Rob R.
Customer-facing leadership for the best AI infrastructure firms on the planet.
I am a business value-focused technology executive with a rare combination of skills: customer-facing engineering team leadership, go-to-market strategy, and leadership for enterprises undergoing technology transformation.
More
My deep experience in cloud migration, AI/machine learning and data analytics/visualization, enterprise security, networking, storage, and distributed systems architecture has informed senior leadership roles at industry stalwarts Cisco Systems, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, NetApp, and Sun Microsystems, as well as startups Platfora (now part of Workday), MapR Technologies (now part of HPE), and Zone Labs (now part of Check Point Software Technologies). Building and scaling customer-facing teams is one of my core competencies. I've interviewed over a thousand people (450 at Amazon ), hired hundreds of highly talented engineers, and personally mentored dozens to help them reach personal and professional goals. I've led large and small teams, and also enjoy delivering strategic value as a customer-facing individual I'm adept at public speaking and have given many highly-rated presentations at a variety of symposia including Strata/Hadoop World, Hadoop Summit, Big Data Everywhere, and TDWI, and have blogged for my own employers as well as Cloudera, Cisco, and My employees, customers, and business partners have recognized me as a customer-obsessed, adaptable, curious, and authentic leader known for thriving in ambiguity, while empathetically collaborating with diverse stakeholders to gain agreement on complex topics. I love solving tough problems, particularly when there's a cross-functional gap that needs to be filled to deliver customer value; I'm profoundly grateful for the opportunity to do this for my customers and employees.
GTM Index
- CISCOJOB
- Dir , Worldwide Solutions…11M
Director , Worldwide Solutions Engineering
Cisco
Leading a global team of AI compute and datacenter networking experts incubating solutions and providing strategic guidance to Cisco's Compute and AI stakeholders.
- MOBIUSENGINE.AIJOB
- GTM Adviser2Y 8M
GTM Adviser at MobiusEngine.ai
MobiusEngine.AI
Facilitating MobiusEngine's market differentiation and expansion
- MORFIUS.AIJOB
- GTM Adviser2Y 7M
GTM Adviser
Morfius.ai
Advising on go-to-market strategy, product-market fit, and pilot execution for strategic customers of this innovative AI-enabled workflow automation platform.
- VARIOUSJOB
- Cloud Technology Solution…2Y 7M
Cloud Technology Solution Architect/GTM Leadership Adviser
Various
Subject matter expert advising industry analysts, hedge funds, investors, and consultancies on various aspects of Cloud and Cloud-based workloads, including enterprise AI deployment and data management.
- GOOGLEJOB
- Dir Solution Architecture,…3Y 5M
Director Solution Architecture, Best Practices, and Global Competitive Intelligence
Google
Leadership for a global team of senior technology experts delivering Cloud transformation, competitive strategy, best practices, and data center exit consultancy. Executive responsibility for Solutions Co-Innovation with Google Cloud's largest Financial Services customer. Global leadership for Solution Architecture. Functional responsibility for Google Cloud's best practices initiative, Architecture Framework as well as Google Cloud's global Competitive Intelligence function.
- AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS)JOB
- Area Leader, US Territory…10M
Area Leader, US Territory Solutions Architecture
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Responsible for the technical presales component of AWS' largest customer segment. Hired and scaled a team of 200 Solutions Architects responsible for workload identification and deployment; scaled delivery by hiring senior second-line leadership in the US. Expanded territory coverage by 35% in strategic segments including startups, Private Equity, Digital Native, and SMB.
- Head, Specialist Solution…2Y 5M
Head, Specialist Solution Architecture - Americas Sales
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Leadership for the Americas Specialist SA function as part of the AWS Solution Architect team. Functional responsibility for horizonal (AI and Machine Learning, Security, IoT, Database, Analytics, HPC, Storage) and vertical (Startup, Private Equity, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Media and Entertainment, Gaming, EDA) solutions architecture. Quadrupled team size, increasing solutions coverage by 20%. Expanded Business Unit relationships with Product and GTM strategy team, clarifying competitive strategy through differentiated use case identification and repeatable execution.
- PLATFORAJOB
- Sr Dir Solutions2Y 4M
Sr Director Solutions
Platfora
Enabled big data discovery with Platfora's team of highly talented solutions architects. Doubled presales coverage in six months by clarifying role definition and optimizing presales and partner onboarding. Tripled volume of trained partner staff, growing partner revenue contribution from 2% to 100%. Platfora was acquired by Workday in August 2016.
- MAPR TECHNOLOGIESJOB
- Sr Dir WW Systems Eng2Y 1M
Sr Director WW Systems Engineering
MapR Technologies
Built worldwide presales and partner enablement teams from scratch. Led key partner engagements with Cisco, EMC, Google, and AWS. Drove several Fortune 100 customer engagements leading to 90+% technical win rate. MapR was acquired by HPE.
- NETAPPJOB
- Mgr - Consulting Systems E…1Y 9M
Manager - Consulting Systems Engineering, West Enterprise Sales
NetApp
Lead a team of Solution Architects in virtualization, Cloud architecture and workflow orchestration, data protection (DPR), cluster and object storage, Big Data solutions (Hadoop/NoSQL), database technology, Microsoft integration, and storage resource management (SRM).
