Purvag Patel

Chief Technology Officer AI & Engineering Leader PhD in Artificial Intelligence

Rebuilding local journalism in America with AI — one community at a time. Combining always-on data sensors, AI-driven curation, and agentic content generation to produce hyperlocal news at scale.

About Me

Purvag Patel - Head of Engineering & AI

As an accomplished Machine Learning Leader with a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, I’ve dedicated my career to transforming complex AI concepts into practical, scalable solutions that drive real-world impact.

My journey spans diverse leadership roles across cutting-edge technology companies — architecting ML solutions for high-performance services at Zillow, optimizing multi-billion dollar ad auctions at Amazon, leading machine learning evaluations and data governance at Square, and most recently building Invisible Studio, a proprietary GenAI platform, as Head of Engineering & AI at Invisible Universe.

Today, as Chief Technology Officer at Surround Sound Media, I’m using AI to rebuild local journalism in America — combining always-on data sensors, AI-driven curation, and agentic content generation to produce hyperlocal news at scale and help fill the gap left by shrinking newsrooms.

PhD in AI

Deep theoretical foundation

ML Infrastructure

Managed robust cloud platforms powering 3000+ ML models

AI Content Creation

Advanced techniques in LoRA, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, and generative diffusion models

Engineering Leadership

Clarity fuels momentum

Professional Journey

Chief Technology Officer

Surround Sound Media Feb 2026 – Present

Using AI to rebuild local journalism in America, one community at a time. Building a platform that combines always-on data sensors, AI-driven curation, and agentic content generation to produce hyperlocal news at scale and fill the gap left by shrinking newsrooms.

Head of Engineering & AI

Invisible Universe Apr 2024 – Mar 2026

Architected and built a 0-to-1 revenue-generating product, transforming the company into an AI-native animation studio. Led end-to-end development of Invisible Studio, a proprietary GenAI platform serving consumer and enterprise clients by automating content creation from script to high-fidelity video. Established a technical moat through multi-agent orchestration layers and IP-consistent fine-tuning pipelines using LoRA.

Head of Data Governance Foundation

Square, Inc. Jun 2023 – Mar 2024

Established generative AI governance frameworks and led the data governance foundation across the organization.

Head of Machine Learning Evaluations

Square, Inc. Sep 2021 – Jun 2023

Led the development of an end-to-end machine learning model deployment and hosting solution, boosting system reliability and developer productivity. Leveraged a diverse tech stack including AWS SageMaker, Kafka, Redis, ONNX, and TensorFlow to build scalable solutions, while fostering team growth and streamlined processes.

Software Development Manager

Amazon.com, Inc. Aug 2020 – Sep 2021

Led a cross-functional science and engineering team to optimize online ad auctions (Adtech) by building automation and scalable machine learning infrastructure powering a multi-billion dollar Ads program.

Senior Development Manager

Zillow Group, Inc. Feb 2018 – Jul 2020

Managed a team enhancing Zillow’s home shopping experience with search services. Architected machine learning solutions for 15K QPS services, significantly improving personalized shopping metrics. Led a revamp of the search services and supported the microservice architecture handling 80% of company traffic.

Senior Software Development Engineer

Zillow Group, Inc. Feb 2014 – Jan 2018

As lead engineer, spearheaded the development of personalized home recommendation systems, collaborating closely with data scientists and machine learning engineers. Hands-on work included building regression models and scalable ML pipelines.

Thought Leadership & Insights

Revolutionizing Animation with AI

How AI is transforming animation

Exploring how Invisible Universe is transforming the animation industry through AI-powered content creation and democratizing creative tools.

Read on Medium

What AI Agents Can and Can’t Do

Capabilities and limitations explained

A comprehensive introduction to AI agents for non-technical audiences, explaining their capabilities, limitations, and real-world applications.

Read on Medium

Forrest Gump: Unraveling the Marathon of Life

Life lessons from Forrest Gump’s journey

A personal reflection on life’s journey, drawing parallels between Forrest Gump’s marathon and the continuous pursuit of growth and purpose.

Read on Medium

Current & Recent Work

Rebuilding Local Journalism with AI

Surround Sound Media · CTO · Feb 2026 – Present

At Surround Sound Media, I’m using AI to rebuild local journalism in America — one community at a time. We’re building a platform that combines always-on data sensors, AI-driven curation, and agentic content generation to produce hyperlocal news at scale and help fill the gap left by shrinking newsrooms across the country.

Building an AI-Native Animation Studio

Invisible Universe · Head of Engineering & AI · Apr 2024 – Mar 2026

As Head of Engineering & AI at Invisible Universe, I led the 0-to-1 build of Invisible Studio, a proprietary GenAI platform serving consumer and enterprise clients by automating content creation from script to high-fidelity video. Established a technical moat through multi-agent orchestration and IP-consistent fine-tuning pipelines using LoRA.

Ready to Explore the Future of AI Together?

I’m always excited to connect with fellow AI enthusiasts, professionals, and innovators. Whether you’re interested in discussing the latest developments in machine learning, exploring collaboration opportunities, or simply sharing insights about the future of technology, I’d love to hear from you.

Let’s build the future of AI together.