Steve Koulias
Career

The Journey

A career built around helping businesses find, adopt, and succeed with brand-new technology.

Career image representing technology delivery work
The person behind the process
Credentials

Professional credentials

Project Management Professional
Issued Feb 2015 
Credential ID 1790439

Agile Certified Practitioner
Issued Sep 2019 
Credential ID 2641500
Cisco Meraki Network Operator
Issued Jul 2017 
Credential ID 001849
2023 → Present

Contract Project / Program Manager

Project-based engagements across AI, automation, retail infrastructure, and robotics.

Berkshire Grey

Project Manager
  • Directed the delivery, coordination, and reporting for warehouse robotics and AI-driven automation deployments, supporting large-scale fulfillment modernization initiatives.
  • Reported portfolio status across robotics implementation programs, improving visibility into schedule, field readiness, and cross-team execution velocity.
  • Tracked rollout readiness across hardware, software, and integration workstreams, maintaining alignment between engineering, deployment, and customer environments.
  • Supported procurement, staging, configuration, and deployment for autonomous picking and fulfillment solutions.

Skechers

Technical Project Manager
  • Led a large-scale retail network modernization across the Americas and EU, coordinating multi-team execution and standardizing rollout processes to increase throughput with zero downtime.
  • Managed the rollout of a network upgrade across 200 retail locations in the Americas and EU.
  • Restructured the deployment workflow to handle approximately 2.5× more store upgrades annually.
  • Led the network engineering team through configuration and deployment of Meraki LAN infrastructure.
  • Created schedules, dependencies, and hand-off checkpoints to maintain velocity and minimize errors.

Kontoor Brands

Automation Program Manager
  • Oversaw enterprise automation strategy and roadmap across departments, driving measurable efficiency and scalability.
  • Expanded Amelia AI functionality and voice capabilities across new business use cases.
  • Led deployment of Infrastructure-as-Code using OpenShift, Terraform, Ansible, and UiPath.
  • Reported program progress, budget, and risk to the CIO, VP of Technology, and external vendors.
  • Mentored project managers and aligned delivery teams under unified automation governance.

Nissan Financial

Senior Technical Project Manager
  • Led modernization of customer communication systems and deployment of virtual assistant technologies to enhance user experience and reduce call-center dependency.
  • Delivered enterprise telephony modernization, including an Acqueon outbound dialer upgrade.
  • Implemented an AI-driven Intelligent Virtual Assistant using Omilia to replace the legacy IVR.
  • Managed budgets, schedules, and executive reporting to senior leadership.
2022
Cognigy logo

Cognigy

Engagement Manager

  • Managed a Professional Services team delivering conversational AI for enterprise clients.
  • Served as primary client liaison through the full project lifecycle, ensuring scope and satisfaction.
  • Introduced new QA and analytics processes that reduced client issues by 40%.
  • Implemented Jira, Confluence, and Smartsheet systems for project governance and transparency.
  • Designed customer adoption strategies and lifecycle roadmaps.
  • Partnered with sales to present value propositions for the services organization.
2018–2021
Kasisto logo

Kasisto

Project Manager

  • Spearheaded the launch of digital assistants for top-tier clients including TD Bank, Emirates NBD, Mastercard, Absa, and other major African banks.
  • Partnered with product and engineering teams to define conversational flows that improved customer experience and containment rates.
  • Increased adoption and engagement across digital channels by 20% through integrated mobile and omni-channel experiences.
  • Translated complex banking processes into scalable chatbot intents, reducing live-agent dependency.
  • Managed sprint cycles, retrospectives, and backlog grooming for global AI development teams.
  • Aligned priorities across data science, NLP, and QA teams to ensure high-quality, on-schedule releases.
  • Served as strategic liaison between client executives and internal leadership, ensuring measurable business outcomes.
2017–2018
Amelia logo

Amelia

Cognitive Project Lead

  • Directed end-to-end delivery of Amelia cognitive AI solutions for enterprise clients.
  • Managed cross-disciplinary teams of engineers, architects, and cognitive designers.
  • Oversaw project budgets, scope, and governance across multiple concurrent deployments.
  • Coordinated client expectations, risk management, and deliverables throughout the lifecycle.
  • Improved team delivery cadence through agile methods and sprint retrospectives.
  • Defined repeatable implementation playbooks that accelerated deployment timelines by 20%.
2012–2017
Louis Vuitton Americas logo

Louis Vuitton Americas

Manager, Technical Projects

  • Oversaw a $3M CapEx/OpEx budget across 100+ retail and warehouse sites in North and South America.
  • Directed network, telecom, and infrastructure upgrades, improving performance and reducing annual costs by $100K.
  • Managed vendors for procurement, deployment, and maintenance across global time zones.
  • Delivered approximately 25 store openings or renovations per year, coordinating all IT systems end-to-end.
  • Rolled out a standardized LAN/WAN architecture globally to ensure consistent performance and security.
  • Expanded multilingual call-center operations across Mexico and French Canada.
  • Partnered with LVMH global teams to align digital transformation with brand standards.