Shahzaib Saleem, Developer in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
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Shahzaib Saleem

Bio

Shahzaib is a senior AI and data architect with 20+ years of experience designing enterprise-scale data platforms and the last 6+ years focused on applied AI, LLMs, and generative AI systems. He specializes in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents, conversational AI, and large-scale data pipelines, building production-grade AI systems used across automotive, healthcare, finance, retail, and HR domains.

Portfolio

Self-employed
Azure, Python, C#.NET, Data Engineering, Business Intelligence (BI)...
Volvo Car USA
Machine Learning, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)...
Noetica Inc.
ETL, Python, Data Engineering, Apache Airflow, Docker...

Experience

  • ETL - 16 years
  • Business Intelligence (BI) - 15 years
  • Microsoft Power BI - 8 years
  • Azure AI Services - 6 years
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) - 6 years
  • Large Language Models (LLMs) - 4 years
  • AI Agents - 3 years
  • Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG) - 3 years

Preferred Environment

Python, ChatGPT, .NET, Microsoft Power BI, C#, Large Language Models (LLMs), Claude, Cursor AI, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

The most amazing...

...: I built enterprise data & AI platforms, including 30+ ETL & LLM solutions processing 20M+ records/day with real-time analytics & GenAI-driven decision-making.

Work Experience

Senior AI Engineer

2017 - PRESENT
Self-employed
  • Deployed LLM-powered solutions that integrate structured and unstructured data, enabling accurate, explainable, and scalable AI experiences. This includes intent orchestration, agent workflows, and secure cloud-native AI deployments on Azure and AWS.
  • Partnered with CXOs, product leaders, and global engineering teams, translating business problems into high-impact AI systems and mentoring teams to deliver production-ready GenAI solutions.
  • Designed and delivered production-grade RAG and agentic AI systems using LLMs to power conversational experiences across automotive service workflows.
  • Handled big data, artificial intelligence, and data analytics projects.
Technologies: Azure, Python, C#.NET, Data Engineering, Business Intelligence (BI), Azure Data Factory (ADF), Snowflake, Azure Databricks, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Machine Learning, Data Science, Large Language Models (LLMs), Artificial Intelligence (AI), HIPAA Compliance, Data Transformation, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG), AI Agents, Agentic AI, LangGraph, LangChain, Prompt Engineering, Vector Databases, Semantic Search, Conversational AI, Azure AI Services, Azure OpenAI Service, Claude, Cursor AI, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Fabric, ETL Pipelines, Real Estate, Azure AI Search, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Data Lakehouse, Data Build Tool (dbt), Azure SQL

Senior AI/ML Engineer

2025 - 2026
Volvo Car USA
  • Built RAG-based conversational AI systems using LLMs to retrieve and generate accurate responses from PDFs, databases, and knowledge bases.
  • Collaborated cross-functionally within the Volvo Cars Core Data Platform AI Team, contributing to infrastructure, APIs, and tooling.
  • Integrated OpenAI/LLM services and developed scalable Python-based AI pipelines for intent handling, prompt orchestration, and multi-turn conversations.
  • Implemented API integrations and deployed AI solutions on Microsoft Azure, ensuring secure, scalable, cloud-native operations.
Technologies: Machine Learning, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Large Language Models (LLMs), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Python, Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG), APIs, LangGraph, Agentic AI, AI Agents, LangChain, Azure AI Services, Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft AI, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Azure Cosmos DB, OpenAI, Azure OpenAI Service, FastAPI, OpenTelemetry, Kubernetes, GraphQL API

Data Engineer (AI-focused)

2025 - 2025
Noetica Inc.
  • Designed and built a scalable data integration service that connects to the S&P Capital IQ API and mirrors relevant data.
  • Developed efficient data synchronization processes with appropriate scheduling mechanisms.
  • Created a reliable data mirroring system with proper error handling, logging, and notifications.
Technologies: ETL, Python, Data Engineering, Apache Airflow, Docker, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Finance, Finance APIs, Kubernetes, Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), PySpark, Database Architecture, Financial Systems, Infrastructure, Data, Data Pipelines, CI/CD Pipelines, Medallion Architecture, APIs, Data Transformation, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), ETL Pipelines

