Saket Waikar

Email
saketwaikar@gmail.com
Phone
+91-9860565991
Birthday
February 15
Location

Pune, India
Resume
Download CV

About me

I’m an architectural leader with 17+ years delivering enterprise platforms and large-scale digital transformation across manufacturing and industrial domains. I define architecture vision, platform strategy, and governance to enable resilient, cloud-native systems that deliver measurable business outcomes.

My work translates business strategy into technical roadmaps, driving cross-functional alignment and scaling engineering organizations to deliver platform-level capabilities (AI, PLM integrations, cloud-native services) across global teams and customers.

At Siemens Digital Industry Software I lead platform architecture and strategic initiatives—owning system design, technology selection, operational excellence, and cross-organizational decision-making that reduces cost, improves reliability, and accelerates time-to-value.

Architecture Vision

Platform roadmap: focus on API-first, domain-driven platforms, event-driven integration, and operational excellence. Prioritize modernization (containerization, orchestration, and observability) to reduce operating cost and increase business agility.

Governance & Standards

Established architecture governance, design review cadences, and technology standards to ensure interoperability, security, and scalable delivery across product teams and business units.

AI Director & Principal Architect Services

As an experienced AI Manager and Principal Engineer in Pune, I provide strategic technical leadership in:

Enterprise AI Architecture — GenAI platforms, LLM engineering, RAG systems for global enterprises
Platform Strategy & Governance — Architecture vision, design governance, technology roadmaps
Cloud-Native Architecture — Microservices, event-driven systems, Kubernetes orchestration
PLM & Digital Transformation — Product lifecycle management, enterprise integration, legacy modernization
Technical Leadership — Building and mentoring engineering teams, establishing architecture standards
Cost Optimization — Infrastructure efficiency, platform consolidation, TCO reduction

Whether you're seeking an AI Director, Principal Architect, or AI Principal Engineer for your organization in Pune or India, my expertise in enterprise architecture, AI/ML systems, and technical leadership can drive measurable business impact. I've successfully led transformations for Fortune 500 companies across manufacturing, automotive, and industrial sectors.

Leadership & Focus Areas

Platform Strategy & AI

Defining platform strategy and AI roadmaps to deliver enterprise-grade, production-ready AI capabilities aligned to business KPIs.
Enterprise Transformation

Leading modernization initiatives, cloud migrations, and legacy decomposition to enable scalable, secure enterprise platforms.
Architecture & Infrastructure

Architecting cloud-native, event-driven systems with observability, resilience, and cost-optimized operations.
Leadership & Mentoring

Coaching and scaling cross-functional teams, establishing architecture governance, and driving executive-level stakeholder alignment.

Areas of Expertise

Enterprise AI & Platform Architecture

Defined and delivered enterprise-scale AI platforms (LLM + RAG) with knowledge graphs, vector search and production orchestration — focused on reliability, observability, and measurable business KPIs across global customers.
Platform Modernization & PLM Strategy

17+ years translating product and business needs into platform strategies for PLM and manufacturing systems, delivering cross-team roadmaps and integration patterns that reduced time-to-market and integration effort.
Cross-functional Leadership & Governance

Led cross-functional, multi-region teams, establishing architecture governance, design review practices, and standards to scale delivery and improve cross-org decision making.
Cloud-native Platforms & Observability

Architected cloud-native SaaS platforms with strong observability, resilience and security patterns—optimizing cost and availability for enterprise workloads.

Architecture & Platforms

AI & ML

Python / LLM Engineering

Cloud (AWS/Azure)

Cloud-native & SaaS

RAG / Orchestration

Agents / LangChain

Indexing & Vector Pipelines

Vector DBs

Knowledge Graphs

LLMs (Claude / LLaMA)

PLM Platforms (Teamcenter)

DevOps & CI/CD

Microservices & Patterns (DDD, CQRS)

Professional Experience & Track Record

AI Director | Principal Architect | Technical Leader | Enterprise Platform Strategy

Key Achievements

Enterprise AI Governance Platform
Architected solution reducing compliance risks by 80% across enterprise
Defined and architected an enterprise-grade AI-driven governance platform that automated compliance workflows, improved data auditability, and scaled governance practices across multiple business units—directly reducing compliance violations and operational risk.
Digital Transformation Platform Strategy
Enabled 85% faster deployments and 40% lower integration costs for enterprise customers
Led the architecture and product strategy for an AI-powered transformation accelerator, enabling enterprise customers to compress multi-year modernization roadmaps into weeks. Established integration governance and patterns that reduced time-to-value and improved customer outcomes at scale.
Scalable Gen AI Platforms (Cloud-Native, Multi-Tenant)
Delivered 50% faster insights, 70% fewer manual queries, 300% scalability, 25% infra cost reduction
Architected and owned end-to-end delivery of enterprise-grade Gen AI platforms using LLMs, RAG pipelines, and cloud-native microservices architecture for large manufacturing enterprises. Established reliability patterns and observability practices that scaled to thousands of users, significantly improving operational efficiency and reducing total cost of ownership (TCO).
Architecture-Led AI Innovation & Product Strategy
4 PoCs/MVPs scaled to production; influenced organizational AI roadmap
Led the architecture and innovation strategy for agentic AI initiatives, translating research ideas into production-grade solutions. Architected four successful proof-of-concepts and MVPs that became strategic products, influencing the organization's long-term AI platform direction and establishing architectural patterns for future agentic systems at scale.
Multi-Year Platform Modernization & Architecture Roadmap
Defined strategic direction for PLM platform transformation across 3+ business units
Owned the definition and execution of a multi-year architecture roadmap for enterprise PLM platform modernization, aligning technology strategy with business objectives across multiple business units. Established governance processes and standards that scaled delivery practices and improved cross-functional collaboration.
Scaled Architecture Practices & Engineering Excellence
Mentored and scaled architecture practices across 15+ engineers and multiple teams
Built and mentored high-performing architecture communities, scaling architectural thinking and best practices across engineering teams. Established design review forums, architecture governance, and mentorship programs that improved code quality, system resilience, and accelerated technical leadership development.
Enterprise Cost Optimization & Platform Efficiency
Drove 35% total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction through platform consolidation
Led the architecture and consolidation strategy for multiple legacy systems into a unified cloud-native platform, reducing infrastructure costs, improving operational efficiency, and enabling faster feature delivery. Directly influenced business profitability while improving customer experience at scale.

Experience

Siemens Digital Industry Software – Development Manager & Architect (Platform Lead)
Jan 2018 – Till Date
Led platform architecture and product strategy for enterprise PLM and AI initiatives, owning system design, cross-team governance, and delivery outcomes for global customers. Drove technology selection, modernization programs and operational improvements.
HCL Technologies, Germany – Delivery Lead on-site
Dec 2016 – Dec 2017
Solution consultant and delivery lead for Mobile and PLM solution for manufacturing users of German automotive industry.
Piterion GmbH, Germany – PLM Consultant
Oct 2015 – Nov 2016
PLM Solution consultant and technical pre-sales executive for enabling PLM solutions to large scale enterprise projects in Europe.
Siemens Digital Industry Software – Project Lead
May 2012 – Sep 2015
Project lead for Siemens supplier collaboration product development group.
Silicus Technologies – Sr. Software Engineer
July 2011 – April 2012
Software development for US customer based on cloud and Amazon EC2 SaaS product
EQ Technologies – Software Engineer
July 2008 – June 2011
Business Intelligence software development using web technologies for fortune 500 companies mainly using PLM software.