About
Ravi Kiran Nukala — AI Leader
San Francisco Bay Area
I lead engineering organizations that build AI-driven data platforms at scale — platform modernization, generative AI on cloud, and reliable systems that serve millions of users and requests.
Over 20+ years I have grown from hands-on engineering into director-level leadership — building teams, modernizing monoliths into microservices, and shipping platforms that handle serious traffic and compliance expectations in financial and consumer technology.
Today my work centers on AI leadership: generative AI on cloud (including Gemini on Vertex AI), agentic applications, retrieval and ingestion pipelines, and the operational discipline to run them safely in production. Outside of work I build open projects such as LifeOS and MCP demos — practical assistants, not slide decks.
Career highlights
- Scaled platform engineering from the ground up to 100+ engineers across platform, UI, and mobile
- Generative AI on Vertex AI (Gemini) for document generation, NLP retrieval, and data ingestion
- Platform capabilities: API platform, identity, Kafka event streaming, microservices, data ingress/egress
- 99.99% uptime partnerships with SRE; API latency under 200ms at peak concurrent load
- 50%+ developer productivity gains via self-service microservice scaffolding
Earlier experience
- Advertising technology — global platform teams; configuration-driven rollout across dozens of markets; ML-assisted media planning.
- Digital wealth / fintech — scaled consumer apps serving millions of users; data platforms for insights and product features.
- Enterprise consulting & engineering — Java/Spring platforms, database design, and delivery across US and international teams.
Education
- Post Graduate Program, Cloud Computing (Azure, GCP, AWS) — The University of Texas at Austin
- M.S., Software Engineering — BITS Pilani
- B.E., Mechanical Engineering — Vasavi College of Engineering, Osmania University
Certifications
- Generative AI: Zero to Smart — Maven
- Building Agentic AI Applications — Maven
What I am exploring now
- Agentic AI in production (not demos)
- Platform modernization and developer experience
- Data platforms, observability, and reliability
- Responsible AI governance patterns
- Side projects: LifeOS, MCP integrations, personal agents