HYDERABAD: Uday Ruddarraju, a computer science graduate from Hyderabad’s Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT), has been appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Compute at OpenAI.
Ruddarraju announced his promotion on LinkedIn, saying he is excited to take on the new role after spending more than a year leading the company’s compute and infrastructure efforts. He said his team is working to build one of the world’s largest computing platforms to support the development of advanced artificial intelligence models.
Before joining OpenAI, Ruddarraju built a career in cloud infrastructure and large-scale computing systems. After graduating from CBIT, he completed a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Minnesota in the United States.
He began his full-time career at eBay in 2013 as a software engineer, where he spent more than five years developing cloud infrastructure. In 2018, he joined Robinhood and later became Senior Director of Engineering and Head of Infrastructure, leading the company’s infrastructure during a period of rapid growth.
In 2024, he joined xAI as Head of Infrastructure Engineering, focusing on the large computing systems needed to train AI models. He moved to OpenAI in 2025 as Head of Compute and Infrastructure before being promoted to CTO for Compute.
Ruddarraju specialises in building the technology behind AI systems, including GPU clusters, high-speed networks, storage systems and distributed computing platforms. These systems provide the computing power required to train advanced AI models.
His appointment highlights how expertise, experience and technical skills can play a key role in building a successful career in the global technology industry, regardless of where an engineer begins their education.
