Reginald D. Cobb
AI Systems Engineer · Technical Program Manager · Retired
Thirty years of engineering at the hardware-software boundary — from bit-level array processor coding on classified military platforms to enterprise ML deployments and AI education. Now retired and seeking a full-time transition into AI safety research.
Three Pillars of Expertise
A unique convergence of hardware-proximate engineering, global program execution, and socioeconomic analysis — each directly applicable to AI safety research.
ML Systems & Performance
Eight years of military embedded systems engineering — C, C++, Ada, Fortran, TI/Intel/Motorola microprocessors, DSP and array processor coding — combined with modern Python, OpenVINO, and edge AI deployments on NVIDIA Jetson Nano.
- ▶Low-level embedded programming for classified DoD programs
- ▶Hardware simulation & peripheral emulation for early software integration
- ▶Field debugging with logic analyzers & oscilloscopes
- ▶SBC/sensor integration: Arduino, RPi, Jetson Nano, STM32
- ▶Intel Edge AI Nanodegree — OpenVINO computer vision pipelines
- ▶Python proficiency: LLM tooling, JSON validation, ML notebooks
Directly applicable to ML infrastructure optimization, GPU/TPU cluster verification, and hardware-software boundary analysis for frontier AI systems.
Logistics & Enterprise Infrastructure
Decades of large-scale technology program management: $10M+ global data center modernizations, 10,000-employee cloud migrations, and supply chain logistics for military helicopter production.
- ▶$10M+ global data center modernization at PepsiCo (HCL)
- ▶4-month cloud migration of 10,000-employee enterprise at Sabre
- ▶DoD/commercial helicopter production logistics at Sikorsky
- ▶Forensic software deployment for law enforcement (Sabre)
- ▶Global BPO vendor transition at Microsoft
- ▶20-person global team leadership across time zones
Deploying frontier AI safely is as much a logistics problem as a research problem. Experience driving ambiguous, high-stakes programs to completion at scale.
Economics & Policy
Empirical, ground-level perspective on how AI transforms economies and workforces — built from managing technology-driven disruptions across telecom, payments, aviation, and enterprise IT.
- ▶ML/AI anomaly detection pilot — PepsiCo IOCC (global IT infrastructure)
- ▶Ethics & Compliance Officer — Sikorsky (aviation manufacturing)
- ▶Taught 'Intro to Python' to internal Microsoft teams for AI integration
- ▶Speaker: 'AI for Everyone' — 4th Annual North Texas Black Tech Symposium
- ▶MBA — University of Texas at Austin
- ▶Director, Product Management & Innovation — led mobile payment market research & CellerateSM pilot (2002)
- ▶Managed workforce transitions across multiple technology disruptions
Empirical, practitioner-level perspective on AI's socioeconomic impact — how it transforms labor markets, displaces roles, and how human agency can be preserved.
AI in Practice
"AI for Everyone: How Everyday People Can Benefit"
4th Annual North Texas Black Tech Symposium · June 11–13
A public-facing session designed to demystify AI concepts for non-technical audiences, showcase practical applications, and illustrate how AI enhances convenience, efficiency, and decision-making in everyday life. Sponsored by American Airlines, Toyota, and Semperis; organized with the National Society of Black Engineers – DFW and Google Black Developer's Network.
▶ View Presentation Deck"Word Search Book Journey with AI"
End-to-End AI-Assisted Content Creation Pipeline · Published on Amazon
A practical demonstration of how AI transforms creative production at scale. What once took 14 years to publish a first book was reduced to 22 days for books 2–5 by building an end-to-end pipeline using ChatGPT, OpenAI APIs, GitHub Copilot, Python, and Amazon Publishing. The pipeline generates puzzle content, performs data hygiene, assembles the book, and produces a publish-ready PDF — with puzzle generation time dropping from days to seconds.
Braintease Books — Amazon Publications
Five word search puzzle books published on Amazon — each generated using an end-to-end AI pipeline (ChatGPT · OpenAI API · Python · GitHub Copilot).
Career Timeline
Senior Business Program Manager, Marketing Operations
- ▶End-to-end process optimization for global Marketing Operations and Support
- ▶Leading Global BPO Vendor Transition across international markets
- ▶Designed and taught 'Intro to Python' curriculum — bridging business workflows and AI tooling
Senior Project Manager, Global Program Management Office
- ▶ML/AI Anomaly Detection pilot — led global team using machine learning for proactive IT insights
- ▶$10M+ global data center modernization program
- ▶Reduced MTTR significantly through predictive analytics across global corporate IT infrastructure
Senior Program Manager
- ▶Led 4-month cloud migration of 10,000-employee enterprise
- ▶Forensic software deployment for law enforcement applications
- ▶Agile Community of Practice Leader — drove methodology adoption
Program Manager / Ethics & Compliance Officer
- ▶DoD and commercial helicopter production logistics and program management
- ▶Ethics & Compliance Officer — organizational governance and independent investigation
- ▶Managed cross-functional teams on classified aviation manufacturing programs
Director, Product Management & Innovation
- ▶Led fundamental market research into the alternative payments space — investigated emerging mobile commerce technologies, built business cases, and served on the Strategic Alliance Steering Committee
- ▶Directed the CellerateSM Mobile Commerce Strategic Alliance — deployed a proof-of-concept mobile phone-based payment pilot in Lubbock, TX (covered by the Dallas Business Journal, 2002)
- ▶Conducted technology evaluations for smart card payments across retail, parking, and transportation; led transportation industry analysis
Lead Software Engineer
- ▶Recruited directly from university to develop embedded software for classified DoD programs; progressed to Lead Software Engineer directing R&D teams
- ▶Low-level programming in C, C++, Ada, Pascal, Fortran; TI/Intel/Motorola microprocessors; TI DSPs; bit-level array processor coding for advanced image processing
- ▶Built software simulations of hardware systems under active design — enabling early software integration before physical platforms existed (analogous to modern pre-silicon AI accelerator validation)
- ▶Extensive field hardware-software integration and debugging using logic analyzers and oscilloscopes; on-site verification under operational military conditions
- ▶Recognized for innovative application of Rapid Application Development and Incremental Development methodologies; conducted quarterly DoD program reviews
Technical Proficiency
Technology Stack
Business Proficiency
Business Stack
Academic & Technical Education
Master of Business Administration
University of Texas at Austin
Bachelor of Science — Systems Science
University of West Florida
Intel Edge AI Nanodegree
Intel / Udacity
Nutanix Hybrid Cloud Scholars
Udacity
Let's Connect
Now retired and actively seeking a full-time transition into AI safety research through the Anthropic Fellows Program. If you are a researcher, program director, or collaborator interested in connecting, I welcome the conversation.