Zainab Zaheer
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Architecture Developer
Lahore, Pakistan
Toptal member since July 8, 2026
Zainab is a senior AI and data systems engineer with 9+ years of experience designing production AI platforms. Her expertise spans ML and deep learning, retrieval and evaluation, agentic AI, RAG, and scalable data systems. Zainab combines strong AI foundations with systems engineering to architect reliable, production-grade solutions to complex business problems.
Portfolio
Experience
- Software Architecture - 8 years
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) - 8 years
- LLM Fine-tuning - 6 years
- Conversational AI - 6 years
- CI/CD Pipelines - 6 years
- AI Integration - 5 years
- RAG Architecture - 4 years
- Prompt Engineering - 4 years
Preferred Environment
Natural Language Processing (NLP), Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG), Agentic AI, Python, Solution Architecture, Machine Learning, PyTorch, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
The most amazing...
...system I've architected is an AI-native org operations framework that connects data, intelligence, and agentic workflows across talent, HR, and operations.
Work Experience
Principal AI Solutions Architect
MuzTech
- Led the architecture and hands-on delivery of AI/ML solutions, translating ambiguous business problems into technical requirements, system designs, implementation plans, and production-ready systems.
- Designed and built AI systems spanning machine learning, LLMs, RAG, agentic workflows, retrieval, evaluation, and intelligent automation, selecting approaches based on business and technical requirements rather than defaulting to generative AI.
- Architected scalable back-end and data systems using Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis, vector databases, asynchronous processing, and distributed service patterns.
- Owned technical delivery across discovery, architecture, implementation, integration, evaluation, deployment, observability, and iteration, working directly with customers, domain experts, and engineering teams.
- Led architecture for the People Intelligence platform, connecting organizational data, decision intelligence, retrieval, and AI-assisted workflows across HR, recruitment, and people operations.
- Established engineering and evaluation practices for reliable AI delivery, including modular architectures, automated testing, evaluation harnesses, observability, and controlled iteration of AI systems.
Senior AI Solutions Architect & Technical Lead
MuzTech
- Designed and implemented AI/ML and data-intensive systems across decision intelligence, enterprise operations, and intelligent automation.
- Built scalable Python services, APIs, data pipelines, retrieval systems, and ML/AI components, integrating structured and unstructured data into production workflows.
- Led technical discovery and solution design with stakeholders, translating operational problems into architectures, delivery plans, and working software.
- Contributed hands-on across AI/ML engineering, back-end development, system integration, testing, and deployment while providing technical direction to cross-functional teams.
Senior Research Scientist
TechnoGenics SMC Pvt
- Led design and development of an AI-driven conversational system (CARA) by applying NLP, contextual intent modeling, and dialogue management techniques aimed at enabling intelligent, context-aware user interaction and automated response workflows.
- Architected and deployed an enterprise AI platform capable of contextual reasoning, conversational interaction, knowledge retrieval, and automated cybersecurity workflows.
- Leveraged RASA, NLP techniques (intent recognition and entity extraction), conversational AI, generative AI, dialogue management systems, Python, REST APIs, and knowledge-based context modeling.
- Drove AI R&D and engineering execution by aligning model development, system architecture, and release strategy, ensuring timely delivery and scalability of AI-driven solutions.
- Delivered an industry-recognized solution, with CARA named a Tech Innovator (2021) by Gartner.
Research Scientist
Ebryx
- Developed a machine learning–based phishing detection system and enabling accurate identification of malicious activity by extracting network-level features and applying classification models.
- Conducted malware and threat analysis by examining network traffic patterns and attack behaviors. Generated and facilitated actionable insights for detection and prevention.
- Drove system development and deployment process by contributing to model design, validation, and integration with detection pipelines. Improved operational effectiveness of security solutions.
Software Quality Assurance Engineer
Netsol
- Devised and implemented effective test strategy for an asset management and leasing platform.
- Improved system reliability and release quality by designing and performing manual and automated test cases.
