Mallika Rao is an Engineering Leader at Netflix with deep expertise in building and operating large-scale distributed systems, including search, recommendations, and personalization infrastructure. She brings a systems-thinking mindset to infrastructure strategy and is passionate about integrating AI into product and engineering in ways that enhance resilience, transparency, and operational excellence. Her work focuses on enabling teams to innovate rapidly while maintaining the stability and rigor required in enterprise-scale environments. Beyond her technical leadership, Mallika mentors senior engineers and leaders, and draws inspiration from the elegance of mathematics and the improvisational creativity of music.