Rado Parrak

As the Platform Owner for AlzaBrain at Alza, I am leading the development and execution of strategy for our company-wide, cloud-based platform for data, analytics, and AI. The primary mission of AlzaBrain is to empower the entire data community within Alza (both contributors and consumers) by providing them with comprehensive and accessible data, analytics and AI capabilities.

The platform offers three key functions:

(1) Unified cloud data lakehouse: Hosting core data engineering… Zobrazit více

As the Platform Owner for AlzaBrain at Alza, I am leading the development and execution of strategy for our company-wide, cloud-based platform for data, analytics, and AI. The primary mission of AlzaBrain is to empower the entire data community within Alza (both contributors and consumers) by providing them with comprehensive and accessible data, analytics and AI capabilities.

The platform offers three key functions:

(1) Unified cloud data lakehouse: Hosting core data engineering pipelines and essential company data for BI and data science product development/operations.
(2) Self-service data science workspaces: Providing relevant data connectors to the lakehouse and AI tooling, enabling autonomous development, deployment, and serving of data science products.
(3) Self-service BI workspaces: Providing relevant data connectors to the lakehouse and BI tooling, enabling autonomous development, deployment, and serving of BI products.

AlzaBrain acts as a central hub, uniting data, tooling, and the data community under common governance and security.

My responsibilities include:
- Defining strategic platform requirements for broad utility across Alza's data teams.
- Establishing and prioritizing infrastructure/use-case backlogs for platform implementation and execution.
- Building and leading AlzaBrain's development and operations teams.
- Developing/defending the business case to the Steering Committee, aligning with Alza's strategic objectives.
- Overseeing data governance and FinOps setup.
- Evangelizing AlzaBrain to stakeholders and driving user onboarding for maximum adoption and impact.
- Implementing effective governance and FinOps for secure, cost-efficient operations.

I report directly to the Steering Committee (IT Directors and board members) on priorities, timeline, and ROI. Zobrazit méně

As the Programme Owner for the AlzaCloud programme, I am leading a strategic multi-year initiative to establish a central, company-wide cloud platform. This initiative encompasses multiple programme streams, spanning purely technical aspects like cloud infrastructure setup, landing zone implementation, and CI/CD, to product and business streams including data analytics & AI and personalization. Success hinges on extensive cross-functional coordination between the IT department and a diverse… Zobrazit více

As the Programme Owner for the AlzaCloud programme, I am leading a strategic multi-year initiative to establish a central, company-wide cloud platform. This initiative encompasses multiple programme streams, spanning purely technical aspects like cloud infrastructure setup, landing zone implementation, and CI/CD, to product and business streams including data analytics & AI and personalization. Success hinges on extensive cross-functional coordination between the IT department and a diverse team of internal stakeholders (including the Board of Directors and various business and operational departments), as well as external partners (multiple implementation partners and the vendor).

My core responsibilities include:
- defining and executing comprehensive RFI and RFP rounds
- scoping the entire programme
- developing and defending the business case to the Board of Directors, and ensuring alignment with Alza's overall strategic objectives.
- evangelizing the cloud vision to stakeholders across the organization.
- building the AlzaCloud team by sourcing internal talent from across multiple IT departments, defining and recruiting for new roles, and selecting and onboarding external implementation partners and the chosen vendor.
- defining the strategic-level requirements for the AlzaCloud platform to ensure its broad utility across various business and product streams. This includes establishing and prioritizing the use-case backlog to drive programme execution.
- implementing effective governance and FinOps frameworks to ensure secure and cost-efficient cloud operations.

I lead a mixed team of 50+ professionals from various Alza's IT units, our implementation partners, and the vendor. The successful execution of the AlzaCloud programme is a key strategic priority for Alza, and thus I report directly to the Board of Directors on its progress, strategic direction and ROI. Zobrazit méně

I spearheaded a strategic initiative aimed at significantly improving the dynamic pricing capabilities at Alza. Recognizing the vital role of effective pricing in a competitive e-commerce landscape, this project focused on optimizing our approach to pricing Alza's extensive product catalogue.

A key first step involved the formation of a dedicated cross-functional team. This team brought together expertise from various departments across Alza, including IT, business (sales, purchasing)… Zobrazit více

I spearheaded a strategic initiative aimed at significantly improving the dynamic pricing capabilities at Alza. Recognizing the vital role of effective pricing in a competitive e-commerce landscape, this project focused on optimizing our approach to pricing Alza's extensive product catalogue.

A key first step involved the formation of a dedicated cross-functional team. This team brought together expertise from various departments across Alza, including IT, business (sales, purchasing), and operations (logistics, supply chain).

