staff Software Engineer, FB Messaging
Meta Platforms Inc
Menlo Park
09.2021 - Current
- Uber Technical Lead for Messenger Core ML (36+ engineers), defining the ML vision and strategy for ranking, recommendations, and personalization across Messenger. Lead cross-org initiatives spanning product ML, infrastructure, generative AI, and AI-native development, powering intelligent messaging experiences for billions of users.
- Cross-App Recommendation Intelligence Integrated messaging signals into Facebook recommendation systems (Feed, Reels, Stories), enabling cross-app intelligence and driving measurable gains in engagement and sessions.
- Advanced Ranking & Modeling Architectures Built and optimized multi-stage ranking systems (ESR/LSR) using modern neural recommendation architectures including DeepFM, AttentionFM, gated networks, and ResNet-style feature interaction models, while introducing next-generation sparse architectures such as SparseNN, TTSN, MTML, DHEN, DotDCN, Wukong, MCNet, and MHTA to improve scalability and feature interaction modeling.
- Infrastructure & Cost Optimization: Critical ML Infrastructure Migration: Transitioned Messenger's legacy ML infrastructure to the modern MRS recommendation platform, ensuring enhanced support and scalability. Messaging Model Modernization: Introduced innovations in sparse modeling, user history, and graph learning, resulting in improved messaging engagement and retention. Reliability and Efficiency Gains: Delivered 100% P0 ML support for messaging, achieving significant capacity savings (approx. 'x'kW and $'y'M) while maintaining 99.9%+ reliability standards.
- AI-Native Modeling & Automation Driving an AI-native ML development strategy using autonomous modeling workflows and multi-agent experimentation systems to accelerate model iteration and reduce operational overhead.
- 0-1 Initiative - Memories Feature: Drove the end-to-end development of the Memories feature on Messenger, leading from product user research and feature definition through to design and ML development. Delivered a comprehensive ML stack with image content recognition, screenshot detection, and on-device integrity checks to enhance privacy and user experience.
- Innovation Initiatives in Smart Messaging: Led the conceptualization and rollout of Smart Messaging features, utilizing on-device machine learning and privacy-focused technologies to bring forward capabilities such as: Smart Compose - Predictive text for faster replies. Smart Replies, Translation, and Transcription - Enhancing user communication across languages and formats.
Senior Software Engineer, Instagram
Meta Platforms Inc
Menlo Park
10.2019 - 08.2021
- Architected and implemented a multi-stage ranking stack for the 'Accounts You May Know' (AYMK) feature, driving engagement and retention growth for billions of users.
- Built a robust contact knowledge graph that enriched dense feature sets and improved candidate sourcing, contributing to 50M+ global DAUs across Instagram ranking surfaces.
Software Engineer
Amazon Lab 126
Sunnyvale
04.2018 - 10.2019
- Served as founding engineer on Alexa Conversations platforms team, scaling team from initial concept to over 10 engineers.
- Created first DNN-based Alexa 3p skill using transfer learning and established end-to-end model building workflow for production deployment.
- Developed a prototype system for building deep domain-specific conversational experiences with 5x reduction in time and annotated data relative to the prior approach.
- Engineered build and run-time systems for Alexa Conversations, enabling developers to create natural voice experiences with reduced complexity and training data. (Patent: P61673-US01)
Software Engineer
Salesforce
San Francisco
05.2016 - 04.2018
- Built the system for Bulk Duplicate Detection which scales up to 170 million records within 3 days.
- Built the Accounts recommendation system to power sales for 25K external organizations.
Software Engineer Intern
Salesforce
San Francisco
05.2016 - 08.2016
- Developed an application performance management tool for large scale Data.com applications.
- The tool provided solutions to help analyze the overall structure of an application and how components within them are interconnected by tracing transactions across distributed applications with an anomaly detection system.
Software Engineer
Cisco Systems
Bengaluru
08.2013 - 06.2015
- Developed reusable JavaScript widgets and components using the DOJO toolkit.
- Developed a web application framework used by application teams across Cisco consisting of default Cisco standard widgets for deep visualization of networking product insights.
Education
Master's degree - Computer Science
University of Southern California
Los Angeles12.2016
Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) - Computer Science
Ramaiah Institute Of Technology
Bengaluru07.2013
Skills
- Agentic applications
- Machine learning
- Distributed systems
- Natural language understanding
- Organizational development
- Python and Java
- PyTorch framework
- Recommendation systems
- Technical planning
- Mentorship and guidance
- Recruitment strategies
Timeline
Senior Staff Software Engineer, FB Messaging
Meta Platforms Inc
09.2021 - Current
Senior Software Engineer, Instagram
Meta Platforms Inc
10.2019 - 08.2021
Software Engineer
Amazon Lab 126
04.2018 - 10.2019
Software Engineer
Salesforce
05.2016 - 04.2018
Software Engineer Intern
Salesforce
05.2016 - 08.2016
Software Engineer
Cisco Systems
08.2013 - 06.2015
Master's degree - Computer Science
University of Southern California
Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) - Computer Science
Ramaiah Institute Of Technology