Distributed Data
Infrastructure & Scale
About
I am a Staff Software Engineer on the Kitt Team within the Big Data & AI pillar of the Software organization at Rivian-VW Technologies, Palo Alto, CA. Additionally, I am an Affiliated Courtesy Faculty member in the Department of Scientific Computing at Florida State University, starting October 2018. I lead Dr. Anke Meyer-Baese's Research Group. I am also an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, starting August 2021. Last, I am the Founder of SlickML, an open-source machine learning library written in Python.
Staff Software Engineer
I build production AI and ML platforms — from data infrastructure and model systems to the observability frameworks that keep them reliable at scale. With 10+ years across industry and research, I work at the intersection of software engineering, machine learning, and distributed data systems.
Currently leading the ConvoHealth™ platform — the observability framework for Rivian Voice Assistant. Founder of SlickML, PhD in computational science, and affiliated faculty at Florida State University. I care about systems that ship, teams that move fast, and work that holds up in production.
- Website: www.amirhessam.com
- Phone: +1 (330) 606-7855
- City: Houston, TX, USA
- Degree: PhD
- Email: atahmassebi@fsu.edu
- Freelance: Available
Facts
4
Book Chapters
0
Research Papers
0
Citations
0
H-Index
Focus Areas
Where I spend most of my time building, researching, and leading ...
AI/ML Systems Ops
Production Intelligence
Observability & Platform
Reliability & Engineering
Open Source & Research
Libraries & Science
Unified Practice
● LIVE BUILDING_
Distributed Data
AI/ML Systems Ops
Observability & Platform
Open Source & Research
Résumé
To download the PDF versions, please check out my One-Page Résumé and Full CV.
Education
PhD -- Computational Science
Florida State University, Florida, USA
August 2015 - August 2018
GPA: 3.969/4.0
Advisor: Prof. Anke Meyer-Baese
Dissertation: Pattern Recognition in Medical Imaging: Supervised Learning of MRI and fMRI Data
MSc -- Computational Science
Florida State University, Florida, USA
August 2015 - December 2017
GPA: 3.969/4.0
Advisor: Prof. Anke Meyer-Baese
MSc -- Physics
University of Akron, Ohio, USA
August 2013 - August 2015
GPA: 3.982/4.0
Advisor: Prof. Alper Buldum
Dissertation: Fluid Flow Through Carbon Nanotubes And Graphene Based Nanostructures
BSc -- Physics
University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
September 2006 - July 2010
GPA: 3.1/4.0
Advisor: Prof. Hamidreza Moshfegh
Professional Experience
Staff Software Engineer -- Rivian & Volkswagen Technologies
Palo Alto, CA, USA (Remote)
November 2024 - Present
- Technical lead of ConvoHealth, the observability framework for Rivian Voice Assistant.
Senior Data Scientist, Algorithms -- Rivian Automotive
Palo Alto, CA, USA (Remote)
September 2021 - November 2024
- Delivered the automated decision-making platform and overall data system architecture for factory data, along with various scalable solutions within Digital Manufacturing Engineering.
Affiliated Courtesy Faculty -- Department of Scientific Computing
Tallahassee, FL, USA (Remote)
October 2018 - Present
- Technical Lead of Machine Learning in Dr. Anke Meyer-Baese's Research Group in the Department of Scientific Computing at Florida State University.
Senior Data Scientist -- ExxonMobil Corporation
Houston, TX, USA
January 2020 - September 2021
- Technical lead for the development of interpretable transaction-specific models for the polyethylene and polypropylene sectors of North America, incorporating customer segmentation and pricing recommendations to maximize variable margin for ExxonMobil Chemical Company (EMCC), which resulted in a $90M revenue increase in 2020 and a $41M revenue increase in Q1–Q2 of 2021.
Data Scientist -- Oracle (formerly Cerner Corporation)
Kansas City, MO, USA
October 2018 - December 2019
- Technical lead of the 90-day pediatric asthma readmission model for Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and the 30-day pediatric all-cause readmission model for 17 hospitals across the United States.
Data Scientist -- Mynomx Inc. (formerly Precision Wellness Inc.)
Palo Alto, CA, USA
June 2017 - August 2018
- Developed hybrid machine learning algorithms for population health management.
