With more than 25 years of experience, Rajesh Rasalkar has been a key force in architecting highly scalable, resilient, cloud-native, AI-native, and programmable real-time software platforms for the global communications industry. He has a proven track record of building, leading, and setting the technical direction for high-performance, cross-functional engineering organizations across both established enterprises and high-growth startups. A pioneer in RF-based sensing and intelligent computing, Rajesh holds multiple patents and continues to push the boundaries of applied AI and mission-critical software innovation.
Recognized as a thought leader in AI-native transformation of communications networks, Rajesh specializes in AI-driven operations (AIOps), vertical AI engineering, API monetization, and modernization of complex real-time platforms. He is deeply focused on GPUaaS model for AI sovereignty, designing architectures that leverage open-source AI frameworks while ensuring enterprise data control, governance, and trust remain within organizational boundaries.
Throughout his career, Rajesh has served in senior leadership roles including Chief Technology Officer, Business Unit Head with full P&L responsibility, Chief Product Officer, and Chief Strategy and Solutions Leader. He has successfully led large global teams across geographies and time zones, and is a frequent Industry speaker known for advancing industry discussions on AI, communications, edge computing, and secure digital infrastructure. Combining strategic foresight with hands-on execution, Rajesh brings deep expertise in real-time communications software, network platforms, security, and AI-powered analytics and operations.
Rajesh currently serves as the Acting CEO of PhoenixAI Technologies, a deep-tech company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. PhoenixAI is pioneering the convergence of Physical AI and Agentic AI for mission-critical edge environments. Under his leadership, the company has developed its flagship Fuxion platform, enabling enterprises to rapidly design and deploy customized Physical AI applications through simple MCP and APIs and intuitive no-code interfaces—accelerating time-to-value for use cases such as autonomous inspection, predictive maintenance, human-in-the-loop copilots, and intelligent infrastructure management.
Previously, Rajesh served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Systems at Delartech Corporation, where he led technology strategy and engineering across AR/VR, Metaverse, and AI/ML initiatives while scaling advanced development teams in high-growth international markets.
From 2018 to 2023, he held multiple leadership roles at Meta, where he served as a technical chair and program leader for several telecom innovation initiatives. His work included shaping next-generation packet core platforms (Magma, now part of the Linux Foundation Networking ecosystem), network slicing programs, edge computing architectures, RAN Intelligent Controllers, and Open RAN orchestration - a unique cloud driven open-source platform, promoting interoperability and creation of viable vendor lock-in free products - an industry first.
Earlier in his career, Rajesh contributed to transformational communications programs at OneWeb and Oracle, where he worked within the Office of the CTO on cloud-native 5G Core and next-generation IMS Core initiatives. Before that, he was part of the Bell Labs engineering organization, where he played an instrumental role in building global 2G, 3G, and 4G networks that still serve as foundational telecommunications infrastructure worldwide.
Rajesh holds a Master in Management Science, Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and a PGD in AI/ML. He has made significant contributions to the research community through multiple publications in IEEE journals and conferences. His leadership, innovation, and commitment to advancing intelligent communications continue to shape the future of AI-driven network ecosystems.