# Rahul Popat

> Software Engineering @ DropzoneAI

Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/rahulpopat

## Work Experience
### Software Engineer @ Dropzone AI
Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States

### Software Engineer II @ Microsoft
Jan 2024 – Jan 2024 | New York, New York, United States

### Software Engineer @ Microsoft
Jan 2021 – Jan 2024 | Redmond, Washington, United States
• Drove end-to-end design and development of the Degree of Parallelism (DOP) Feedback feature,
which is meant to save up 20% in compute resources for SQL Server and Azure SQL DB
customers.
• Took a leadership role in driving deep technical discussions to develop the architecture and design
for the DOP Feedback feature, actively contributing my expertise and insights to ensure the success
of the project. Additionally, I authored a comprehensive technical specification document,
providing a clear and concise summary of our design decisions.
• Evangelized DOP Feedback at the PASS Data Community Summit to 2000+ database
administrators and SQL Server customers.
• Contributed to identifying and resolving bugs in the SQL Server query processing engine to
improve the overall quality and reliability of the software product.
• Owned and managed the batch mode query execution area of the engine, ensuring efficient and
effective performance.
• Demonstrated a strong understanding of the fundamentals of on-call and live-site processes and
succeeded in high pressure situations to resolve customer issues with the Azure SQL DB service.
• Managed internal on-call administration including building out an application to schedule the shifts
for 60 people and coordinating with managers to maintain healthy on call practices.
• Mentored 2 new-hires on my team, implementing a structured onboarding program that efficiently
integrated them into the team and enabled them to start committing code within just 3 months of
joining.

### Will Rice College President @ Rice University
Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | Houston, Texas, United States
•	Led Will Rice College, one of 11 residential colleges at Rice, through the transition to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of maintaining the strong community of 300+ students while students were scattered across the globe
•	Coordinated with Rice University’s administration during the COVID-19 pandemic to safely bring 2000+ students back to campus for online and in person classes
•	Managed the student government organization of 60 people to effectively utilize the $45,000 budget that supports the Will Rice College community and alumni
•	Communicated integral information to students about Rice’s COVID-19 operating procedures including new campus rules and COVID testing requirements through townhalls and emails
•	Represented the college in the Rice University Student Association to collect feedback on Student Association initiatives

### Will Rice College Vice President @ Rice University
Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Houston, Texas, United States
• Manage eighteen different committees with a total of 50 people to effectively utilize the $45,000 budget that supports
the Will Rice College community and alumni
• Organize the housing lottery for the 237 beds of Will Rice College while adapting to fast changes to the situation as well
as accommodating for certain students’ health conditions and financial situations

### Student Association Senator @ Rice University
Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | Houston, Texas, United States
• Facilitated communication between students and university administration to find compromises between their interests
• Utilized Microsoft Suite to develop presentations focused on improving academic advising and planning at Rice

### Software Engineer Intern @ Microsoft
Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Redmond, Washington
• Developed a feature that optimized the Microsoft Azure SQL Hyperscale database in order to save valuable customer
resources when running complicated queries
• Leveraged the vast SQL engine codebase and many experienced engineers to learn about how databases work
• Attended various Microsoft Azure bootcamps and presentations to gain a better understanding of cloud computing and
the different services Azure has to offer

### Software Engineer Intern @ JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | Houston, Texas Area
•	Created a Java regression testing framework using the Citrus Framework and Springboot to save 20 hours of work a week for my software development team 
•	Developed a REST API for a user interface to seamlessly integrate with the testing engine
•	Utilized the Agile methodology with a team of 4 interns to foster adaptive planning and creative problem-solving habits
•	Presented the testing framework to 10 Executive and Managing Directors in order to show the business impact of the application

### Investment Analyst Intern @ Butcher Financial
Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Houston, Texas
•	Analyzed stock trends using company performance indicators and Microsoft Excel
•	Presented findings to supervisor at weekly meetings and to chairman at end of internship

### Research Assistant @ MD Anderson Cancer Center
Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Houston, Texas
•	Learned and performed basic scientific lab procedures: Western Blot and Flow Cytometry
•	Assisted graduate student in cancer immunotherapy research


## Education
### Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science
Rice University

### Summer School in Management
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

### The Kinkaid School


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/rahul-popat

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Source: https://flows.cv/rahulpopat
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/rahulpopat/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-29