Rob Savage

About Rob Savage

I build AI systems that ship to production and drive real business outcomes.At Nike, I lead a globally distributed engineering team building cloud optimization platforms. We\'ve shipped 5 production recommendation engines (EC2, RDS, Storage, ElastiCache, Network) that analyze 36K+ cloud resources monthly and identify $4-6M+ in annual savings opportunities.The centerpiece is a Databricks App I designed and built from scratch—a Flask application with five dashboards that give engineers everything they need to act on recommendations. The Recommendations Dashboard features advanced filtering, natural language search, and an LLM chat panel where users can ask questions about any recommendation in plain English. Each recommendation card shows performance charts (utilization trends, percentile distributions, cost history) so engineers can approve, reject, or defer with confidence. The system tracks every decision and ranks domains by realized savings on a live leaderboard.I built it with a premium Nike dark theme, responsive design, keyboard shortcuts, and migrated from Streamlit to Flask for full UX control. The architecture uses Blueprints, a service factory pattern, and shared caching.IMPACT:5 engines analyzing 36K+ resources monthly$4-6M+ annual savings potential95%+ recommendation accuracy3-week process → automated Day 1 deliveryWHAT DRIVES ME:I like taking complex problems and turning them into tools people actually use. Building platforms that make other teams faster is what keeps me engaged. Beyond cloud optimization, I see opportunities to apply this approach to sports marketing analytics—the intersection of data, AI, and storytelling.TECHNICAL EXPERTISE:Python, Databricks, Flask, AWS, Claude AI, LangGraph, RAG, PySpark, Delta Lake, Chart.js

Experience

1. Sr Software Engineer - Finops Efficiency Engineering Infrastructure Engineering

   Nike

   Jun 2025 — Present · Beaverton, OR, US

   Lead a globally distributed engineering team (US + Poland) building AI-powered cloud optimization platforms that identify $4-6M+ in annual savings opportunities across Nike\'s AWS infrastructure- Built 5 production optimization engines (EC2, RDS, Storage, ElastiCache, Network) using Claude Sonnet 4.5 and RAG architecture, analyzing 36K+ cloud resources monthly with 95%+ accuracy- Designed and shipped a multi-dashboard Databricks App (Flask) where engineers review recommendations, chat with an LLM about their infrastructure, and approve changes with full audit tracking- Expanded platform from compute-only to full-stack coverage, including Storage optimization with $1.2M/month validated savings opportunity across EBS volumes, snapshots, and S3- Created validation tracking system with Slack integration, automated outcome detection, and feedback loops that measure actual vs predicted savings- Transformed monthly FinOps reporting from a 3-week manual process to automated Day-1 delivery- Developed Databricks Genie Space enabling natural language analytics with sub-2-second response times, reducing ad-hoc analysis effort by 80%- Partnered with VPs and cross-functional stakeholders to define Nike\'s AI-driven cloud efficiency strategy- Established team rituals, sprint cadence, and delivery processes for newly formed cross-functional engineering teamTechnologies: Python, Databricks, Flask, PySpark, Claude AI, LangGraph, RAG, Vector Databases, AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, ElastiCache, Bedrock, CUR), Delta Lake

Education

• University of Oregon

  Data Analytics & Visualization Certificate, Data Analytics Boot Camp

  2020 — 2020

• The University of Georgia

  Master of Science - MS, Sport Management & Policy

  2018 — 2019

• San Diego State University

  Bachelor of Science - BS, Business Administration and Management, General

  2012 — 2014

Skills

• Sound
• Audio Post Production
• Event Management
• Marketing
• Social Networking
• Social Media Marketing
• Baseball
• Board Operation
• Broadcast
• Sports
• Public Speaking
• Promotions
• Video Editing
• Social Media
• Sports Marketing
• Music
• Facebook
• Adobe Audition
• Event Planning
• Radio
• Pro Tools
• Voice Over