Bhawana Makhija

About Bhawana Makhija

I build and scale programs that turn ambiguous, complex problems into measurable business outcomes, from frontier AI/ML platforms to large-scale operational networks. Over the past 17+ years, I\'ve led programs spanning AI/ML data platforms, GenAI foundation model delivery, and large-scale network expansion. Most recently at Amazon, I owned a $239M global AI/ML data platform delivering 41M+ training data points across 6 LLM and GenAI foundation models, spanning supervised fine-tuning (SFT), reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), and safety evaluation systems. At the same time, I spearheaded a $49M network expansion program, coordinating regulatory approvals, preconstruction site permits, and delivery excellence curation to launch 27+ same-day delivery facilities across 17 US states, cutting delivery speed by 40%(5 to 3 days) and reducing weekly transport costs by 26%. What I bring to every program: End-to-end ownership, from requirements and NPI through production deployment Cross-functional execution, aligning engineering, science, vendor, and business teams Financial discipline,$87M in cost savings,$2.3M in operational improvements People leadership, building and scaling teams of 20 to 150 across global ecosystems Executive communication, weekly reporting cadence for Directors, VPs, and C-suite I thrive in fast-moving, matrixed environments where clarity, structure, and speed matter. Whether it\'s a frontier AI program, a technical platform launch, or a complex operational scale-up, I bring the program rigor and cross-functional influence to get it done. Core Expertise: AI/ML and LLM Data Operations | Technical Program Management (TPM)| NPI / Product Life Cycle | SFT / RLHF / Safety Evaluation | Cross-Functional Leadership | Agile / Scrum | OKR/KPI Development | Vendor Ecosystem Management | Budget and P&L Oversight | SaaS Platform Delivery | Global Program Delivery | Compliance and Regulatory Alignment

Experience

1. Senior Program Manager

   Amazon

   Nov 2022 — Present · US

   I own complex, high-stakes programs at Amazon spanning AI/ML data platforms, GenAI foundation model delivery, and large-scale network expansion. My work sits at the intersection of technology, operations, and business outcomes.*Owned a $239M AI/ML data platform delivering 41M+ training data points across 6 GenAI foundation models (SFT, RLHF, safety evaluation), coordinating 20+ SDMs and 27+ data scientists across 7 engineering teams*Drove 30% cost reduction ($326M to $239M) through demand planning and vendor consolidation, while scaling a 16-vendor global partner ecosystem for multilingual AI/ML data operations*Spearheaded a $49M network expansion launching 27+ same-day delivery facilities across 17 US states, cutting delivery speed by 40% and weekly transport costs by 26%*Led AI-powered SaaS feature delivery achieving 95% model accuracy through iterative collaboration with data scientists

Education

• Lucknow University, Lucknow

  bsc, Botony

  2005 — 2008