Senior Data Engineer

2024 - 2025
University of Washington
  • Upgraded the legacy systems and optimized performance.
  • Provided strategic consultancy on upgrading the entire environment to the latest standards.
  • Created documentation and shared best practices with the junior development team to ensure smooth ongoing maintenance.
  • Restored and configured a new Amazon EC2 environment to host the SQL Server.
Technologies: SQL, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Data Pipelines, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Airtable, Data Architecture, Data Modeling, Data Cleansing, Database Management, Data Warehousing, Data Science, Power BI Desktop, Database Architecture, Microsoft Excel, Data, Medallion Architecture, Azure SQL Databases, Git, Power Query M, Data Transformation, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), ETL Pipelines

Data Engineer

2023 - 2024
Beiersdorf AG
  • Integrated data for EMEA countries for 62 product categories across 12 countries having hundreds of brands in various segments. Established ETL data pipelines, developed reporting solutions, and built forecasting modules.
  • Led the development of centralized data pipelines and ingestion frameworks in Databricks to standardize structured data intake amid fragmented data spread across multiple regional systems.
  • Implemented centralized governance and enforced secure, role-based data access across teams.
  • Built dashboards in Power BI and Excel templates for different stakeholders.
  • Collaborated with the CXOs' data analysts to perform in-depth data analysis and present reports so they could define measurable goals for the next fiscal year.
Technologies: Microsoft Power BI, Dashboards, Data Visualization, Excel 365, Azure Databricks, Reports, Python, Data Architecture, Data Modeling, Data Cleansing, Machine Learning, Database Management, Data Warehousing, eCommerce, Large Language Models (LLMs), Power BI Embedded, Artificial Intelligence (AI), DAX, Power BI Desktop, Database Architecture, Microsoft Excel, Data, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Data Pipelines, Medallion Architecture, Azure SQL Databases, Role-based Access Control (RBAC), SharePoint, Power Query M, Data Transformation, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Microsoft Fabric, ETL Pipelines

Data Engineer

2022 - 2023
Deckers Brands
  • Built a centralized and scalable reporting solution in compliance with GDPR policies. They operated 150+ physical stores worldwide.
  • Developed data pipelines, a central data warehouse, and an end-to-end reporting solution using Databricks and Tableau. I designed an event-driven ingestion architecture that reduced data latency to 15 minutes across regions.
  • Led the data analytics initiatives and proposed different solutions for their reporting and analytical needs. Built quick demos and optimized the performance of legacy solutions.
  • Collaborated with the business analyst, product manager, and technical team to define the requirements into actionable deliverables. Provided regular updates on assigned tasks and managed the team's deliverables.
Technologies: Tableau, PostgreSQL, Redshift, Amazon DynamoDB, SQL Server BI, Data Analysis, Database Analytics, Reporting, Business Intelligence (BI), Amazon Web Services (AWS), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Microsoft Visual Studio, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), Scrum, Jira, C#.NET, Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Visualization, Data Quality Analysis, Team Leadership, Dashboards, ETL, AWS Lambda, JSON, Amazon RDS, Databases, BI Reporting, BI Reports, Big Data, Amazon EC2, AWS Glue, Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR), Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Excel 365, Tableau Embedded Analytics, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Reports, Data Architecture, Data Modeling, Data Cleansing, ETL Tools, Database Management, Data Warehousing, eCommerce, HIPAA Compliance, Database Architecture, Data, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Data Pipelines, Medallion Architecture, APIs, Azure SQL Databases, Role-based Access Control (RBAC), Data Transformation, Databricks, Data Lakehouse

Senior Data Engineer

2021 - 2022
Orion180
  • Developed a dozen BI dashboards using Microsoft Power BI and custom charts with ApexCharts.js.
  • Established a data ingestion process, cleaned bad data, and improved the existing system's performance.
  • Tracked and fixed bugs reported on Jira and Azure boards.
Technologies: C#.NET, SQL, Vue, Azure, Microsoft Power BI, Data Visualization, Data Analysis, Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Team Leadership, Agile Software Development, Microsoft SQL Server, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), ETL, JSON, Databases, BI Reporting, BI Reports, Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL, Azure Functions, Azure Blobs, .NET, Excel 365, Reports, API Integration, Data Architecture, Data Modeling, Data Cleansing, ETL Tools, Database Management, Data Warehousing, Data Science, Power BI Embedded, DAX, Power BI Desktop, Database Architecture, Infrastructure, Data, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Data Pipelines, CI/CD Pipelines, Medallion Architecture, APIs, Azure SQL Databases, Role-based Access Control (RBAC), SharePoint, Git, Power Query M, Data Transformation, ETL Pipelines