I worked with Amir on Rivian's AI platform team, and he's one of the most genuinely knowledgeable engineers I've come across. He has real depth across ML systems, data infrastructure, and running models reliably in production — and he thinks in whole systems rather than one-off solutions. What makes him stand out is that he's the person everyone turns to. Across teams, he unblocks people, sets the patterns others build on, and takes ownership of the foundational work that makes everyone else more effective. I'd jump at the chance to work with Amir again.
Nitin Wahie
Staff Software Engineer, GenAI
I had the opportunity to work with Amir and enjoyed collaborating with him. He is a strong engineer with solid technical skills and a practical approach to solving problems. One of his key contributions was designing and building a pipeline that enabled teams to create Data Asset Bundles (DABs) for their production data and ML pipelines on Databricks. His work streamlined deployment and made it easier for engineers to build and manage production workflows at scale. Beyond that, Amir is collaborative, thoughtful, and always willing to share his knowledge — I'd recommend him to any team.
Anusha Mohan
Sr. Staff Software Engineer, GenAI
I have had the privilege to work closely with Amir at Rivian. He is an outstanding Python developer and has vast knowledge in AI/ML. In my tenure with Amir, he has come up with coding standards for the team. He designed and implemented our AI/ML architecture powered by ZenML and Kubeflow. Amir is very driven and does not shy away from difficult problems. I have really enjoyed working with him. I cannot recommend him enough!
Royer Ruiz
Staff DevOps Engineer
Amir is a very talented data scientist with a strong technical background in deep learning, a relentless work ethic, and the ability to solve complex data science problems. Amir is also an excellent teammate who is always open to collaborating on different techniques for solving problems and also excels in providing mentorship to his peers. Overall, a very strong data scientist with in-depth experience in machine learning and software development.
Trace Smith
Solutions Architect
From advanced medical imaging, to the newest machine learning framework, Amir was always learning new things and experimenting. His strong math and physics background proved to be very useful for tackling complex computational problems. Over the years we worked together at FSU, we also became close friends.
Eitan Lees, PhD
Co-Author of Altair & Vega-Lite Libraries
I have known Amir since Fall 2015 as my PhD student and research assistant at the Department of Scientific Computing at Florida State University. Amir demonstrated the ability to work independently with great creativity and enthusiasm. His creativity allows him to always seek and develop new solutions to the problems. He was the best PhD student I ever had!
Anke Meyer-Baese, PhD
Professor
Amirhessam is a talented data scientist. I had the pleasure of working with him at Precision Wellness. He has a high caliber of data science literacy, making it easy to technically communicate on new ideas, code modifications, and in exploring the theoretical basis of the work. His ability to tackle the diverse problems assigned to him and to quickly get up to speed to produce effective solutions was impressive.
Arsia Takeh, PhD
Lead Data Scientist
Amir was really great to work with at Cerner. He is very knowledgeable of the data science life cycle. He taught me a lot about feature selection and mathematical modeling. Also, he was a great resource for Python and Pandas questions. Overall, he is dedicated to doing great work, and helping to create a great collaborative culture.
Will Zimmerman
Senior Data Engineer
Amir came to the Department of Scientific Computing with a strong physics background, where he had already discovered a strong interest and ability in computing. However, his particular interest in data science has led him to take a substantial set of courses in data mining, data management, and machine learning, to be exposed to realistic problems in medical data and medical imaging.
John Burkardt, PhD
Computational Scientist
Amir and I were classmates in a Computational Science PhD program. Amir's talent and helpfulness were impressive. He demonstrated the ability and will to help others in arenas ranging from physics to applied machine learning. His time management skills must be superlative because he was able to exceed the requirements of our program in a relatively short time, despite frequently assisting others.
Brian Bartoldson, PhD
Machine Learning Scientist
I have known Amir since I served as a University Representative on his doctoral committee. He is extremely smart, quick to learn new concepts, and bold in trying new ideas. He is a good role model for any PhD student. I am confident he will be successful in all his endeavors. He is highly recommended on my list.
Simon Foo, PhD
Professor
Contact
Location:
607 Hansen Way, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Email:
admin@amirhessam.com
Call:
+1 (330) 606-7855