About

My name is Joe Waugh, and I'm a Sr. Machine Learning Engineer at ThredUp in Scottsdale, AZ. I am also a native resident of Phoenix, AZ.

I am passionate about data analytics and developing solutions, and I've served in multiple roles as a W2 employee and a 1099 consultant of my own LLC in helping guide decision making for organizations by using data & uncovering patterns. I also serve as a mentor for junior professionals looking for guidance in the field of analytics and machine learning.

I am skilled in providing data-driven recommendations for analytical use cases across multiple industries, with recent work including KPI optimization forecasting, retail sales forecasting, automated image classification, API development, theft & fraud detection, and self-training multi-classification modelling. My contributions on these projects have collectively saved $300M+ in revenue savings, manual labor reduction, and operational savings.

Experience

ThredUP

Senior Machine Learning Engineer (July 2024 - Present)

  • Developing and deploying computer vision models to automate garment measurements for ThredUp's garment inventory, reducing annual labor costs by $1M+ and supporting measurement-related product development
  • Developing and deploying SOTA automated landmarking computer vision models for various proprietary internal use cases
  • Technology Used: Python, SQL, Spark, AWS, OpenCV, Jenkins (CI/CD), RabbitMQ, ArgoCD, Jenkins, Rollbar

FedEx

Data Scientist II (April 2022 - June 2024)

  • Led development of an internal package fraud alerting system using multiple GCP microservices resulting in $300M+ in revenue savings from customer churn and 100+ internal employee terminations due to theft
  • Developed a TensorFlow image classification model for package surcharges, yielding an estimated $3M in future revenue
  • Deployed production changes to improve the FedEx.com estimated delivery date prediction model accuracy by 5%
  • Built a TensorFlow image classification model to audit picture proof of delivery images, generating yearly savings of $2M
  • Developed a computer vision learning curriculum and facilitated an internal workshop for 15+ data scientists
  • Built 10+ data ingestion jobs with Cron and Cloud Composer for ingestion of IBM AS/400 and DB2 data into BigQuery
  • Technology Used: Python, SQL, Spark, TensorFlow, BigQuery, Cloud Logging, Cron, Cloud Composer, Power BI

Operations Research, Planning & Analysis Engineer (January 2021 - April 2022)

  • Built capex spend analysis regarding $300-700M facility upgrades and reviewed with executive stakeholders. This work resulted in a 100% approval rate for CapEx spend proposals
  • Developed a Python library to handle company forecast data for a 1.2B+ capex budget optimization research initiative
  • Technology Used: Python, SQL, Spark, Vertex AI, BigQuery, Pandas, NumPy

State Farm

Process Engineer (April 2022 - June 2024)

  • Developed 7 different robotics process automation (RPA) use cases from ideation to deployment that resulted in $400k cost savings and 30 FTEs saved for the organization
  • Collaborated with internal claims leadership to develop claim volume forecasts, resulting in improved operational efficiencies and business growth by accurately estimated FTE needs for upcoming fiscal year
  • Performed A/B product tests to identify 5% lift in a potential new product to identify telematics-related information during crash events related to the State Farm Drive Safe and Save program
  • Technology Used: Python, R, SQL, Power BI, Hadoop, Spark, Facebook Prophet

Mentorship

Outside of my professional roles, I have had the opportunity to mentor over 20 individuals as a Data Science & Machine Learning mentor on the MentorCruise platform.

As an active mentor on the MentorCruise platform, I am committed to providing a structured and personalized mentorship experience. I focus on understanding each mentee's unique career objectives and crafting tailored plans to help achieve them. Whether you are looking to transition to a major tech firm, refine your resume, prepare for interviews, or advance in your current position, I am here to offer expert guidance and support. I invite you to schedule an introductory call to discuss how we might collaborate on your professional growth.

MentorCruise Profile