Senior .NET Consultant

2018 - 2020
Vertex Software
  • Developed the AI module. The method takes a precise approach to creating a personalized wellness plan with the user's body as its guide.
  • Built digital workspace maturity self-assessment solutions based on ESG research for Dell.
  • Built AT&T Cybersecurity Consulting Services to perform a comprehensive assessment.
Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, Microsoft SQL Server, Artificial Intelligence (AI), REST APIs, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Microsoft Visual Studio, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), C#, Agile, jQuery, SQL, C#.NET, AngularJS, Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Visualization, Data Analysis, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), Amazon RDS, Databases, .NET, Excel 365, Models, Database Management, Data Science, Healthcare, Database Architecture, Financial Systems, Infrastructure, Microsoft Excel, Data, API Development, Data Pipelines, CI/CD Pipelines, AWS Step Functions, Medallion Architecture, APIs, Role-based Access Control (RBAC), Git, Data Transformation, Scraping, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Visual Studio Code (VS Code), ETL Pipelines, Real Estate, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Azure SQL

Solution Architect

2007 - 2017
Strategic Systems International
  • Led teams to build enterprise applications and platforms for clients in multiple domains, including business intelligence, financial, healthcare, and software services.
  • Engaged with data giants, including Thomson Reuters, Mercy, Krones, and Amazon, and worked with large databases with terabytes of data and millions of records per table.
  • Contributed to database design, data mining, data warehousing, and ETL projects. Built two enterprise-level ETL tools.
  • Led the development team for a startup and built a number of tools for brand management. Later, it was acquired by Omnicom Group for $835 million.
  • Handled SQL and NoSQL databases, including query optimization, performance tuning, data cleansing, data management, and related activities.
Technologies: SQL, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Microsoft SQL Server, SSAS, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), R, Python, MongoDB, jQuery, ASP.NET MVC, Azure, Microsoft Visual Studio, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), Agile, C#.NET, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Visualization, Data Analysis, IT Project Management, Team Leadership, Agile Software Development, Dashboards, Business Intelligence (BI), ETL, APIs, REST APIs, JSON, Amazon RDS, Databases, BI Reporting, BI Reports, Big Data, .NET, Excel 365, Reports, API Integration, Data Architecture, Data Modeling, MySQL, Data Cleansing, ETL Tools, Machine Learning, Microsoft Access, Database Management, Data Warehousing, Data Science, eCommerce, Healthcare, Power BI Embedded, Artificial Intelligence (AI), DAX, Power BI Desktop, Database Architecture, Financial Systems, Infrastructure, Microsoft Excel, Data, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), API Development, Data Pipelines, Medallion Architecture, SharePoint, Git, Data Transformation, Scraping, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), ETL Pipelines, Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Software Engineer

2006 - 2007
MicroTech Industries
  • Developed a GSM-based messaging system for electric meters in C# and SQL Server.
  • Provided support and added new features for a payphone admin software using Borland Builder.
  • Worked on embedded systems (PICS, microcontrollers) for GSM engines (Nokia, Siemens, etc.).
Technologies: Microsoft Visual Studio, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), SQL, C#.NET, Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Amazon RDS, Databases, .NET, Microsoft Access, Database Management

Experience

DSB AI Pilot

I designed and delivered an AI-powered service booking chatbot for the automotive domain, enhancing customer experience across mobility and digital services. I built RAG-based conversational AI systems using LLMs to retrieve and generate accurate responses from PDFs, databases, and knowledge bases. I integrated OpenAI/LLM services and developed scalable Python-based AI pipelines for intent handling, prompt orchestration, and multi-turn conversations.

My work included implementing API integrations and deploying AI solutions on Microsoft Azure, ensuring secure, scalable, cloud-native operations. I also collaborated with global teams and mentored junior AI/ML engineers, promoting best practices and accelerating project delivery.

Credit Risk & Rating Platform

https://www.noetica.ai/
I designed a data-intensive AI pipeline integrating S&P Capital IQ APIs with internal systems for downstream analytics and AI inference. I built LLM-assisted workflows to analyze structured financial data and generate automated company credit ratings. I defined rule-based constraints and validation layers to ensure consistent, auditable, and explainable AI outputs.

My work included developing reusable agent capabilities for data retrieval, normalization, and scoring logic, enabling faster iteration across financial use cases. I also implemented robust monitoring, logging, and error-handling for AI-driven workflows in production.