We then undertook a thorough analysis to identify the core inefficiencies and limitations within the currently utilized solution for pricing. This involved examining data, processes, and stakeholder feedback to pinpoint areas where improvements could yield the most significant impact on revenue, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

Based on our findings, I led the design and proposal of several key improvements to our dynamic pricing strategy and the underlying IT systems. These recommendations were presented to and ultimately approved by a dedicated Steering Committee (comprised of two influential members of Alza's Board of Directors: the CEO and the board member responsible for Sales and Marketing).

Following the approval, I oversaw the implementation of the agreed-upon fixes and enhancements to the dynamic pricing system. This involved close collaboration with the IT team to ensure seamless integration and effective deployment of the new functionalities.

Finally, I played a key role in establishing a strategic roadmap for the future evolution of dynamic pricing at Alza.cz. To ensure the long-term success and sustainability of this area, I also actively supported the onboarding process for a newly hired Product Owner who would take ownership of the dynamic pricing domain moving forward. This included knowledge transfer, outlining the strategic vision, and providing guidance on future development priorities. Zobrazit méně

As Product Owner for "YQ" at Credo, I led the development of a cutting-edge, cloud-based Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) platform. Built as a managed Kubeflow environment, YQ streamlined and accelerated the entire ML model lifecycle.

YQ's core mission was to empower data science and ML engineering teams with a unified tool suite, simplifying the journey from data to deployed, monitored models. It provided a central infrastructure for dataset management, model experimentation, ML… Zobrazit více

As Product Owner for "YQ" at Credo, I led the development of a cutting-edge, cloud-based Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) platform. Built as a managed Kubeflow environment, YQ streamlined and accelerated the entire ML model lifecycle.

YQ's core mission was to empower data science and ML engineering teams with a unified tool suite, simplifying the journey from data to deployed, monitored models. It provided a central infrastructure for dataset management, model experimentation, ML workflow orchestration, and scalable AI application deployment.

Key features included:

- Simplified Data Management: Seamless connectivity and tools for data exploration/preparation.
- Accelerated Model Training: Leveraging Kubeflow for distributed training on Kubernetes, supporting custom and potentially AutoML approaches.
- Scalable Model Deployment: Easy deployment of models as APIs or batch jobs (similar to Vertex AI).
- Robust Model Monitoring: Real-time performance monitoring, drift detection, and alerting for reliable AI systems.
- Collaborative Workspaces: Dedicated environments for team collaboration, experiment management, and version tracking.

My role involved the complete product lifecycle, including:

- Defining strategic vision and platform roadmap.
- Gathering/prioritizing requirements from client data scientists, ML engineers, and stakeholders.
- Leading solution design based on Docker, Kubeflow, Kubernetes, ElasticStack, and Spark, deployable on cloud infrastructure.
- Collaborating with development to translate requirements into features and ensure timely delivery.
- Evangelizing YQ to Credo's customer base and driving user adoption. Zobrazit méně

As a Lead Data Scientist and Architect, I partner with one of our key clients to design and build a robust and scalable cloud-based analytics environment. In this role, I am instrumental in shaping the client's data-driven capabilities by establishing a modern and efficient infrastructure for advanced analytics and predictive modeling.

My primary responsibilities include architecting the complete solution for their analytical environment, ensuring it leverages the full potential of cloud… Zobrazit více

As a Lead Data Scientist and Architect, I partner with one of our key clients to design and build a robust and scalable cloud-based analytics environment. In this role, I am instrumental in shaping the client's data-driven capabilities by establishing a modern and efficient infrastructure for advanced analytics and predictive modeling.

My primary responsibilities include architecting the complete solution for their analytical environment, ensuring it leverages the full potential of cloud platforms like AWS and Azure. This involves designing a resilient, cost-effective, and high-performing system tailored to their specific analytical needs and data volumes.

A significant aspect of my work involves defining and implementing best practices in the realm of predictive modeling, specifically leveraging the power and scalability of cloud computing technologies. This includes establishing guidelines for model development, deployment, monitoring, and governance, ensuring the client's data science initiatives are both innovative and reliable.

I am also responsible for the design of the data architecture and infrastructure of the persistence layer within the cloud analytics environment. This involves selecting appropriate data storage solutions, designing efficient data pipelines, and ensuring data integrity and security for the client's valuable datasets.

The technology stack I primarily utilize in this role includes AWS and Azure for cloud infrastructure, Kubeflow and Kubernetes for orchestrating machine learning workflows, Python for data analysis and model development, Jupyter Notebooks for exploratory work and prototyping, and Spark (often leveraging managed services like EMR or DataBricks) for large-scale data processing and analysis. My expertise in these technologies allows me to build and optimize a cutting-edge analytics environment that empowers the client to extract valuable insights and drive strategic decisions through data science. Zobrazit méně