About Me
I am working as a Principal Data Scientist in Walmart Global Tech India. In my work I leverage GenAI, Agentic workflows and Software engineering to deliver data driven insights at scale at the world’s largest retailer.
With a PhD in AI-driven Web Personalization from IIT Madras, I bring deep research expertise to practical applications. My doctoral work explored novel approaches to understanding user behavior and delivering personalized experiences at scale.
Beyond industry work, I'm deeply passionate about education and knowledge sharing. Teaching is the ultimate test of understanding—as Einstein said, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." I've taught 15+ courses across various institutes in India, serve as a core team member at IIT Madras Online Degree program, and review for top-tier publications including IEEE, ACM, Springer, and Elsevier.
In my free time, I love building AI projects, automating daily routines, and experimenting with new technologies. If you have cool ideas or want to collaborate—let's connect!
🔬 Research Focus: GenAI Applications, Agentic AI & Workflow Automation, Multi-Agent
Systems, Contextual Web Personalization, Fraud Detection, Reinforcement Learning, Semi-supervised
Learning
Professional Experience
Walmart Global Tech India - Principal Data Scientist (AI)
2025 - Present | Chennai, India
- Auto Insights Platform: Building an Auto Insights platform powered by multi-agent systems to generate real-time intelligence from financial and transactional data at the world’s largest retailer.
PayPal - Manager, Machine Learning (Staff ML Scientist)
2021 - 2025 | Chennai, India
- LLM-Powered Fraud Investigation: Fine-tuned open source LLMs to build automated tools for proactive fraud investigation
- Agentic Model Explainability: Developed agentic workflow using reasoning LLMs for automated model explanation and decision transparency
- DeepGRASS Graph Analytics: Architected graph-based embeddings on large-scale transaction networks for enhanced fraud detection
- Semi-Supervised Fraud Detection: Built statistical moment-based learning framework for predicting unlabeled fraud patterns
- Pay Later Australia Launch: Implemented multi-armed bandit optimization for user sampling strategy
- Checkout Product Recommendations: Designed multi-class propensity models for PayPal Checkout cross-sell optimization
ZS Associates - Senior Data Scientist
2019 - 2021 | Bengaluru, India
- Marketing Mix Optimization: Developed next-best-action recommendation engine for pharmaceutical clients
- PatImg3D Healthcare ML: Built 3D CNN architecture for hospital readmission prediction with high-accuracy risk assessment
- Audio Analytics Platform: Created knowledge graph extraction pipeline from doctor-representative interviews for pharmaceutical insights
- Sales Forecasting & Territory Planning: Applied pooled Bayesian regression with stochastic variational inference to predict sales outcomes and optimize sales force territory assignments within operational constraints
Pre-doctoral Fellow
2019 | IIT Madras
- Merit Fellowship: Selected for prestigious pre-doctoral scholarship awarded to meritorious PhD students
- Research Leadership: Led collaborative research initiatives and served as full-time instructor for advanced courses
Amazon - Applied Scientist II Intern
2018 | Bengaluru, India
- Reseller Abuse Detection: Engineered customer embedding models for identifying fraudulent reseller behavior on Amazon India marketplace
Research and Teaching Assistant
2014 - 2018 | IIT Madras
- Interdisciplinary PhD Research: Conducted cross-disciplinary research with industry consulting for multiple startups and organizations
- Academic Collaboration: Engaged in research partnerships with universities and industry organizations
- Analytics Education: Served as teaching assistant for graduate-level analytics and data science courses
TCS - Systems Engineer
2012 - 2014 | India
- Enterprise Software Development: Developed Java and .NET applications for global clients including AC Nielsen (North America) and Marks & Spencer (Europe)
Research Contributions
Patents
-
🔏
Method and system to provide customized visual summary of products in e-commerce
plarform
Patent No: 458007, Indian Patent Office
-
🔏
Semi-supervised machine learning model framework for unlabeled learning
Published on Google Patents, US Patent Office
-
🔏
Systems and methods for rule agnostic reject inferencing
Published on Google Patents, US Patent Office
Selected Publications
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📄
DeepGRASS: Graph, Sequence and Scaled Embeddings on large scale transactions data
