Craig Stires
Software EngineerAI is analyzing your overall score…
Identifying your key strengths…
Evaluating your skill match against the job requirements…
Assessing your cultural and operational fit
AI is analyzing your overall score…
Identifying your key strengths…
Evaluating your skill match against the job requirements…
Assessing your cultural and operational fit
Applied and Agentic AI - 25 years building and leading businesses for Google, Amazon, IDC, and Founder of a Tech Startup
I incubate and build GTM teams, specializing in Applied and Agentic AI. In the last 10 years, at Amazon and Google, I launched 5 new businesses, hiring the sales, pre-sales, consulting, and data science teams -- forming 100s of the top talent in the region into high-functioning teams. Bringing together the right talent, and staying laser-focused on delivering business outcomes for our customers, we became the #1 performing business units in our region, and becoming the global leader of the regional AI teams. With 25 years of experience in Asia, I've lead engagements with executives across Entertainment, Communications, Finance, Manufacturing, Logistics, Retail, and a wide range of startups. We worked on solutions for billion-user problems, navigated important policy building for responsible AI usage, and turned the visions of CEOs into metrics into processes into solutions. Getting AI right has started with picking projects that are in the critical path for the business, partnering with compliance and finance, solving for physical boundaries of power/water/bandwidth, and ensuring the end user is in the room through the journey. I'm excited about businesses that need to move quickly with new products to capture a market, and are ready to invest in a team that can solve the business, technical, and political challenges.
North Carolina State University
Bachelor of Science (BSc), Computer Science, School of Engineering
N/A – Present
Regional Director, Artificial Intelligence, Google Cloud APJ
January 1, 2024 – July 1, 2025
Singapore
Regional Director, Data, Analytics, Machine Learning, APAC
January 1, 2022 – December 1, 2023
Singapore
Director, Looker Asia Pacific, Google Cloud
June 1, 2021 – December 1, 2021
Singapore
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Head of Machine Learning & AI, APJ
April 1, 2020 – May 1, 2021
Singapore
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Head of Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Big Data, APAC
January 1, 2017 – April 1, 2020
Singapore
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Head of Big Data, Asia Pacific
October 1, 2015 – December 1, 2016
Singapore
IDC
Associate Vice President, Asia/Pacific
April 1, 2012 – September 1, 2015
Singapore
Asia Xero
Founder, MD, CPO
July 1, 2007 – April 1, 2012
Bangkok, Thailand
SAS Asia Pacific
Manager, Business Intelligence, Asia Pacific
February 1, 2001 – February 1, 2006
SAS Asia Pacific
Systems Developer
January 1, 1998 – January 1, 2001
Open Water Scuba Instructor
PADI
June 24, 2026 – Present
Cloud Digital Leader
June 24, 2026 – Present
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
June 24, 2026 – Present
Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer
June 24, 2026 – Present
Cultural Fit Analysis
The candidate's extensive experience at global tech giants like Google and AWS, coupled with their entrepreneurial background (Founder, MD, CPO at Asia Xero), suggests a strong cultural fit for fast-paced, innovative environments. Their history of building teams and launching new initiatives aligns with a growth-oriented culture. However, their career trajectory has been heavily focused on sales, business leadership, and strategy rather than direct software development. While they possess a strong understanding of the AI/ML domain, the direct cultural fit for a hands-on 'Software Engineer' role, which typically requires deep coding and system design contributions, is not strongly evident from their recent experience.
Soft Skills & Operational Fit
The candidate demonstrates strong leadership, strategic thinking, business development, and communication skills, evidenced by their roles in launching and scaling businesses, managing large teams, and acting as a press spokesperson. Their experience in driving business transformation and engaging with C-suite executives suggests excellent stakeholder management and operational leadership capabilities. However, the target role is 'Software Engineer', which is a significant shift from their recent leadership and sales-focused roles. While they have early career development experience, their recent roles do not directly align with hands-on software engineering responsibilities, which might impact operational fit for a pure engineering role.