AI and Product Architecture
Co-founder and Fractional CTO at Kovaad, designing conversational AI systems with LangChain, Pinecone, Firebase, Redis, Kong, OpenAI/Gemini APIs, and observability through LangSmith.
About
Fractional CTO, AI architect, and engineering leader for practical product execution.
I help founders and business leaders turn requirements into maintainable products, clear architecture, and delivery systems that teams can keep improving.
Profile
Hands-on CTO thinking with enterprise-scale delivery experience.
Across 21+ years, I have built and led engineering functions, designed cloud and AI architectures, delivered digital banking platforms, modernized workflows, and helped teams move faster without creating brittle systems.
I am especially useful when a business knows the outcome it wants but needs help translating that into product scope, stack choices, architecture, team structure, delivery milestones, and operationally sustainable engineering.
- Co-founder and Fractional CTO experience in conversational AI platforms.
- Head of Engineering experience across 70-120 member teams and 3M+ digital banking users.
- Fintech, SaaS, enterprise mobility, SAP, cloud, analytics, healthcare, and generative AI background.
- PMP, SAFe 6 Practice Consultant, ISB GMP, and Google Cloud ML fundamentals.
Experience
Where the experience comes from.
A mix of hands-on architecture, product delivery, engineering leadership, and advisory work across startups and enterprise environments.
Digital Banking Scale
Head of Engineering at Tonik, leading 70-120 engineers across mobile, backend, QA, and DevOps for digital banking products used by 3M+ users in Southeast Asia.
Fintech and Agent Banking
Head of Development at Wave Money, leading Wave Agent and Wave Pay delivery for wallets, OTC transfers, withdrawals, bill payments, and agent-network workflows.
Enterprise Mobility and SAP
Co-founder of VASPP and earlier SAP enterprise mobility lead, delivering SAP Fiori, SAPUI5, SAP Mobile Platform, Sybase Unwired Platform, and Qatar Government HCM workflows.
CRM and Enterprise Delivery
Program Director and Senior Technology Manager at Innominds, managing Microsoft Dynamics CRM offshore delivery, enterprise customization, performance optimization, and multi-team execution.
Analytics and Modernization
Advisor for manufacturing cost and sales analytics work, digitizing Excel-heavy workflows into clearer data flows, dashboards, and decision-ready operational insights.
Education and Certifications
Formal training behind the delivery experience.
M.Tech. Computer Science, Keshav Memorial College of Engineering / JNTU Hyderabad, 2026.
General Management Program, Indian School of Business. 2023
Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Management Institute. 2024
Certified SAFe 6 Practice Consultant, Scaled Agile.2022
Google Cloud Big Data & Machine Learning Fundamentals.2025
The Future of Payment Technologies, University of Michigan. 2021
Digital Competition in Financial Services, Copenhagen Business School.2021
Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science, Padre Conceicao College of Engineering / Goa University. 2004
Technical Range
I stay close enough to the code to make practical architecture decisions.
AI and Data
OpenAI APIs, Gemini APIs, LangChain, RAG, vector databases, Pinecone, prompt engineering, BigQuery, SQL, ETL, analytics automation.
Product Engineering
React, Next.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, FastAPI, NestJS, Node.js, Java Spring Boot, Firebase, PostgreSQL, Redis.
Cloud and Delivery
AWS, GCP, Docker, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, AWS CodeBuild, Terraform, GitOps, CI/CD, observability, release automation.
Mobile and Enterprise
Android, iOS, React Native, SAP Fiori, SAPUI5, SAP Mobile Platform, Sybase Unwired Platform, Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Client questions
Clear answers for founders and business teams evaluating CTO support.
These are the questions I hear most often before a first engagement, answered in plain language so founders and business teams can qualify fit quickly.
How can a fractional CTO help a startup?
A fractional CTO helps a startup turn business intent into a buildable technical plan. I clarify product outcomes, users, workflow, system boundaries, current architecture, team capacity, and the highest-risk assumptions. From there I shape roadmap, stack choices, integration plans, hiring sequence, delivery checkpoints, and governance so the team can ship without creating brittle architecture or avoidable rework.
What makes an AI project practical instead of hype-driven?
A practical AI project starts with the workflow, not the model. I map the business decision, input data, user action, retrieval needs, validation rules, fallback behavior, and success metric before choosing tools. Then I design guardrails, evaluation, observability, and human review where needed so the system can be trusted in production instead of behaving like a demo.
How do you choose a maintainable technology stack?
I work backward from product requirements, integration constraints, data model, team capability, hiring market, hosting needs, security boundaries, and expected change rate. I prefer boring, proven foundations where possible: clear APIs, understandable database models, testable services, observable deployments, and frontend tools the team can maintain after launch.
What services do you offer?
I work as a forward deployed AI engineer and fractional CTO. I take projects from requirements through design, architecture, implementation, and shipping. That includes AI product builds, RAG pipelines, internal tools, workflow automation, dashboards, integrations, MVP planning, architecture reviews, and delivery leadership for startups and businesses that want end-to-end ownership without managing a large team.
How do I work with you, and what is the process?
Start with a call. I run a short scoping session to understand the problem, constraints, current systems, users, timeline, and business outcome. Then I come back with an approach, risks, rough estimate, and delivery path. Most engagements are project-based, and some advisory or ongoing execution work fits a retainer.
Can you build both the frontend and backend, or do you specialize in one?
I can work across frontend and backend. My strongest value is usually connecting the pieces: product scope, architecture, backend, frontend, delivery, and making sure the system fits the business requirement instead of becoming disconnected features.
What's your experience with CI/CD?
I have used GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI, AWS CodeBuild, Docker, Terraform, GitOps, and observability practices to automate build, test, and release workflows. I have led release automation that cut deployment time from multiple hours to about 10 minutes on a large banking platform, with test coverage tied to tools such as Playwright, Jest, Selenium, JMeter, and Appium.
Can you share examples of similar projects you've built?
Yes. I have worked on AI and LLM platforms, fintech wallets, banking systems, SAP enterprise mobility, manufacturing analytics, procurement workflows, healthcare analytics, CRM systems, and startup MVP planning. This site includes public case studies and project summaries, with LinkedIn and GitHub linked in the footer for additional public context.
Do you work alone or do you have a team?
I can work alone as a fractional CTO, hands-on architect, or delivery lead, and I can also bring in a trusted team of experts when the project needs it. I am connected to VASPP for SAP expertise, Kovaad as co-founder for AI conversational systems, and Vindago Innovations LLP for app development and GIS solutions.
Do you offer maintenance and support after launch?
Yes. Support can include bug triage, release planning, monitoring, roadmap planning, team handover, and ongoing architecture guidance. I recommend defining a post-launch support window and severity process before release so ownership stays clear.
Working Style
I can work alone, or bring the right team around the problem.
Depending on the engagement, I can act as a fractional CTO, hands-on architect, advisor, or delivery lead. I am connected to VASPP for SAP expertise, Kovaad for AI conversational systems, and Vindago Innovations LLP for app development and GIS solutions.