Rafael Marañón

Rafael Marañón is a seasoned product leader with a passion for learning and a focus on customer-centric approaches. With over 17 years of experience, he has been instrumental in shaping and delivering innovative software solutions to a wide customer base.

Currently, Rafael holds a pivotal role at Zoox, an Amazon Robotaxi company, where he is driving the product vision and strategy for enhancing Pickup and Drop-off Rider Experiences & Road User Interactions through the deployment of fully autonomous vehicle fleet.

In his entrepreneurial journey, Rafael co-founded Wavyn, a startup dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies like Computer Vision, Machine Perception, and Augmented Reality to enhance driver safety and experience.

During his tenure at Amazon, Rafael played a key role in introducing new second-screen experiences across various Amazon consumer electronics devices and applications, thereby reshaping living room entertainment. His contributions spanned across Fire TV, Echo, Fire Tablets, Amazon Shopping, Video, Music, IMDb, and Alexa.

Moreover, Rafael also made substantial contributions during his time at Cisco Systems, where he spearheaded initiatives to define software strategies for Cisco's Internet of Things portfolio, showcasing his expertise in B2B product strategy, systems design, and IoT technologies.

Rafael's skill set is diverse, encompassing areas such as System Architecture, Multimodal User Experience, Operations, Mobile and Living Room customer experiences, Business Analytics, Marketing, Middleware, ADAS, Deep Learning, Connectivity, Hardware, Sensors Data Fusion, Distributed Systems, Safety Standards, Machine Learning, and Rapid Prototyping.

Rafael pursued his academic interests by completing a Master's degree in Systems Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and engaging in exchange programs focusing on Electrical & Computer Engineering at Rowan University and Elektrotechnik at University of Kassel. He also holds Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Telecommunication Engineering from Universidad de Málaga.

Throughout his career, Rafael has held diverse roles in reputable organizations, including being a former Product Lead at Zoox, Co-founder and CEO of Wavyn, Senior Product Manager at Amazon (specifically driving initiatives for Fire TV and Lab126), Senior Product Manager at Cisco Systems, Research Assistant at MIT, Head of Product Development at Mildmac, Telecom Consultant at Telefónica, Consular Fellow at the Spanish Consulate in Moscow, Co-founder & Investor at TalentiaTech, and Software Developer at the United Nations Headquarters.