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AI product engineer and CTO

Hi, I'm Sanif. I build software products, start to finish.

From in-car infotainment at Mercedes-Benz R&D to the AI healthcare products I now lead as CTO, I've spent twelve years taking ideas all the way to release.

I'm Aiva. I'll walk you round.

Seven things in the camp each show one part of Sanif's work. Arrow keys walk, Enter looks, ? lists every key.

Seven things in the camp each show one part of Sanif's work. Tap one and I'll walk there.

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Arrow keys or W, A, S, D walk. Tab and Shift+Tab pick a thing in the camp, Enter or Space goes to it and opens its section. 1 to 7 go straight to About, Work, Experience, Abilities, Strengths, Writing and Contact. Question mark lists every key. Escape closes what is open. Scrolling the page also opens each section in turn.

A bit about me

I work with teams in one of two ways, and often both.

Inside your team. I join you, sit with the people who have the problem, and build the fix alongside them until it runs in production. No hand-off document, no consultant at arm's length.

Beside your founders. For a few days a week, I own the technical side: the architecture, the roadmap and who to hire next, so you get those calls made well without a full-time CTO yet.

More about me →What I'm doing now

Things I've built

I designed and built each of these myself, from the interface to the backend, and I still use them.

  1. safessh

    My answer to remote access: policy-gated, for people and AI agents alike.

  2. Aiva

    A personal assistant I built for the Motorola Razr cover display.

  3. Mind Queue

    A durable, project-wide queue of thoughts I keep across my coding-agent sessions.

  4. Essence

    How I run my life: plain Markdown files, driven by agent commands.

  5. Kata

    A tmux workspace manager I use every day: one key to switch projects, and a ping when an agent needs me.

  6. Developer tools

    ByteFall and MicroSuite: tools I wrote for my own day-to-day development.

  7. Pi extensions

    6 small extensions I wrote for the Pi coding agent: Herdr Fork, Tuios Fork, Chat Suggest, Chat Summary, Turnstamp, Sound Alerts.

All my projects →The decisions behind them

Where I've worked

Twelve years of shipping, from mobile apps to leading the technology at a healthcare company.

  1. NowChief Technology OfficerCureocityI set the product direction, own the architecture and lead the team behind our AI healthcare products.
  2. Sep 2019 – nowFreelance consultantSelf-employedI deliver the architecture, frontend, backend, SDKs and AI data APIs for ecommerce, medical, web and mobile clients, and lead their teams of up to ten.
  3. Jan 2017 – Sep 2019Software engineerMercedes-Benz R&DI owned audio management and media for rear-seat infotainment, built in Xamarin Android.
  4. Nov 2015 – Dec 2016Mobile application developerCouponDuniaI built the Android and iOS apps and their shared libraries, helped launch Sorted on both platforms, and mentored the team.
  5. Jun 2014 – Nov 2015Software engineerBlueCast TechnologiesI built mobile and web products across the whole lifecycle, and ran training in core Java and mobile.

My full work history →

What I can do

The kinds of work I take on. I've shipped every one of them.

  1. Whole products, end to end

    Mobile app, web app, backend, data and deployment, built by one person who sees how the pieces fit.

  2. Mobile apps

    Native Android and iOS, and cross-platform with React Native and Flutter, from consumer apps to in-car infotainment.

  3. Web apps and backends

    React frontends, APIs in FastAPI and Node.js, and systems tools in Rust, Go and Python.

  4. AI features and agents

    LLM features and agents with explicit tools, approvals and audit trails, so a team can trust what they do.

  5. Architecture and technical leadership

    Architecture reviews, roadmaps and hiring, or leading the team while it builds, for as much of the week as you need.

Tools I work with

Mobile

  • Kotlin
  • Java
  • React Native
  • Flutter
  • Xamarin Android

Web and backend

  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Node.js
  • Python
  • FastAPI
  • Rust
  • SQLite
  • Bun

AI and agents

  • Claude Code
  • Pi SDK
  • MCP
  • LiteLLM

What I'm good at

Six badges on my backpack, each one earned on a real project.

  • I ship the whole thing

    I have carried products from the first screen to the app stores and production servers, on mobile, web and backend.

  • I work alone or lead a team

    I build on my own when that is fastest, and I have led teams of up to ten when it is not.

  • I know which calls matter

    Twelve years and a CTO seat taught me which technical decisions to make now and which can wait.

  • I take risk seriously

    I build AI features around permissions, approvals and a record of what happened.

  • I explain things clearly

    I explain systems so the whole team can follow, which is why I teach on Workbench.

  • I have range

    Healthcare, ecommerce, automotive infotainment and developer tools have all been home.

What I'm writing

I haven't published anything here yet. My field notes and case studies will land here first.

Follow me via RSS →

workbench.sanifss.devWorkbenchWorkbench is where I teach system design, one technique at a time, with lessons you can play with.

Say hello

Have a product to build, an app that needs finishing, or a technical call to make? Email is the quickest way to reach me, and my code is on GitHub.

Email meGitHub ↗LinkedIn ↗