KGKumar GauravStaff Data Architect

About Kumar Gaurav

I build the data foundations AI stands on.

Staff Data Architect at Cowbell. 12 years turning messy, high-stakes data into platforms that analytics, products and AI agents can trust.

Book a conversationSee the journey

The path

2014 to today

  1. 2014

    Python developer · American Megatrends

  2. 2017

    Product Development Engineer · Intel, via UST

  3. 2018

    SDE 3 · Ext: Uber, via Nineleaps

  4. 2019

    Senior Software Engineer · Blue Yonder

  5. 2021

    Principal Engineer · Nineleaps

  6. 2023

    Staff Software Engineer · Cowbell

  7. 2025

    Staff Data Architect · CowbellNow

Years building data systems
12+Years building data systems
Industries, firmware to cyber insurance
7Industries, firmware to cyber insurance
Engineers led and developed
15+Engineers led and developed
Data platforms in production
TB+Data platforms in production

The story

“Architecture is only real once it survives production.”

I started in 2014 writing Python at American Megatrends: firmware utilities, a version-control service and a master data system replicated across regions. That first job taught me what I still build on. Data only matters when people can trust it.

Every move since has meant a bigger system: validation frameworks for Intel processors, terabyte-scale external data for Ext: Uber, model computation for Blue Yonder's supply-chain AI, and a 15+ engineer Data Engineering team I built and led at Nineleaps.

Today at Cowbell, I architect the risk pool and data signals behind its AI agents, and the warehouses, frameworks and cross-region distribution around them. I stay hands-on, from the first design review to the code that ships.

Companies

Where I have worked.

Cowbell logoNineleaps logoBlue Yonder logoUST logoUSTAmerican Megatrends logoAmerican MegatrendsCowbell logoNineleaps logoBlue Yonder logoUST logoUSTAmerican Megatrends logoAmerican Megatrends

Toolkit

What I reach for.

Six disciplines, each one proven in production, with AWS at the core. Chosen for the problem, not the trend.

  1. 01

    Data Architecture

    The models, contracts and boundaries every downstream system depends on.

    Cowbell · Nineleaps · AMI

    • Enterprise Data Architecture
    • Medallion Architecture
    • Data Mart Design
    • Data Modeling
    • Master Data Management
    • Data Contracts
    • Governance & Lineage
    • Cross-Region Distribution
    • Data Residency & PII
    • OLTP / OLAP Separation
  2. 02

    AWS

    Core platform

    My core platform. Warehouses, pipelines and AI services designed for scale, cost and failure.

    Cowbell · Blue Yonder · UST · AMI · Nineleaps

    • Redshift
    • Glue
    • S3
    • Athena
    • EMR
    • Lake Formation
    • Kinesis
    • MSK
    • DMS
    • Step Functions
    • RDS / Aurora
    • DynamoDB
    • OpenSearch
    • Lambda
    • ECS
    • SQS
    • SNS
    • EventBridge
    • CloudWatch
    • IAM
    • SageMaker
    • Bedrock
    • Comprehend
    • Textract
    • Terraform
  3. 03

    AI & Machine Learning

    Data that agents and models can trust, and the AI systems built on it.

    Cowbell · Blue Yonder

    • Agentic AI
    • LLMs
    • RAG
    • Real-Time Voice Agents
    • Vector Databases
    • Embeddings
    • Tool Calling
    • Guardrails
    • ML Model Computation
    • AI-Ready Data Architecture
  4. 04

    Data Engineering

    Terabyte-scale pipelines, batch and streaming, built to be operated.

    Ext: Uber · Nineleaps · Cowbell

    • Python
    • Spark / PySpark
    • Kafka
    • dbt
    • SQL
    • CDC
    • Streaming
    • ETL / ELT
    • Data Quality
    • Azure Synapse
  5. 05

    Platform & Delivery

    Frameworks and automation that let many teams ship without manual steps.

    Intel · Blue Yonder · AMI

    • Metadata-Driven Frameworks
    • Zero-Touch CI/CD
    • Microservices
    • Test Automation
    • Compiler-Style Code Generation
    • Version Control Systems
    • Release Automation
  6. 06

    Leadership

    Setting the technical bar and growing the engineers who meet it.

    Nineleaps · Cowbell · UST

    • Architecture Strategy
    • Design Reviews
    • Team Building
    • Mentoring 15+ Engineers
    • Campus Hiring
    • Cross-Team Platforms
    • Stakeholder Alignment

Education

Where it started.

  1. 2009 - 2013

    Sagar Institute of Research & Technology (SIRT)

    Bachelor of Engineering (BE) · Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

    Freelance web developer

    I supported myself through college by building websites. My clients included government schools across Bihar and Jharkhand, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, for whom I designed and built their official sites.

    • KV RWP Bela
    • KV Jhaphan
    • KV Kahalgaon
    • KV Banka
    • KV CRPF Mokama
    • KV Lakhisarai
    • KV Muzaffarpur
    • KV Jamalpur
    • JNV Dumka
    • JNV Banka

  2. 2006 - 2008

    Navyug Vidyalaya

    Senior Secondary, CBSE · Bhagalpur, Bihar

  3. 1995 - 2006

    Saint Joseph's School

    Secondary, ICSE · Pakartalla, Kahalgaon, Bihar