Rodrigo brings over 22 years of technical expertise, consistently delivering impactful IT solutions across a diverse range of sectors, including finance, technology, automotive, security, logistics, tourism, health, and real estate. He excels in steering IT teams and organizations towards achieving their business goals through a robust focus on digital strategy. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, Rodrigo drives innovation and technical excellence, ensuring that enterprise objectives are met with precision. He presented initiative results and best-practice standards at the CEO and vice presidents' executive levels. His deep technical knowledge is a cornerstone, enabling him to anticipate technical solutions and strategically provision resources, control the budget, and develop key partnerships that are essential for delivering efficient solutions. His career path and people management skills form the foundation for guiding and expanding cross-functional teams worldwide and fostering positive work environments, which are crucial for the successful execution of projects. Rodrigo has demonstrated a remarkable ability to steer complex projects from the inception phase to full operation. His passion for technology is further evidenced by his contributions to scientific publications in Data Science, AI, and parallel and distributed computing, as well as his commitment to advancing the field and sharing knowledge among the broader community.
Rodrigo Tavares
HEAD OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | Data Science | Engineering
Contact:
+55 21 986305096
Linkedin:
www.linkedin.com/in/rtavares187
Location:
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
EDUCATION
May 2021
Post-grad. in Blockchain
UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK
Emphasis on Smart Contracts and DApps.
Feb 2019
MSc. in Computer Science
CEFET/RJ, RIO DE JANEIRO
Specialization in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.
Dec 2012
BSc. in Business Administration
UERJ, RIO DE JANEIRO
Emphasis on management systems for decision support.
EXPERIENCE
Out 2023 - Current
Head of AI
MERCEDES-BENZ AG
Stuttgart, Germany
I joined Mercedes-Benz’s global headquarters in Stuttgart as Head of AI Products in the After-Sales Department, supporting the MB Global Training business unit. I lead global teams in delivering new products, accelerating technology adoption, strengthening IT governance, and shaping AI strategy. I scale advanced digital products across the Mercedes-Benz ecosystem, using AI-driven innovation to generate business impact.
Key Achievements:
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Created and advanced an agentic AI platform designed to host diverse intelligent solutions, including chatbots, virtual sales assistants, training advisors, and predictive and prescriptive analytics agents. The platform currently hosts 61 AI agents, with new agents added weekly. It enables content creation, AI-driven decision-making across business contexts, and rollouts to markets, countries, and departments throughout Mercedes-Benz. This initiative established a scalable foundation for adopting AI-powered solutions across the global enterprise.
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Led the development of a large-scale architecture for the global learning management system, which delivers online training to dealers, supports competency management and e-learning, and provides integrated learner tracking. The architecture increased capacity in China by 730%, enabling more than 11,000 dealers across multiple regions to conduct training, testing, and real-time result processing simultaneously.
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Drove a project to establish a complex technical integration between the reporting platform used by markets worldwide and the global learning platform, ensuring seamless authentication and authorization across systems. The integration improved UX and strengthened the connection between reporting and learning operations, providing dealers and outlets worldwide with a more secure, consistent digital experience.
Jun 2021 - Jul 2023
Director of Engineering
TOPTAL
California, EUA (Remote)
As Director of Engineering at Toptal, a premier Silicon Valley company, I led a core team entrusted with a portfolio of high-profile clients, including Google, Pfizer, and Philips. I adeptly navigated both business and technical landscapes to ensure seamless team assembly, project execution, and overall success. Key Achievements:
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On-time delivery for 87% of projects and within expected costs for 91%.
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Scaled a high-performing, cross-functional team by 26% to accommodate new clients.
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Achieved a customer retention rate of 82%.
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Attained a customer conversion rate of 38%, boosting client numbers on the USA East Coast and Europe.
Apr 2018 - Jun 2021
Program Manager
Multiplan Empreendimentos S.A
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
At Multiplan, the largest mall constructor and administrator in Latin America, I led a 21-member IT development team to deliver impactful projects and achieve significant corporate goals. Key Achievements:
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Attained a 23% cost reduction in infrastructure and support activities by seamlessly migrating legacy systems to Azure. In parallel, I migrated the core ESB solution to a microservices architecture, setting new governance and DevSecOps standards, facilitating technological evolution.
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Optimized lease negotiation time by 36% with the implementation of a cutting-edge BI system that visualizes business indicators on 2D shopping maps.
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Delivered critical web systems and mobile applications, enhancing the functionalities of SAP FI, MM, RE, CO, and PS modules.
Sep 2016 - Apr 2018
Master's Researcher
CAPES - CEFET/RJ
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
During my master's degree at CEFET/RJ, a federal educational technology center of excellence in Brazil, I accomplished the following key achievements:
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Published a scientific article accepted by the Brazilian Symposium on Databases (SBBD) titled "Supporting the Imputation Process with Machine Learning Techniques".
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Developed the large-scale imputation framework Appraisal-Spark, which implements the techniques from my master's thesis. Appraisal-Spark has since been adopted by the data science community to apply imputation techniques to a variety of data structures.
Sep 2012 - Aug 2016
Tech Lead
SICPA Holding S.A.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
At SICPA, a Swiss company renowned for providing over 85% of the world's currency inks, I served as Tech Lead, achieving significant milestones. Key Achievements:
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Led the development team for the Scorpios project (12 members), the official Brazilian IRS solution for tracking and tracing cigarette production. This pioneering system, the first to operate on the H1000—the fastest cigarette packer globally—enabled real-time validation of security stamps across multiple industrial production lines, integrating complex electronic and mechanical components. Scorpios continues to provide production tracking, reporting, and fraud detection to this day.
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Oversaw project evolution and technical requirements in collaboration with the client, Casa da Moeda do Brasil (The Brazilian Mint), ensuring successful homologation of production lines.
Jun 2010 - Sep 2012
Lead Software Architect
CTIS
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Jul 2009 - Jun 2010
Software Development Analyst
DELL
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Jul 2007 - Jun 2009
Senior Software Developer
WTH (World Travel Holdings)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Oct 2005 - Jul 2007
Software Developer
DBA
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
May 2004 - Jan 2005
IT Intern - Junior Dev
Lopes Filho Investment Consultancy
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
CERTIFICATIONS
PMP (Project Management Professional)
PSPO (Professional Scrum Product Owner)
COBIT® 2019 Foundation
PSM (Professional Scrum Master)
AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATION
SBBD (BRAZILIAN SYMPOSIUM ON DATABASES), 2018 | Scientific paper published in the machine learning section:
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Supporting the imputation process with machine learning techniques: https://sbbd.org.br/2018/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/08/sbbd-proceedings-vol-01.pdf
PRAISE FOR MASTER'S DISSERTATION
CEFET/RJ, 2020:
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Praise for the contribution of scientific production, technical support for improving the program's computational infrastructure, and performance during the dissertation defense: An approach for large-scale imputation.
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Founding member of the Appraisal Spark project, a large-scale imputation framework that materializes the technique presented in the master's thesis: https://eic.cefet-rj.br/ppcic/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/04-Rodrigo-Tavares-de-Souza.pdf. The data science community has used Appraisal-Spark to apply imputation techniques using machine learning algorithms to various data structures.
SKILLS
Executive Leadership
IT Management
AI and Data Science
Software Engineering
Blockchain and Smart Contracts
English (native)