Haritha Thilakarathne

Haritha Thilakarathne

Senior Developer Relations Manager @ NVIDIA · Researcher · Speaker · Blogger

AI AgentsComputer VisionAI GovernanceResponsible AI

Hey there! I'm a Data and AI enthusiast who turned my fascination with machines and numbers into a full-time gig. I'm stationed as a Senior Developer Relations Manager (Developer 🥑) at NVIDIA. Basically, I help developers and GPUs get along better.

Before joining Team Green, I spent my time at Microsoft as a Cloud Solution Architect, designing and implementing scalable, secure, and intelligent AI applications on Azure.

I've got a Ph.D. in Deep Learning from La Trobe University, done in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Sport (yes, AI can help athletes too!).

When I'm not busy geeking out over neural networks, you'll find me speaking at tech events, running AI sessions, or capturing the beauty of the wilderness with my camera.

Career Timeline

A journey through Data, AI, and Developer Relations

October 2025 - Present

Senior Developer Relations Manager

NVIDIA

August 2024 - October 2025

Cloud Solution Architect - Azure AI

Microsoft

January 2024 - July 2024

Lead Consultant

Kodez

April 2022 - September 2023

Consultant (Data & AI)

Arinco

July 2018 - January 2022

Graduate Researcher

La Trobe University

February 2018 - July 2018

AI Specialist

Vevro

August 2016 - February 2018

Engineer - Data Science & Analytics

Tech One Global Ltd

January 2016 - July 2016

Intern - Developer Experience

Microsoft

Beyond the Code

Apart from being an AI researcher, I enjoy most of my time being outdoors and pursuing creative endeavors.

Outdoor Adventures

Hiking, camping, and exploring the wilderness. Always ready to hit the road with my backpack.

Nature Photography

Capturing the beauty of wildlife and landscapes through my lens.

Creative Writing

Writing free-style poems and short stories when forced indoors.

Culinary Exploration

An aspiring chef exploring wonderful spices and cuisines in my kitchen.

Publications

Research contributions in deep learning, computer vision, and human-computer interaction

Group Activity Recognition using Unreliable Tracked Pose

H Thilakarathne, A Nibali, Z He, S Morgan

Neural Computing & Applications (2024)

Pose is all you need: The pose only group activity recognition system (POGARS)

H Thilakarathne, A Nibali, Z He, S Morgan

Machine Vision and Applications 33, 95 (2022)

Predicting Floods in North Central Province of Sri Lanka using Machine Learning and Data Mining Methods

H Thilakarathne, K Premachandra

Proceedings of the 12th Annual Sessions, Sri Lanka Association for Artificial Intelligence 2017

Improving Assessment on MOOCs through Peer Identification and Aligned Incentives

Gamage D, Whiting ME, Rajapakshe T, Thilakarathne H, Perera I et al.

L@S 2017 - Proceedings of the 4th ACM Conference on Learning at Scale

Daemo: A Self-Governed Crowdsourcing Marketplace

Stanford HCI Research Group

UIST 2015 - Adjunct Publication of the 28th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology

Awards & Recognition

Honored to be recognized for contributions to the AI community

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

Artificial Intelligence

Recognized for 8 consecutive years for the contributions to the AI community

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
8
MVP Awards
5+
Publications
Ph.D.
Deep Learning
10+
Years in AI