Robbie Kohler

Galvanizer
DISC Type : Id

Vice President of Software Engineering at Yum! Brands

Irvine, California, United States

Overview

Robbie is the Vice President of Software Engineering at Yum! Brands, leading the Byte by Yum! global SaaS platform. With over 20 years in tech, he is a pioneer in enterprise-scale serverless architecture, a certified AWS Solutions Architect, and a speaker at conferences like re: Invent and GOTO. Colleagues describe him as knowledgeable, intelligent, and a tremendous asset.

Outside of his technology leadership role, Robbie is a family man who also enjoys playing the guitar in his spare time.

Unique fact: When he first joined Taco Bell, he was the only engineer and had to teach himself AWS infrastructure out of necessity, which sparked his career-defining focus on serverless.

Personality Overview

Trusting

Self-Assured

Pragmatic

They are more likely to accept new and exciting technologies.  They prefer to ensure that they are in control of the situation. A combination of speed and relationship gets the best response from them.

Topics They Care About

Serverless Architecture
A frequent conference speaker and early adopter who led one of the first enterprise-scale serverless projects at Taco Bell and contributed a case study to a book on the topic.
Event-Driven Systems
His public talks focus on building scalable, event-driven platforms with AWS to power global restaurant brands, highlighting his expertise in this area.
Restaurant Technology
Leads the development of a global SaaS platform for Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut), focusing on commerce, kitchen operations, and AI workflows.

Media Appearances

#56: Serverless at Taco Bell with Robbie Kohler. Featured in Real World Serverless (Apple Podcasts)

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Deep Dive into Taco Bell's Serverless Transformation with Robbie Kohler. Featured in YouTube (AntStack TV)

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From One Engineer to Serverless at Scale | Robbie Kohler (Yum! Brands) | AntStack TV. Featured in AntStack TV (YouTube)

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Work History

3-2025
Vice President of Software Engineering at Yum! Brands
9-2024 - 3-2025
Senior Director, Software Engineering (Cloud & SaaS) at Yum! Brands
2-2023 - 9-2024
Senior Director, Software Engineering (Ecommerce, Cloud, SRE) at Taco Bell
12-2020 - 2-2023
Director, Software Engineering (Ecommerce) at Taco Bell
3-2020 - 12-2020
Senior Manager, Software Engineering at Taco Bell

Education

BS from UC Irvine

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 18 Location : Irvine, California, United States Job Level : Senior Designation : Vice President of Software Engineering at Yum! Brands
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Insights For Selling To Robbie

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Help them weigh the risks by sharing how others made similar decisions
  • Appeal to their sense of self-worth and how they will impact their organization
  • Take a friendly, informal yet confident approach while pitching

DONT's

  • Don’t hesitate from asking questions, but take a friendly and warm approach
  • Don’t rely too much on what they promise, make your own deductions
  • Don’t make promises that are hard to keep

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Robbie is

  • Relationship and product conviction matter equally, followed by a sense of achievement.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Robbie

  • If they are not convinced, they will say no though in a friendly way.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Robbie move?

  • If you earn their trust and they develop faith in the product, they can make decisions quickly.
  • Can Robbie take some risk or not?

  • If necessary, they will be ready to take risks.

You And Robbie

Personality Compatibility


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