Mahesh Balan Umaithanu, et al. | IEEE, 2022 -
📄
Predicting Unplanned Hospital Readmissions using Patient Level Data
Mahesh Balan Umaithanu, et al. | HICSS-51, 2022 -
📄
The Persuasive Nature of Web Personalization on Online Users’ Product Perception: A
Mental Accounting Perspective
Mahesh Balan Umaithanu, et al. | AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction (AIS), 2022 -
📄
Personalize, Summarize or Let them Read? A Study on Online Word of Mouth Strategies
and Consumer Decision Process
Mahesh Balan Umaithanu, et al. | Information Systems Frontiers (Springer), 2021 -
📄
An Experimental Study on the Swaying Effect of Web-Personalization
Mahesh Balan Umaithanu, et al. | ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems (ACM), 2019
Linnaeus University, Sweden
Bangalore, India
Hawaii, US
London, UK
San Diego, US
Bangkok, Thailand
IIM Calcutta
IIM Bangalore
IIT Madras
IIM Kozhikode
IITM
IIT Madras
Core Team Member/Faculty, BS Data Science Program
Financial Forensics
30 hrs
~50 students per batch
Recorded lectures
YouTube Live sessions
Tools in Data Science
30 hrs
~1,000 students per batch
Python, R, SQL
Core DS tools
IIMC
Business Data Mining - PGDBA
30 hrs
~60 students per batch
Core course
In-person lectures
Business Data Mining - MBAEx
15 hrs
~35 students per batch
Elective course
Executive MBA
IIML
IIM Lucknow
Visiting Faculty - EPAIB Program
Machine Learning
24 hrs
~70 students per batch
Online lectures
EPAIB Program
Deep Learning
12 hrs
~70 students per batch
Neural Networks
Business Applications
Spreadsheets for Modeling
15 hrs
200+ students (3 sections)
Core course - PGP
In-person delivery
Machine Learning for Managers
15 hrs
~90 students per batch
Executive MBA (ePGP)
Online delivery
TSM
Thiagarajar School of Management
Visiting Faculty - PG-DSBA
Web and Social Media Analytics
16 hrs
~25 students per batch
Hybrid delivery
2024-2025
Data Mining for Business Intelligence
16 hrs
~25 students per batch
Business Intelligence
2022-2023
XLRI
XLRI Jamshedpur
Visiting Faculty - PGCBA
Data Mining
18 hrs
~60 students per batch
Data exploration
Online delivery
Machine Learning
18 hrs
~60 students per batch
ML algorithms
Business applications
IIMT
IIM Trichy
Visiting Faculty - PGCBAA
Python Programming for AI and ML
12 hrs
~50 students per batch
Python programming
AI/ML foundations
🎤
Invited Talks
Industry & Academic Presentations
📅 2022 - 2025
👥 Multiple Organizations
🎯 AI & Technology Focus
Risk and Fraud in E-commerce
IIM Trichy
2025
Academic
AI Trends in Automobile Industry
Hyundai
2024
Industry
Evolution of AI - from then to now
Infosys
2024
Technology
🎯
Recent Workshops
Focused skill-building workshops
📅 2022 - 2025
👥 1500+ Attendees
🌐 Multiple Formats
GenAI and Agents
IIT Madras Online Degree + NPTEL
June - Sept 2025
12 week workshop
200+ participants
LLMs, Agentic workflows
Building Agentic Systems using LLMs
IIT Madras (Paradox 2025)
June 2025
3 hours
150+ participants
Building and Experimenting with LLMs
IIT Madras (Shaastra 2025)
January 2025
200+ participants
LLMs, RAG applications
💼
Industry Training Programs
Long-duration corporate programs
📅 2020 - Present
👥 500+ Professionals
🏢 Multiple Organizations
Audience: IT Professionals
Program: General Management for IT Professions (GMIT)
Venue: IIM Kozhikode
Audience: Indian Army, Indian Airforce, Indian Navy
Program: Certificate Programme in Global Supply Chain Management (CPGSCM)
Venue: IIM Indore
Program: Certificate Programme in Global Supply Chain Management (CPGSCM)
Venue: IIM Indore
Education
Ph.D. in Information Systems & Data Analytics
IIT Madras | 2016-2019 | CGPA: 9.12/10
- Specialization: AI-Driven Web Personalization
- Dissertation: Experiments on Contextual Web Personalization Using Part-Worth Utilities
- Achievements: Patent No: 458007, Multiple publications indexed on Google Scholar
- Research Focus: Machine learning, natural language processing, experimental design, behavioral economics, personalization algorithms
M.S. (By Research) in Information Systems & Data Analytics
IIT Madras | 2014-2016 | CGPA: 9.12/10
- Specialization: Web Personalization & Recommendation Systems
- Thesis: Personalized Review Feedback: a Novel Approach to Web Personalization
- Selected Coursework: Data analysis, multivariate statistics, machine learning, natural language processing, Python/R programming, operations research, heuristics for decision making
B.E. Electrical & Electronics Engineering (Minor: Computer Science)
Anna University | 2008-2012 | CGPA: 8.51/10
- Foundation: Strong engineering fundamentals with computer science specialization