Kushal Naidu
About Me
I'm Kushal Naidu and I have been a Technology Professional for over 14 years. I am currently working as a Technical Program Managemer at Acrisure. I have worn multiple hats in my career including Technical Program Manager, Data Engineer, Data Analyst, Technical Consultant and QA Engineer. I excel at leading strategic data analytics programs, guiding technical teams to build new features, delivering large-scale projects across multiple functional teams that share a common goal, building processes from the ground up, and using metrics to drive new initiatives.
Experience
Acrisure
Technical Program Manager, Data & AI Engineering
Austin, TX
August 2023 - Present
As the first TPM on the team, I am responsible for owning the Data & AI Engineering roadmap, managing cross-functional programs to enable building on Data & AI products, and establishing the TPM function within the organization.
Meta
Data Program Manager, Trust & Safety
Austin, TX
September 2021 - July 2023
I led initiatives to provide Meta Global Operations leadership with operational insights and risk mitigation opportunities for Facebook and Instagram. By implementing Agile Scrum for a data analyst team, we achieved a 50% increase in velocity, enabling effective allocation of Meta's Integrity Budget for Content Moderation. I designed and implemented proactive monitoring systems, utilized data analytics to identify root causes and mitigation steps, and defined key performance indicators. Additionally, I managed stakeholder relationships and collaborated cross-functionally to ensure program success.
Optum
Technical Program Manager, Cloud Operations
Austin, TX
August 2020 - August 2021
I oversaw the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the Cloud Center of Excellence program, ensuring its alignment with strategic initiatives, stakeholder goals, and AWS capabilities. This enabled the successful migration of Optum's BI products to the AWS Cloud. Additionally, I led the redesign of the existing feature development process by incorporating an Agile framework and facilitated all Scrum ceremonies. Working closely with the engineering team, I partnered to translate business requirements into feature specifications, create user stories, estimate effort, and define acceptance criteria. This collaborative effort enabled accurate planning of sprints and efficient execution of development tasks.
Optum
Senior Data Engineer
Austin, TX
July 2018 - July 2020
I architected and implemented ETL data pipelines using SQL, Python, AWS S3, AWS Lambda, Apache Spark, and AWS RDS for Optum's suite of BI tools, serving 22 clients. Collaborating with product management and engineering teams, I developed API-based tooling, improving response time by 70% for monthly data files and enabling timely data refreshes for healthcare analytics dashboards. Additionally, I designed a scalable data transfer process on the AWS cloud platform, ensuring secure and efficient data routing from internal pipelines to clients.
The Advisory Board Company
Manager, Data Acquisition
Austin, TX
April 2016 - June 2018
I managed a team of four data analysts, delivering automated data extraction solutions for healthcare analytics tools, accelerating implementation for 60% of projects and reducing client effort by 33%. I improved the implementation process through onsite data extraction and validation, reducing project timelines by 50% and increasing NPS scores. Acting as a subject matter expert in Data Extraction for medical billing systems, I supported Sales teams, resulting in over $500K in new booked business. Additionally, I collaborated with customers, conducted data discovery, and built data extracts adhering to specifications for the Crimson suite of BI products.
The Advisory Board Company
Senior Data Analyst
Austin, TX
January 2012 - March 2016
I was responsible for leading large-scale projects to implement Crimson Medical Group Advantage(CMGA) application for medical groups all over the US. In addition to implementing CMGA, my expertise on CMGA and Revenue Cycle in a Medical Practice setting enabled me to collaborate with Product Management/Engineering teams to build new features.
Accruent
Technical Consultant
Austin, TX
April 2011 - January 2012
As a member of the Professional Services team at Accruent, I implemented projects for clients in the Higher Education sector to create data integrations between their ERP systems and Accruent's FAMIS application.
Accruent
Quality Assurance Engineer
Austin, TX
September 2010 - April 2011
In addition to performing manual/automated testing and maintaining bugs in defect tracking system, I was also responsible for redesigning and automating existing test framework with scripting in Ruby and WATIR.
Tata Consultancy Services
Assistant Systems Engineer
Mumbai, India
August 2006 - July 2008
I developed solutions for HP NonStop Kernel OS by analyzing defects, implementing code changes and conducting the required QA tasks resulting in enhanced performances of HP NonStop Servers
Education
Texas A&M University, Mays Business School
Master of Science in Management Information Systems
College Station, TX, USA
May 2010
Sardar Patel College of Engineering
Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics Engineering
Mumbai, India
July 2006
Skills
Agile Project Management
Agile Scrum Methodology
Iterative Planning
Leading Scrum Ceremonies
Collaboration and Communication
Stakeholder Management
Continuous Improvement
Adaptive Planning
Agile Tools and Techniques
Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)
Tools: Rally, Aha!
Data Engineering
Data Modeling
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
Data Pipelines
Data Integration
Aggregation of data from disparate sources
Data analysis with SQL
Using data analytics for leadership business reviews
Data Quality and Governance
Tools/Scripting Languages: SQL, PowerShell, Python, AWS S3, AWS RDS, AWS Glue, SSIS, Spark, MS Excel
Program Management
Leading programs from inception
Customer Relationship Management
Strategic Thinking
Stakeholder Management
Resource Management
Measuring Project Health
Contractor/Vendor Management
Change Management
Problem Solving
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Tools: Asana, Clarizen, JIRA, Confluence, Office 365