- Enabled timely resolution of issues and stable product delivery while contributing to high-priority release cycles by participating in war room activities and user acceptance testing.
- Reduced production issues and maximized user experience by minimizing critical defects and system inconsistencies through end-to-end and regression testing.
- Led testing sprints across multiple releases, reporting to the managers and client point personnel.
Experience
Intelligent Context-aware Cyber Security Agent
People Intelligence Platform
• Employee performance and behavioral analysis.
• Policy-aware HR decision recommendations.
• Explainable reasoning with confidence scoring.
• Bias, compliance, and organizational risk detection.
• Context-aware recommendations based on employee history and manager interactions.
Recruitment Intelligence Platform
• Resume parsing, ranking, and semantic candidate matching.
• Portfolio and GitHub profile analysis.
• ATS-style candidate scoring with explainable reasoning.
• Technical interview question generation and candidate evaluation.
• Hiring recommendations with strengths, risks, and confidence scoring.
AI-powered Customer Support Assistant
• Context-aware response generation using company knowledge bases.
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for policy-aware assistance.
• Conversation history and contextual memory management.
• Customer issue classification and workflow recommendations.
• AI observability, response analytics, and performance monitoring.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences - Lahore, Pakistan
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Rasa NLU, REST APIs, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, NumPy, Pandas, OpenAI API, Claude API, SpaCy, OpenAPI
Tools
ChatGPT, Claude, Notion, Notion API, n8n, Git, Rasa.ai, AI Prompts, GraphRAG, Dialogflow, RabbitMQ
Languages
Python, SQL, R, C++, GraphQL
Paradigms
Automation, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Asynchronous Programming, Microservices Architecture, Testing, Unit Testing, User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
Storage
PostgreSQL, Neo4j, Data Pipelines, Redis, MongoDB, Database Testing
Frameworks
Agentic Frameworks, Apache Spark, Hadoop, Flask, Django, LangGraph, AWS HA, Alembic
Platforms
Kubernetes, Docker, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Harness, AWS IoT, Apache Kafka, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), LangSmith
Other
Natural Language Processing (NLP), Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Large Language Models (LLMs), Architecture, Leadership, LLM Integration, Debugging, System Architecture, Workflow Automation, AI Integration, APIs, Agentic Workflow Design, Workflows, Data Science, Communication, Fine-tuning, Neural Networks, AI Chatbots, Conversational AI, Technical Architecture, Software Engineering, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Back-end, Back-end Development, Data-informed Recommendations, IT Consulting, Solution Architecture, Sentiment Analysis, CTO, Fractional CTO, System Architecture Design, AI Architecture, AI Workflow, CI/CD Pipelines, Time Series Modeling, Feature Engineering, FastAPI, FAISS, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Agentic AI, AI Agents, Cognitive AI, Machine Learning Operations (MLOps), LLM Reasoning, Applied AI, Knowledge Graphs, Recommendation Systems, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Orchestration, Agentic AI Systems, Pgvector, Vector Databases, Decision Modeling, IT Strategy, Conversational Agent, Deep Learning, Integration, Modeling, Prompt Engineering, RAG Architecture, Workflow Automation & System Integration, Semantic Search, API Integration, Data Engineering, Datasets, LLM Fine-tuning, Large Language Model Operations (LLMOps), Reinforcement Learning, Decision Trees, Scalable Vector Databases, Documentation, Cloud, RAG Systems, PDF, Conversational Design, Memory Management, Agentic RAG Systems, Consulting, Evaluation, Performance Optimization, Classification, Document Processing, Data Extraction, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Natural Language Understanding (NLU), AI Model Training, Predictive Modeling, ChatGPT API, Gemini API, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, Scalability, OpenAI, API Design, Vector Search, Context Engineering, Ontologies, ChatGPT Prompts, BERT, Async Processing, Kubernetes (K8s), LangChain, Smoke Testing, Computer Vision, Federated Learning, Augmented Reality (AR), Cognitive Computing, LLM Agents, Data Analysis, Handwriting Recognition, System Design, Decision Intelligence
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