- Regional SE Mgr1Y 9M
Regional SE Manager
NetApp
Leadership for Northwest Commercial Region SE team. Authored Partner Playbook, a set of differentiated repeatable use cases, and trained Western Region partners and sales teams on its execution, enabling 20% output increase despite 15% headcount reduction.
- CONSENTRY NETWORKSJOB
- Dir, WW Services and Sales…1Y 1M
Director, WW Services and Sales Engineering
ConSentry Networks
Responsible for worldwide pre-sales engineering, Professional Services, Training, and TAC for this innovative late-stage startup delivering high-speed identity-aware switching.
- Job: Cisco — Director , Worldwide Solutions Engineering · 2025-11 – present · 9 mo — Leading a global team of AI compute and datacenter networking experts incubating solutions and providing strategic guidance to Cisco's Compute and AI stakeholders.
- Job: MobiusEngine.AI — GTM Adviser at MobiusEngine.ai · 2024-02 – present · 2y 6mo — Facilitating MobiusEngine's market differentiation and expansion
- Job: Morfius.ai — GTM Adviser · 2023-04 – 2025-11 · 2y 7mo — Advising on go-to-market strategy, product-market fit, and pilot execution for strategic customers of this innovative AI-enabled workflow automation platform.
- Job: Various — Cloud Technology Solution Architect/GTM Leadership Adviser · 2023-04 – 2025-11 · 2y 7mo — Subject matter expert advising industry analysts, hedge funds, investors, and consultancies on various aspects of Cloud and Cloud-based workloads, including enterprise AI deployment and data management.
- Job: Google — Director Solution Architecture, Best Practices, and Global Competitive Intelligence · 2019-11 – 2023-04 · 3y 5mo — Leadership for a global team of senior technology experts delivering Cloud transformation, competitive strategy, best practices, and data center exit consultancy. Executive responsibility for Solutions Co-Innovation with Google Cloud's largest Financial Services customer. Global leadership for Solution Architecture. Functional responsibility for Google Cloud's best practices initiative, Architecture Framework as well as Google Cloud's global Competitive Intelligence function.
- Job: Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Area Leader, US Territory Solutions Architecture · 2019-01 – 2019-11 · 10 mo — Responsible for the technical presales component of AWS' largest customer segment. Hired and scaled a team of 200 Solutions Architects responsible for workload identification and deployment; scaled delivery by hiring senior second-line leadership in the US. Expanded territory coverage by 35% in strategic segments including startups, Private Equity, Digital Native, and SMB.
- Job: Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Head, Specialist Solution Architecture - Americas Sales · 2016-07 – 2018-12 · 2y 5mo — Leadership for the Americas Specialist SA function as part of the AWS Solution Architect team. Functional responsibility for horizonal (AI and Machine Learning, Security, IoT, Database, Analytics, HPC, Storage) and vertical (Startup, Private Equity, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Media and Entertainment, Gaming, EDA) solutions architecture. Quadrupled team size, increasing solutions coverage by 20%. Expanded Business Unit relationships with Product and GTM strategy team, clarifying competitive strategy through differentiated use case identification and repeatable execution.
- Job: Platfora — Sr Director Solutions · 2014-03 – 2016-07 · 2y 4mo — Enabled big data discovery with Platfora's team of highly talented solutions architects. Doubled presales coverage in six months by clarifying role definition and optimizing presales and partner onboarding. Tripled volume of trained partner staff, growing partner revenue contribution from 2% to 100%. Platfora was acquired by Workday in August 2016.
- Job: MapR Technologies — Sr Director WW Systems Engineering · 2012-01 – 2014-02 · 2y 1mo — Built worldwide presales and partner enablement teams from scratch. Led key partner engagements with Cisco, EMC, Google, and AWS. Drove several Fortune 100 customer engagements leading to 90+% technical win rate. MapR was acquired by HPE.
- Job: NetApp — Manager - Consulting Systems Engineering, West Enterprise Sales · 2010-04 – 2012-01 · 1y 9mo — Lead a team of Solution Architects in virtualization, Cloud architecture and workflow orchestration, data protection (DPR), cluster and object storage, Big Data solutions (Hadoop/NoSQL), database technology, Microsoft integration, and storage resource management (SRM).
- Job: NetApp — Regional SE Manager · 2008-07 – 2010-04 · 1y 9mo — Leadership for Northwest Commercial Region SE team. Authored Partner Playbook, a set of differentiated repeatable use cases, and trained Western Region partners and sales teams on its execution, enabling 20% output increase despite 15% headcount reduction.
- Job: ConSentry Networks — Director, WW Services and Sales Engineering · 2007-03 – 2008-04 · 1y 1mo — Responsible for worldwide pre-sales engineering, Professional Services, Training, and TAC for this innovative late-stage startup delivering high-speed identity-aware switching.
- School: University of California, Berkeley — BS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Skills
Playbooks
All playbooks →No playbooks indexed for this profile yet.


ex-Cognition