Shaping the Future of Intelligent Living: Mahak Rawal’s Journey at the Intersection of AI and Human-Centered Design
Her work has touched millions from transforming healthcare with AI-powered platforms to reimagining the smart home experience for one of the most widely used voice assistants in the world. For Mahak Rawal, technology has always been more than algorithms and code. It is a living, breathing force capable of anticipating human needs, improving daily life, and making complex systems feel intuitive. In every role she has taken on, she has championed the belief that innovation must be inclusive, empathetic, and accessible.
Raised in India with a natural curiosity and love for problem-solving, her early years were shaped by an engineer’s precision and a designer’s empathy. After moving to the United States for her MBA, she began building products that could scale across diverse markets and demographics. At Cognizant and later UnitedHealth Group, she pioneered AI-driven tools that personalised patient care, improving health outcomes for millions. Her work wasn’t just about digitising processes; it was about humanising healthcare through thoughtful, data-backed design.
When the opportunity came to join Amazon, she stepped into one of the most influential ecosystems in consumer technology Alexa Smart Home. Today, she leads product management for Alexa Smart Home Consumer Experiences, blending AI, computer vision, and multimodal interaction to transform Alexa from a voice assistant into an intelligent, seamless home companion. Among her flagship achievements is the 2025 launch of the Ring camera experience integrated with Alexa devices, enabling users to search and retrieve footage through natural language. It’s a simple sentence for the customer “Alexa, show me yesterday’s front door activity” but behind it lies years of technical ingenuity, cross-functional leadership, and a deep commitment to user trust.
Her leadership style is both mission-driven and collaborative, drawing from a global perspective and cultural empathy. She brings together diverse teams with a clear vision, open communication, and a focus on real-world impact. She believes in rigorous user research and data-driven insights, but also trusts the creative instincts of her teams. Her approach nurtures experimentation, continuous learning, and a shared sense of purpose. “The future belongs to those who blend heart with technology,” she says, underscoring her conviction that empathy is the foundation of meaningful innovation.
Mahak’s strengths lie in her ability to simplify complexity to distil advanced AI capabilities into experiences that feel effortless. She thrives on inspiring teams to launch products that set new benchmarks in usability and inclusivity. At the same time, she acknowledges the flipside of her drive: the tendency to set exceptionally high standards for herself and her colleagues. Over the years, she has learned to balance her perfectionist instincts with agility, recognising that speed and adaptability are as critical as precision in shaping impactful solutions.
Recognition has followed her throughout her career. At Amazon, she secured funding for a flagship smart home idea, one of only a handful chosen from more than fifty ideas. At Amdocs, early in her career, she earned a monetary award for outstanding performance and client relationship management. At UnitedHealth Group, she led AI-powered platform initiatives that not only drove significant revenue but also achieved 100% growth in user engagement a testament to her ability to align business outcomes with user satisfaction. Beyond her corporate achievements, she invests her time in mentoring women in technology, advocating for inclusive product design, and inspiring the next generation of innovators to approach technology with both skill and compassion.
Balancing a high-intensity professional life with personal well-being is something she treats as non-negotiable. Nature is her sanctuary; whether hiking in national parks or wandering local trails, she finds inspiration and grounding in the outdoors. Travel opens her mind to new cultures and ways of thinking, while quiet days at home with a good sci-fi or true crime series allow her to recharge creatively. These moments away from the demands of product roadmaps are what keep her connected to her own curiosity and joy.
Her message to the world is clear: stay curious, stay empathetic, and never underestimate the power of simple ideas to create extraordinary change. She believes that the most transformative technologies are those that fade into the background, quietly enriching lives without demanding attention. Every challenge, in her view, is an opportunity to grow not just in skill but in perspective.
Mahak Rawal’s story is one of ambition grounded in purpose, technical mastery shaped by empathy, and leadership defined by collaboration. She has built products that live in millions of homes and influence millions more lives, yet she measures success not in scale alone, but in the quality of each interaction her work enables. In an age when technology can often feel distant or overwhelming, she is proving that innovation can be both powerful and profoundly human. And in doing so, she is setting the standard for what it means to lead in the next chapter of intelligent living.
