Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson

Veteran|MBA|Engineer

I am a veteran U.S. Army Engineer officer, a Texas A&M alumnus, and a UC Berkeley Haas Evening & Weekend MBA candidate. Across eight years in uniform I built teams and systems from the ground up at progressive levels of size and difficulty, and I was often selected for the tough assignments that called for a strong leader. That's the work I love and what I'm best at: building the systems and culture that a team needs to achieve its goals, then leaving behind successful organizations that keeps running without me.

I'm looking for leadership roles that challenge me, and the place I most want to be is where technology and energy meet. I think we're in a technological shift on the scale of the industrial revolution or the arrival of the personal computer, and I'd rather build inside it than watch it happen. As the world economy grows, we face problems that are physical, capital-intensive, and operationally hard — which is what I've spent my career on and why I want to apply my skills to the emerging energy industry. I'm prioritizing remote work and open to relocating to most major metros, with San Diego, the Bay Area, Dallas, and Seattle at the top of the list.

Outside of work I'm a husband and father of two, which is the part of my life that drives the rest of it. I'm teaching myself Spanish and Japanese with mixed results, I like to write short science fiction stories that nobody asks to read, and I'm the sort of person who follows climate and tech policy for fun. I am reading through every president's biography in order because I love learning about how other leaders analyze problems, how they communicate, and how they make tough calls. I've also been building an AI app on the side, a personal stylist for men, which I mention partly because it's going well and partly because I like having something to tinker with. And I will talk about sports — especially NFL football — for as long as you let me.

Current Work

  • Independent Product Development Jan 2026 – Present
    • Designed and built a launch-ready AI application MVP as sole developer, covering product definition, model integration, front-end implementation, and deployment.

Experience

  • Engineer Company Commander A Company, 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division Sep 2024 – Jan 2026
    • Directed operations, asset accountability, and personnel management for a 100-person organization, often distributed across multiple states, with $40M in equipment and operating resources; rated Top 10% of officers.
    • Planned and executed large-scale deployments requiring cost forecasting, vendor coordination, transportation contracting, and strict compliance with financial and regulatory controls.
  • Engineer Battalion Operations Officer 3rd Engineer Battalion — Fort Hood, TX May 2023 – Sep 2024
    • Oversaw daily operations and resource allocation for a 500-person distributed organization, ensuring alignment between funding, operational priorities, and execution timelines.
    • Selected above peers for senior role; managed and mentored a 10-person leadership team responsible for planning, reporting, and resource tracking across six organizations of roughly 100 personnel each.
  • Engineer Captain’s Career Course Academic Superior Graduate May 2022 – Oct 2022
  • Company Executive Officer Headquarters, 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team — Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA Feb 2020 – Mar 2022
    • Managed logistics and equipment accountability for $40M in assets supporting 179 personnel.
    • Generated $370K in cost savings by improving procurement discipline and inventory controls.
    • Led reconciliation and transfer of $3.65M in property with zero discrepancies or losses.
  • Engineer Platoon Leader 14th Engineer Battalion — Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA Apr 2019 – Feb 2020
    • Supervised a 31-person team responsible for $42.6M in equipment and execution of multiple engineering projects.
  • Engineer Basic Officer Leader Course Honor Graduate May 2018 – Oct 2018
  • Officer Candidate School Honor Graduate Jan 2018 – Apr 2018

Education

  • MBA, Evening & Weekend Berkeley Haas School of Business Expected 2028
  • M.S. Geological Engineering Missouri University of Science and Technology 2023
  • B.S. Psychology, business minor Texas A&M University 2016
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) Project Management Institute 2023