Riley Smith

Technical Program Manager @ Databricks

South Bend-Mishawaka Region

About

I help high-stakes ideas survive complexity, scale with clarity, and actually ship.

Experience

  • Technical Program Manager at Databricks
    Oct 2025 - Present · 10 mos

  • Product Analyst / Project Manager / Delivery Lead at Aunalytics
    Jul 2020 - Jun 2025 · 5 yrs

    Directed technical program delivery across 3–4 agile pods focused on AI/ML tooling and data platform products, supporting use cases in finance, healthcare, and insurance. Built scalable delivery frameworks and SOPs adopted across internal product and platform teams—cutting time-to-value from 11 months to 2 months for flagship offerings. Served as product/program lead for two enterprise-wide AI agents (HR and Service Desk), built with Open Web UI and GPT/Claude models on NVIDIA-powered GPU infrastructure. Led sprint planning, backlog prioritization, and roadmap execution in Jira; aligned deliverables across product, engineering, data science, and client success functions. Implemented program increment planning to synchronize delivery across product lines and manage resource tradeoffs across multiple concurrent initiatives. Owned delivery for $50K–$1M+ initiatives, ranging from fast-turn AI tools to scaled platform deployments.

  • Manager of HR Data and Process at Forward Air Corporation
    Aug 2016 - Mar 2020 · 3 yrs 8 mos

    Led $1M+ Oracle HCM rollout (Core HR & Benefits) across 5,000 employees and 90+ terminals—migrated 10,000+ employee records from COBOL-based legacy systems. Acted as Project Manager, Systems Administrator, and Trainer; developed documentation, user guides, and job aids adopted company-wide. Created compensation automation tools consolidating 90+ workflows, processing $10M+ in annual bonus calculations across 30+ roles. Served as liaison between HR, IT, Payroll, and executive leadership, translating operational requirements into technical implementation.

  • Project Manager / Business Analyst at Panther Premium Logistics
    May 2012 - Jul 2016 · 4 yrs 3 mos

    Spearheaded development and launch of mobile logistics platform for 2,000+ drivers—digitized load workflows, delivery documentation, and dispatch coordination. Led requirements gathering and product delivery across internal IT, operations, and finance teams; increased driver retention by 35% year-over-year. Built analytics tools using Cognos and Excel to improve recruiting throughput, reduce time-to-hire, and elevate frontline coaching.