Azure Open AI Chatbot

I architected an enterprise private AI assistant leveraging Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Search over proprietary corporate data spanning multiple geographical offices. I designed a RAG pipeline with layered prompting to ensure accurate, context-aware responses grounded only in approved internal documents. I implemented agent rules and retrieval constraints to prevent cross-location data leakage and enforce compliance requirements. I also built ingestion and synchronization pipelines using Azure Data Factory, including document normalization, tokenization, chunking, and embedding. Finally, I used Cursor AI to iteratively design, validate, and refine agent logic and prompt structures.

University of Washington—Child Well-being Data Portal

https://www.washington.edu/
The client had been running a data portal for a decade-old project for a US state's child healthcare system, which was facing many issues and needed to be upgraded to modern standards. I provided strategic and hands-on consulting on agentic AI systems, big data platforms, and applied machine learning. Advised on integrating LLMs with enterprise data sources and research workflows, focusing on scalability, governance, and real-world usability.

NIVEA—Brand Management & Forecasting Solution (eCommerce & Retail)

https://www.beiersdorf.com
A comprehensive brand management and reporting solution. Worked with higher management, regional managers, and analysts to integrate data for EMEA countries and build and scale analytical tools with 12+ dashboard designs to do in-depth analysis of products across 62 categories across 12 countries. It helps management to see the market trends, conduct consumer analysis, view competition brands, measure performance, optimize strategies for the next quarter, and develop plans for the coming year. Also, I built forecasting solutions to predict the sales for the coming years.

Customer Retail Engagement Service Tool—CREST (Retail, eCommerce)

CREST is the all-in-one sales and service solution to drive digital customer engagement for a new in-store experience. It centrally controls retail operations, as well as monitors and optimizes store performance at every level. Users can benefit from a powerful retail command center and set the right actions at the right time. It allows stores to manage product catalogs, trigger promotions, manage the goods flow, and steer all retail processes—all from a central system.

Business Intelligence Reporting (Insurance)

https://orion180.com
Led the database engineers team to develop several reporting solutions, including custom dashboards, Power BI reports, and integration with Azure Data Lakes.

• Performing data analytics and implementing business intelligence solutions using Microsoft Power BI.
• Complying with project plans and industry standards.
• Thriving in an agile, scrum development team.
• Providing work-completed demos on a bi-weekly basis to stakeholders.
• Providing timely updates on the progress.

Business Intelligence Solutions (Financial)

https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en
I developed over 20 BI solutions for Thomson Reuters—the world's largest financial data provider company—where data was pulled from different sources, including FTPs, flat files, XML, web services, SQL, and Oracle. I wrote ETL routines, built data marts, and integrated them into the Thomson Reuters data warehouse. Some sources had huge volumes, containing data in terabytes and pushing millions of records daily. The tools and technologies used included .NET, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, SQL Server, XML, and web services.

Amazon eCommerce Solution (Digital Agency)

https://www.flywheeldigital.com
Led a team of software engineers to develop an eCommerce solution using MVC.NET, C#, SQL Server, SSIS, Mongo, and AWS. I integrated four Amazon modules—AMS, VC, ARA, AMZ—and APIs. The application used a data-driven holistic approach toward marketing and sales. The client is one of the leading vendors on Amazon, working with hundreds of brands.

Integrated Sourcing and Solutions (Healthcare)

https://www.mercy.com/
I developed a web application using MVC, .NET, Infragistics, SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS, jQuery, and NHibernate, hosted on Amazon Cloud. I integrated five different ERPs. I also developed various modules for cost analysis, value tracking, data management/standardization, and reporting and dashboard needs. The client was the fifth-largest healthcare company in the US.

I was part of a 15+ person engineering team. The focus was building a secure, HIPAA-compliant data platform for healthcare analytics. I built a master data management solution on Databricks for cost analysis and contract management, processing 20 million records daily while maintaining strict data governance and compliance standards.

Falcon (Data Mining and Text Analysis)

Next-generation web-based tool to do quicker and more efficient mass data analysis. It receives data from varying sources. I built a data warehouse and executed the mining algorithm and rules. It presents interactive reports, a dashboard, charts, graphs, and network diagrams. The user can examine output, identify relevant patterns, and make rules. It has a web-based ETL tool, mining engine, and query builder to facilitate the user's in-depth data analysis.

