Post by Rajesh K.

Today is my last official day at Nike. Seven years in, and somehow, it also feels like the right day to begin. This chapter didn't start at Nike. It started at Celect - an MIT-founded startup under the visionary leadership of John Andrews that was building AI for retail at a time when most retailers didn't know they needed it. I joined as a customer-facing data lead, flying out to client headquarters, sitting as a data expert in rooms with merchandising teams and supply chain leaders, translating their hardest inventory and demand problems into solutions we were building in real time. That experience - being close to the customer, earning their trust through precision and delivery - shaped everything that came after. Then Nike acquired Celect. And I came with it. The seven years that followed were transformative. I got to work inside one of the most complex supply chains in the world - building the data and AI systems that helped Nike decide how to allocate product to thousands of stores across North America, EMEA, Greater China and Asia Pacific; how to set and recover margin through pricing and markdown optimization; how to simulate the future through digital twin capabilities. The problems were genuinely hard. The stakes were real. And the work, at its best, made a real decision better for a real person. But what I'll remember most is the people. Some of them I've now worked alongside for almost nine years - since the Celect days. Cyril Stark , who has been a technical north star, a relentless thinker, and a true colleague across nearly a decade: thank you. Juan Manuel Chaneton & Madeleine Flint for being the best managers & mentors I could have ever asked for; Rebecca Miller, Duke Adamonis, Eric Kuo, Elena C., Brian Griffin, Roland Erickson and many others (too many to list - you know who you are), who made the work sharper, more honest, and more meaningful than I could have made it alone - I'm grateful. Growing alongside this team has been one of the most defining experiences of my career. What's next is something I've been building toward quietly for a while. A period of full-time focus and research to build the deep technical foundation I want to carry into my next phase. And then: back to what I loved most at Celect. Customer-facing. Solutions delivery. AI engineering at the frontier of what's actually possible - this time, working directly with companies building on the platforms I've been living inside. Some chapters end exactly when they should.