Slava Agafonov - mailtokos@gmail.com Location: Seattle, WA USA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agafonovslava/ Phone: +1 425 246 1675
As a passionate technical leader and architect specializing in corporate cloud software and enterprise projects, I have cultivated a dynamic career across Ukraine, England, and the United States. Since joining Microsoft in 2011, I have deepened my expertise in data science, security, and cloud computing, consistently delivering innovative solutions.
With over 20 years of experience tackling AI and large-scale cloud challenges for S&P 500 clients, my professional journey includes developing web portals for IBM at Team International, creating FDA-approved medical devices with Medtronic at GlobalLogic, and contributing to certified telecommunications systems from Alcatel to Altron. My comprehensive training in distributed systems, artificial intelligence, and cloud technologies has been shaped by my work with Microsoft Azure, Bing, and Office.
Currently, I am a Staff Engineer at Airbnb on the Knowledge Graph team, where I lead the development of data infrastructure that powers Airbnb's search, personalization, and recommendation systems for listings.
Previously, I was a Staff Engineer at Meta on the Integrity team, building infrastructure for WhatsApp, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook to ensure platform integrity and security. Before that, I played a pivotal role in the Microsoft Azure Data Center rollout and served as an architect at Microsoft Devices, contributing to iconic products like Surface Book, Xbox, and HoloLens. My dedication to customer satisfaction and excellence has been recognized with multiple Microsoft awards. Passionate about creating reliable, high-performance systems that scale seamlessly in the cloud, I thrive on solving complex problems and driving innovation.
Academically, I hold two master's degrees in Technology Management from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, and a master's degree in Computer Science from Kharkov Aerospace University (KHAI). In my free time, I enjoy surfing, playing chess, and mountaineering.
Airbnb-Staff Software Engineer (October 2024 - Present) I help shape the way Airbnb connects millions of guests and hosts by building intelligent data systems that enhance personalized search and discovery. Using ontology, knowledge graphs, NLP, and machine learning, I work on transforming vast amounts of data to create seamless, and personalized experiences for everyone in the Airbnb community.
Meta–Staff Software Engineer (April 2024-October-2024) Cross-Integrity (XI) problem space search initiatives on Instagram and Facebook, addressing moderation challenges in 6 high-risk areas like child safety, human exploitation, fraud and drugs. I created scalable tools and automated content workflows for 500 content reviews per day in searches on type ahead and SERP. My work on the Searchability team for Facebook and Instagram handled billions of daily classifications for text, image and complex entities like profiles, pages or groups. I built language-agnostic systems to enforce content violations, using PyTorch, Hack, Mercurial and Python.
Microsoft – Senior Software Development Engineer/Architect/Team Lead (March 2011 – March 2024).✓ Architected Azure Geo data center expansion cycle time through architectural enhancements and integration of OpenAI into rollout workflows for new data centers across the globe
✓ Architected HoloLens Integrated Visual Augmentation System and Devices Manufacturing Test. Set up infrastructure and security in lab and factory. Onboarded a new factory in USA. Delivered defect-free device hardware and software 1.2 to US Congress and military
✓ Fraud detection project for $10B supply chain using IoT data and ML, saving $18M annually. Worked with engineers across 3 time zones on advanced analytics using Azure DevOps, improved repos to be compliant, and made secure pipelines and data lakes
✓ Xbox accessories and Hardware Security Module updates - $60M savings for Microsoft Devices
✓ Intelligent Radio Frequency Machine Learning pipelines for multiple Surface Book laptops, Surface Phone Duo including 5G and Wi-Fi. AI based framework saved time and space in the global factories.
✓ Led AI Core projects in Bing Search. Created Knowledge Graph answers for Bing.com and Office.
✓ Scalable service for NLP project NEMO. Built CI, dashboards, and tools for Excel. Improved performance and memory 300%
✓ Mentored team of four to build portal for content type and encumbrances. Integrated with Bing Entity Pane, Bing Knowledge API
✓ Led team of three to develop Bing Ads Content API v2. Made migration tools from Google and increased revenue to $12M. Onboarded major customers
✓ Service to send ad emails from SMTP server - 1M per hour
✓ Engine to extract and upload storage content in Azure Table. Supported speed over 1000 rows per second
✓ Service for credit card payments and Commerce Transaction Platform integration
✓ Automated tests and fixed bugs for Bing Business Portal, MSN offers, and Loyalty service
✓ Automation for CAP for on-call support in Windows, MSN, and Xbox. Resolved 100 product bugs
✓ Developed WPF UI automation with 70% coverage for Windows and Office live support team
Global Logic – Senior Software Development Engineer (2010 – 2011) - trained on the surgical device in the Medtronic laboratory in Boston. Reverse-engineered source code on the O-arm 3D X-ray imaging system and I also created new. NET-based network protocols and verified them in the device lab and hospitals. I improved the stability and firmness of O-arm devices with a TCP/IP framework that is still used to perform spine surgeries today and designed a web-based tool to evaluate log files from the O-arm applications inside the plugin to Excel. It increased support team productivity and reduced debugging time for remote devices. I built a network communication framework with keep-alive XML validation and it allowed resilient connections with enhanced network performance for each hardware device in the end-to-end process of 3D fluoroscopy. I developed hardware emulators to enable offshore development teams to use the hardware online.
TEAM International – Senior Software Development Engineer (2008 – 2010) - acquired new businesses as a consultant and a remote offshore team leader in Ukraine. I traveled extensively for projects in publishing, recruitment, and e-commerce. I solved internationalization, continuous integration, and scalability issues in the web portal with hiring processes and workflows for IBM, Siemens, and Vodafone. I created a portal to connect with external servers via web services for recruiting agency features. I developed a new e-publishing platform for Apex CoVantage to accelerate optical character recognition for publishers with 5000 operators using the internal software daily.
Altron – Lead Software Development Engineer (2005 – 2008) - While studying for my bachelor's degree, I worked full-time as a team leader and software developer for phone station certification projects. I trained and mentored new hires, implemented data extraction frameworks, and created user interfaces for security staff. I also wrote and developed software for various phone stations, such as Lucent/Alcatel, Huawei, Ericsson, and Intertelecom. I created a multithreaded client/server program to emulate and monitor UDP traffic and network protocol messages from phone stations for CDMA and GSM operators in Ukraine.