Tools and Technologies: C#, MVC, jQuery, SQL Server, Lucene/Solr

Supply Chain Management (Healthcare)

A web-based application suite hosted on Amazon Cloud for the healthcare industry. The application suite includes three applications, SmartSource (a strategic sourcing workflow that drives savings and tracks and monitors project statuses), SmartANALYTIC (a patient-centric informatics application designed to promote the scientific and economic study of case/procedure supply utilization), and SmartPROCUREMENT (an equipment purchasing application for hospitals to optimize supplier economics and contracting outcome.).

Tools and Technologies: C#, ASP.NET, Infragistics, SQL Server, SSRS

Krones Data Management (Manufacturing)

I developed a complete data management solution using SQL Server, MongoDB, and SSRS for a German client for its mission-critical and real-time environment. The client was facing many issues (slow reporting, slow database insertions, data purging, data versioning issues, etc.). To find solutions, we provided them with complete backup-restore, backup-recovery, and database archiving mechanisms with a zero-ETL solution, a versioning system, and an improved database design for operations and reporting.

Krones is a German packaging and bottling machine manufacturer. It is the world's leading manufacturer of lines for filling beverages in plastic and glass bottles, as well as beverage cans.

IC Group LP Reporting Solution

https://www.icgroupinc.com/
IC Group helps global brands and agencies acquire, engage, and retain customers through rewarding moments with highly effective and secure digital rewards delivery solutions. It builds dozens of striking reports to meet complex business requirements and growing client needs.

Tools and technologies: SQL Server, SSRS, T-SQL

Virtual Private Learning

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Education

2003 - 2007

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

Punjab University Collage of Information Technology - Lahore, Pakistan

Certifications

JUNE 2016 - PRESENT

Project Management: Essential Management Skills for Aspiring Team

People Excellence

JUNE 2015 - PRESENT

Project Management: Scrum for Professionals

Akai Ideas

JUNE 2014 - PRESENT

Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012/2014

Microsoft

Skills

Libraries/APIs

REST APIs, Amazon API, Entity Framework, API Development, jQuery, Vue, PyTorch, SQLAlchemy, PySpark, GraphQL API

Tools

SSAS, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, SQL Server BI, Microsoft Access, Power BI Embedded, Power BI Desktop, Microsoft Excel, Git, Microsoft AI, Azure OpenAI Service, Tableau Embedded Analytics, AWS Step Functions, Claude, GitHub Copilot, Jira, AWS Glue, Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR), ChatGPT, Apache Airflow, Pytest

Languages

SQL, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), C#, Python, C#.NET, Power Query M, R, Snowflake

Frameworks

ASP.NET MVC, .NET, LangGraph, Data Lakehouse, AngularJS, .NET Core, Alembic

Paradigms

Scrum, Business Intelligence (BI), ETL, Agile, HIPAA Compliance, Role-based Access Control (RBAC), Agile Software Development

Platforms

Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), SharePoint, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Microsoft Fabric, AWS Lambda, Databricks, Azure AI Search, Amazon EC2, Azure Functions, Shopify, Docker, Kubernetes

Storage

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), PostgreSQL, Databases, Azure SQL, Data Pipelines, MySQL, Database Management, Database Architecture, Azure SQL Databases, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), MongoDB, Redshift, JSON, NoSQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Amazon DynamoDB, Azure Blobs, Azure Cosmos DB

Industry Expertise

Healthcare, Project Management

Other

Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Visualization, Data Analysis, Analytics, Dashboards, Database Analytics, Reporting, APIs, BI Reporting, BI Reports, Azure Data Factory (ADF), Reports, API Integration, Data Architecture, Data Modeling, Data Cleansing, ETL Tools, Finance, Data Warehousing, Data Science, eCommerce, Large Language Models (LLMs), Financial Systems, Infrastructure, Data, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Medallion Architecture, Data Transformation, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG), Agentic AI, AI Agents, Azure AI Services, Microsoft Foundry, Semantic Search, ETL Pipelines, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Sprints, Software Engineering, Azure Data Lake, RESTful Services, Amazon RDS, Big Data, Excel 365, Machine Learning, Scraping, DAX, Real Estate, LangChain, Cursor AI, Prompt Engineering, Vector Databases, Conversational AI, OpenAI, Data Build Tool (dbt), IT Project Management, Team Leadership, Data Quality Analysis, Airtable, Amazon Vendor Central, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Azure Databricks, Forecasting, Clustering, Models, Finance APIs, FastAPI, CI/CD Pipelines, OpenTelemetry

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