VINODH KUMAR SUNKARA
Meta Inc.
Bay Area
13
years of professional experience
Results-driven Engineering Manager with 13 years of experience in building and scaling machine learning and AI systems across diverse domains. Currently leading LLM and Agentic AI initiatives at Meta, driving systems that significantly contribute to ad revenue. Skilled in strategic planning, process optimization, and cross-functional leadership, fostering high-performing teams to deliver innovative AI solutions.
Work History
Engineering Manager, Ads Recommendation Semantics
8 Years 1 Month- EM (Org Lead) supporting 15+ Machine Learning Engineers in Meta Ads Recommendation Semantics org - 40% ads revenue, driving LLM and Agentic efforts in the Ads Ranking / Retrieval.
- Veteran at Meta with ~8 yrs ML experience in Meta Search, Recommendations, Integrity & Ads
- Top Performer with Exceeds & Greatly Ex ratings, grew from IC4 to IC6 to M1 to Org lead in ML
- Achieved 1M meaningful economic interactions through organic non-ads ML products business page recommendations, enhancing FB search ranking and retrieval models with 10X relevance and CTR improvements.
- Facilitated team growth by 3X through recruitment efforts.
- Recognized as top performer with 'Exceeds' and 'Greatly Ex' ratings; advanced from IC4 to Org lead in ML over a series of promotions.
- Publications: Published Personalized Integrity at WWW'23; LLM Ads Recommendations at SIGIR '26 Australia; Meta Eng Blog on Agentic Ads ML Exploration.
- MBA: Finished MBA at Berkeley Haas while working at Meta, President - Berkeley AI Club 2+ yrs
Software Engineer 2
1 Year 9 Months- Developed Bing search backend features for complex distributed systems, including Bing web index generation and large-scale data injection services, enhancing overall system functionality.
- Trained 10 new team members on Microsoft Bing search code base and principles, facilitating quicker onboarding and effective contributions.
- Received sponsorship from Microsoft for pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence at GeorgiaTech.: Microsoft sponsored MS in CS, AI specialization at GeorgiaTech
- Collaborated with academia to present my research publication at the IETC'17 conference, representing both Microsoft and GeorgiaTech.: Microsoft sponsored to present my publication from MS at IETC’17, represented Microsoft and GeorgiaTech both at Harvard University, the conference venue
Software Engineer
3 Years 1 Month- Mozilla: Tech lead for Yahoo search customization for Mozilla, received positive press feedback
- Google: Tech lead for the 3-year deal with Google to integrate their ads/results into Yahoo search page
- USA Move: Achieved promotion to Sunnyvale, California to Sunnyvale California within a year at Bangalore through excellent ratings, 8 creative hackday apps created, PSI '14 Russia Conference publication sponsored by Yahoo VP etc.
Education
MBA - Artificial Intelligence
MS - Computer Science (ML/AI)
BTech (Honors) - Computer Science
Skills
Large Language Models (LLM)
ML Agents
Project coordination
Data-driven decision making
Strategic planning
Engineering design and leadership
PUBLICATIONS
- LLM Ads Recommendations, SIGIR ‘26 Melbourne Australia link: https://tinyurl.com/sigirllm [2026]
- Agentic ML Explorations, Meta Eng Blog, MPK - USA link:https://tinyurl.com/agenticml [2026]
- Recommender Systems industry, Arxiv ‘24, USA link: https://tinyurl.com/vinodh-recomm [2024]
- WWW ‘23: Reduce Negative Experiences in Media, USA link: https://tinyurl.com/mryvhr5 [2023]
- Keynote at CIKM ‘24 Ecomm GenAI workshop, USA link: https://tinyurl.com/genai-comm [2024]
- Harvard University, IETC 2017 Conference, USA link: https://tinyurl.com/vbqchbxa [2017]
- PSI 2014 Conference Russia link: https://tinyurl.com/skeblle [2014]
- ICTTA 2013 Denmark link: https://tinyurl.com/zu2q5th [2013]
- Technical Report 2012 – TU Berlin, Germany link: https://tinyurl.com/z4pql5z [2012]
- BuildSys ‘12 Canada link: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2422571 [2012]
KEY LEADERSHIP ROLES / ACHIEVEMENTS
- Engineering Manager (Org lead), Ads Recommendation Semantics: 15+ Reports [Aug'23 - Present]
- President, Berkeley Haas Artificial Intelligence and DS Club: 25+ VP Reports [2021-23]
- Org Lead for LLM and Agentic AI at Meta Core Ads Growth: 300+ members [2024-Present]
- Green Card Holder, EB-1A Recipient: Einstein Visa, Extraordinary ability in AI [2025-Present]
INTERNSHIPS
- Technical University Berlin, Germany [May 2012 - July 2012]
- Actuation extension to TKN Wireless Indoor Sensor Network Testbed, used by thousands of sensor network customers across the world. The work was published in Germany and Canada Conferences
- Demonstrated the actuator setup in the German testbed to ~100 professionals from 20 different countries at BuildSys ‘12 Canada conference and presented it to TKN TU Berlin group.
- Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore [May 2011 - July 2011]
- Distance tracking system for motes in wireless sensor network, sponsored by Indian Academy of Sciences
- Represented IIT Kharagpur at IIT Guwahati as part of this inter IIT merit based summer internship program
ACTIVITIES
- Delivered Keynote talk at GenAI E-Commerce Workshop at CIKM ‘24 [2024]
- Hosted LLM Recommendations Workshop at Meta Core Ads Growth with 300+ members [2025]
- Hosted Agentic AI tools Workshop at Meta Core Ads Growth with 300+ members [2025]
- President of Berkeley Haas AI Club in two consecutive years 2022 & 2023; 25+ VP Reports; Hosted AI Summit, Speaker & Workshop series, VC & Founder series from Industry AI experts [2021-2023]
- Hosted Ads Supply and Promo Ads Summits as an EM, with 100+ audience hosting ML/AI talks [2024]
- Presented AI paper at TheWebConf 2023 Conference in Austin, USA sponsored by Meta Inc. [2023]
- Built B-Plan for LittleLearners at a Haas course, a GenAI schedule generator for kids [2023]
- AI based customized puzzle generator for Jumbodist in Amsterdam as part of Haas MBA course [2022]
- Speaker at Berkeley Haas AI Summit, presented Personalized Integrity work from Meta. [2021]
- Got offer for MBA at Berkeley Haas, pursued while working full time at Meta Inc. in AI [2021]
- Guest talks at 10+ Indian Universities offering career guidance for ~100 students [2020]
- Supported alma mater during Covid-19, with 20K+ fund collected [2020]
- Represented Facebook Search team at SEA-FAIR event in Seattle, WA [2018]
- Presented at IETC 2017 Conference at Harvard University, trip funded by Microsoft [2017]
- Completed MS in CS, AI / ML specialization through OMSCS program, fully funded by Microsoft [2017]
- Donated for wildfire assistance in CA, WHO Covid-19 fundraisers, Bushfires in Australia etc. [2018-19]
- Presented at PSI 2014 Conference at St. Petersburg, Russia, sponsored by Yahoo Inc. [2014]
- GRE & IIT-JEE classes during weekends for ~50 less privileged government school students in India [2014]
- Practiced Yoga as Extra Academic Activity at IIT Kharagpur, continuing advanced levels till date [2009-13]
- Presented at BuildSys 2012 Conference in Canada, sponsored by IIT KGP and TU Berlin. [2012]
Timeline
Engineering Manager, Ads Recommendation Semantics
Meta Inc.
07.2018 - CurrentRead More
Software Engineer 2
Microsoft Corporation
10.2016 - 07.2018Read More
Software Engineer
Yahoo Inc.
07.2013 - 08.2016Read More
IIT Kharagpur
BTech (Honors) from Computer Science
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Georgia Institute of Technology
MS from Computer Science (ML/AI)
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UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
MBA from Artificial Intelligence
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