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10 Netflix engineering leaders
These ten Netflix engineering leaders, including a former Group CTO of Netflix Animation Studios, have led content and studio engineering, live streaming and encoding, infrastructure, data platform and Open Connect teams. Readers can learn how Netflix builds and runs the technology behind streaming, production and animation.
Professionals to explore
01—10Alex Gutarin
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director, Open Connect · Netflix
Senior Director, Open Connect at Netflix since 2024; the profile says he leads the architecture and development of extra-large-scale streaming infrastructure. His other Netflix roles include Director of Engineering (2015–2025) and Engineering Manager, Content Delivery (2012–2015).
Alex Wilkie
LinkedInExperience: Sr. Director of Engineering, Research & Development · Netflix
Sr. Director of Engineering, Research & Development at Netflix since 2024, listed at Director level. He was Head of R&D at Netflix Animation Studios (2022–2024) and R&D Supervisor there (2020–2022), and his profile also lists Global Head of Production Technology - Film and Television at Technicolor Group (2019–2020).
Anne Aaron
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director, Live and Encoding Tech · Netflix
Senior Director, Live and Encoding Tech at Netflix since 2023; the profile says she leads the organization responsible for media processing across VOD, advertising, cloud gaming and studio content, as well as broadcast, encoding and engineering operations for Netflix live shows worldwide. Her other Netflix roles include Director of Encoding Technologies (2019–2023) and Director of Video Algorithms (2016–2019).
Darin G.
LinkedInExperience: SVP, Global Technology at Netflix Animation Studios · Netflix
SVP, Global Technology at Netflix Animation Studios at Netflix since 2024, after serving as Group Chief Technology Officer at Netflix Animation Studios (2018–2024). The profile says Netflix acquired Animal Logic in October 2022 and rebranded it as Netflix Animation Studios across Burbank, Sydney and Vancouver, and that he is in charge of technology for Netflix Animation Studios. He was CTO at Touchcast (2017–2018).
Fatema D.
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director Infrastructure Engineering · Netflix
Senior Director Infrastructure Engineering at Netflix since 2025, after serving as Director Infrastructure Engineering (2021–2025). The profile says she leads change engineering, SRE and technical operations at Netflix with a focus on engineering velocity and productivity, and leads the AI enablement program. Her profile also lists Head of Technical Program Product Management at Facebook (2019–2021).
Gagan Hasteer
LinkedInExperience: VP, Content Engineering · Netflix
VP, Content Engineering at Netflix since 2017, a role listed at President/Vice President level in the Engineering and Technical department. Before that he was Director of Engineering at Netflix from 2011 to 2017, listed at Director level in the Engineering and Technical department.
Mike Schassberger
LinkedInExperience: Engineering Director - TV Media · Netflix
Engineering Director - TV Media at Netflix since 2023; the profile says he leads a team of engineers and leaders that develops, tests, deploys and maintains Netflix's TV Media experiences on SmartTV platforms, working closely with providers of TV technology. He was Engineering Director - Partner Engineering (2018–2023) and Engineering Manager - Partner Engineering (2014–2018) at Netflix.
Prashanth Ramdas
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director, Data Platform · Netflix
Senior Director, Data Platform at Netflix since 2025. His other Netflix roles include Director, Data Platform (2024–2025), Director, Data Platform Foundations (2022–2024) and Director Of Engineering, Realtime Data and Storage Platform (2017–2022). The listing also shows Senior Software Engineer, Content Match at Yahoo (2006–2007).
Sameer Shah
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, Content & Studio Engineering · Netflix
Vice President, Content & Studio Engineering at Netflix since 2026, after serving as Vice President of Engineering - Netflix Studio (2025–2026). His other Netflix roles include Senior Director of Engineering - Studio Production Engineering (2023–2025), Senior Director of Engineering - Content Lifecycle Engineering (2023–2024) and Director of Engineering - Content Platform Engineering (2019–2023).
Sergey Fedorov
LinkedInExperience: Director of Engineering, Live Streaming · Netflix
Former Director of Engineering, Live Streaming at Netflix (2022–2026) and Director of Engineering, New Initiatives at Netflix since 2026. The profile says he led engineering efforts to build, scale and improve Live Streaming on Netflix from inception to 400+ events a year and a 10M+ audience, launched and scaled FAST.com and was an early engineer on the Open Connect CDN team. He was also Director of Engineering, Content Delivery (2019–2022).
Choose the right perspective
Match the leader's area to your question, since streaming delivery, encoding, studio production tools, data platforms and infrastructure each involve different technical tradeoffs. Check whether a leader runs a platform team or a product-facing team before asking about specific architecture decisions.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How do you decide what to build in-house versus buy for streaming delivery and encoding infrastructure?
- 02How should an engineering organization prepare its systems to support live events alongside on-demand streaming?
- 03What does it take to build internal engineering tools for studio production and content workflows?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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