AI · Machine Learning · Analytics

Ritesh Kumar — Data Science Leader.

Models, forecasts, language-model integrations, and the governance frameworks that keep them honest once they're in production.

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01

Experience

Eight senior roles across data science, analytics and process excellence — from Wipro to Sutherland.

  1. 2022 – 2024

    Sutherland Global Services

    Director, Data Science

    Led data-science initiatives within the Customer Experience team for Amazon, Netflix, McAfee and GoDaddy.

    • As Product Owner, spearheaded 80+ automated Power BI dashboards for Amazon and Netflix with SQL real-time integration — reallocating the workload of 8 full-time employees.
    • Optimized sales forecasting for McAfee by analysing 800,000+ CRM tickets using a Weighted Ensemble model.
    • Lifted GoDaddy revenue ~15% via k-means clustering and Market Basket Analysis on ~200,000 transactions, surfacing 35 frequent product combinations.
    • Improved Netflix weekend Customer Satisfaction by 25% through performance-metric analysis and process improvements.
    • Investigated Sony PlayStation refund processes — competitors offering larger refunds saw a 5% higher satisfaction rate.
    • Engineered LLM-powered text summarization and topic extraction in Power BI for Amazon's Agent Feedback dashboard using Gemini and GPT.

  2. 2021

    Dentsu Advertising & Media

    Partner, Data Science

    Guided a 10-member team to develop media mix models for 11 Maruti Suzuki car models, analysing 50+ factors including seasonality, COVID-19 impact, and marketing spend.

    • Sourced data from 7 third-party vendors; conducted exploratory data analysis and identified key sales drivers.
    • Selected linear regression with Box-Cox transformation as the final model for eight cars, achieving the lowest RMSE.
    • Deployed the solution securely on AWS for Maruti Suzuki's internal use.

  3. 2020

    Nokia Solutions & Networks

    Sales (Analytics) Process Manager

    Directed process improvement for Nokia's €5 billion sales-order management system, optimizing productivity and decision-making globally.

    • New KPIs reduced wasted bidding efforts by 25%.
    • Built a Power BI sales dashboard accessed in 130 countries.

  4. 2017 – 2020

    Cognizant Technology Solutions

    Deputy General Manager, Process Excellence

    Oversaw process-excellence initiatives for a $120 million Google–Cognizant engagement.

    • Built an LSTM model to forecast key metrics and optimise service levels for a critical process — 90% accuracy.
    • Transitioned the training program from Minitab to Excel; trained 25 associates in Lean Six Sigma.

  5. 2015 – 2017

    Genpact India

    Senior Manager, Quality

    Six Sigma initiatives for UCB, Mondelez, and TD Bank.

    • Mentored 15 Green Belt projects delivering $2.6M in collective business impact.
    • Assessed Robotic Process Automation potential across 45 processes.

  6. 2006 – 2015

    Wipro Technologies

    Manager, Process Excellence

    Global process-excellence initiatives across multiple countries via Six Sigma, Lean, and ITIL — delivering significant operational improvement and cost savings.

    • British Telecom. Directed a 90-member team; annual cost savings of $100K.
    • Proposals. 15+ high-impact proposals securing projects worth ~$3M.
    • Telenor. Tri-party governance frameworks for Uninor vendor management.
    • Southern Water. Managed PMO for a £2M SAP implementation.
    • Citibank (NY). Lean redesign of virtual server configuration — 30% cycle-time reduction; 10% on physical servers.
    • Saudi Aramco. ITIL implementation in Al Khobar, improving service-level and configuration.
    • Harman International. Service-desk headcount from 100 to 35; $3.2M annual savings; CSAT 68% → 96% in four weeks.
    • Wipro–Aircel. Continuous improvement across 40 domains in a $600M engagement; 150 SIPs; ~$5M quarterly savings.

  7. 2004 – 2006

    Max New York Life Insurance

    Agent

    • Secured 180+ individual life-insurance policies — top 2% of 15,000 agents; Executive Council 2006.

  8. 1994 – 2006

    The Magic Prints

    Founder

    • Established a pioneering screen-printing and embossing business, introducing reflective-film welding technology in India's footwear industry.

02

Selected projects

Self-directed work from the M.S. and beyond. Long-form write-ups on the blog.

  1. NLP · Topic modeling

    UNGA topic analysis

    A comparative study of LDA and Topic GPT on UN General Assembly speeches. LDA surfaced wide-angle themes — peace, security; Topic GPT picked out the close-up — climate, human rights.

    Read the full write-up →

  2. Deep learning · Finance

    Algorithmic trading with CNN for BankNifty

    A CNN-driven system forecasting minute-by-minute price movement of the BankNifty index. Notable predictive accuracy and a promising live-market profile.

    Read the full write-up →

  3. Clustering · Revenue operations

    Salesperson segmentation for revenue optimization

    K-means separated the sales force into two distinct cohorts — fewer high-value sales versus roughly twice as many low-value ones. Training and resource allocation followed; overall revenue rose 15%.

  4. Business intelligence · Power BI

    Netflix performance metrics dashboard

    In-depth performance analysis paired with a dynamic Power BI dashboard, lifting weekend Customer Satisfaction by 25%.

  5. LLMs · Business intelligence

    LLMs in Power BI

    LLM-powered text summarization and topic extraction inside Power BI — Gemini and GPT producing filter-responsive summaries on an Agent Feedback dashboard, with a text-to-image step around the platform's text-rendering limits.

  6. Media mix modeling · Automotive

    Media mix models for Maruti car sales

    Eleven Maruti car models. 50+ sales-influencing factors including seasonality, COVID-19 impact and marketing spend. Linear regression with Box-Cox transformation delivered the best fit on eight models, deployed securely on AWS.

03

Education

A graduate-school flagship at Northwestern, technical degrees from BITS Pilani and the University of Delhi, and executive education at the Indian Institutes of Management.

Also GMAT — 710 (92nd percentile)  ·  International academic qualifications verified by WES

04

Certifications

Verified credentials across AI & cloud, applied statistics, and process management. Click any title to view the issuing organisation's verification page.

AI & Cloud

Statistics, ML & Programming

Process, Project & Service

05

Contact

Open to senior data-science and AI engagements. Replies within two business days.

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