Prompts, tools, and state
System prompts with a fixed job. Tool definitions that call real APIs (orders, shipping, scheduling). A conversation state machine so the agent cannot skip required steps.
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AI Engineer shipping production LLM agents, tool-calling workflows, and the platforms they run on.
Sydney Chikanya
AI Engineer
LLMs · AGENTS · PRODUCTION
Open to opportunities
Full-time remote · Open to relocation · CET / EU / US overlap
I am an AI Engineer who ships production LLM systems: conversational agents, citizen-report intelligence, AI-assisted executive dashboards, and the full-stack platforms those systems sit on.
Live AI work: Puriflow’s WhatsApp agent, Livi Lemphakatsi report triage, and the MMSS municipal KPI dashboard. Same production discipline across Java, Python, Flutter, AWS, Azure, and Teraco.
Featured
AI & Production Work
Puriflow | Production LLM Agent
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Client
Puriflow
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Stack
OpenAI GPT-4, WhatsApp Business API, tool-calling, React, PHP
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AI system
Conversational agent with grounded product Q&A, order-status tools, scheduling, and safety guardrails
Livi Lemphakatsi | Citizen Engagement + AI Triage
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Client
Mpumalanga COGTA
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Stack
Python (Django), Flutter, REST APIs, AWS, LLM classification
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AI system
Classifies citizen reports, routes to the right department, and drafts operator summaries; humans close the case
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Links
Web · Google Play
MMSS | AI-Assisted Municipal Dashboard
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Client
Mpumalanga COGHSTA
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Stack
Java (Spring Boot), Angular, API-driven architecture, Teraco, dashboard AI
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AI system
Executive KPI dashboard that flags municipal exceptions and turns performance data into readable insight for decision-makers
What I Ship
LLM Agents & Tool-Calling
Production conversational agents, citizen-report intelligence, and AI-assisted executive dashboards: prompts, tools, grounded context, and human fallback.
Full-Stack Web Development
React, Next.js, and TypeScript dynamic interfaces coupled with scalable backend APIs, optimized client states, and responsive styling.
Backend Engineering
Secure, performant service layers built with Java/Spring Boot and PHP, including complex relational database design, secure RBAC, and caching tiers.
UI/UX Design
User-centered design: wireframes, user flows, and high-converting interfaces from concept through to build.
Cloud & DevOps
Production deployments, CI/CD pipeline automation (GitHub Actions), environment architecture on Azure/AWS, and infrastructure logging.
How I Build AI Systems
Agents in production, not prompts in a notebook.
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Grounded answers
Puriflow answers from product context and order APIs. Livi classifies citizen reports from the submitted text and photos, then routes to a department. MMSS reads live municipal KPIs and surfaces exceptions instead of inventing numbers.
03
Guardrails in production
Safety rules block off-brand or unsafe replies. Order facts and municipal KPIs come from systems of record, not the model. Unknown or sensitive cases fall back to a human path.
Experience
2023 - Apr 2026
S and L Avenue (L and L Technologies)
AI Engineer
- • Shipped a production WhatsApp agent on OpenAI (Puriflow): system prompts, tool-calling into order and shipping APIs, conversation state, and safety guardrails.
- • Built LLM-assisted triage into Livi Lemphakatsi: classify citizen service reports, route them to the responsible department, and draft operator summaries with human sign-off.
- • Delivered the MMSS AI-assisted executive dashboard: municipal KPI telemetry, exception flags, and readable performance insight for COGHSTA decision-makers.
- • Owned architecture, APIs, CI/CD, deployment, and handover across Spring Boot, Angular, Django, Flutter, AWS, Azure, and Teraco.
2022
Tobacco Sales Limited
IT Systems Developer (Intern)
- • Designed and implemented an internal sales floor management system using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL.
- • Improved SQL performance and supported Linux server and network administration.
Education
Africa University
BSc (Hons) Computer Science
- • Graduated 2023, CGPA 3.3 (Second Class Upper).
- • Agile-focused developer with experience across software architecture and production delivery.
Certifications
Professional Credentials
Industry & Cloud Certifications
- • Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate - Google / Coursera, 2025
- • Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst PL-300 - Microsoft, 2025
- • IBM Data Science Professional Certificate - IBM / Coursera, 2025
- • Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure - Google, 2022
- • In Progress: Microsoft SC-900 (Security Fundamentals) & AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals)
Technology Stack
and Tools
From Code to Deployment:
My Process
01
Discover & Design
Discover & Design: research, wireframes, user flows, and UI design in Figma.
02
Plan
Analyze project requirements and define the technology stack.
03
Code
Develop code using best practices, create features, and ensure functionality.
04
Test
Conduct unit testing, debug, and ensure code through various testing methods.
05
Deploy
Deploy the code to production, collaborate teams, and manage live environments.
Project Highlights
e-PGLUM - Land Use Management Platform
Digitised municipal land-use and building-plan workflows with role-based access control, compliance reporting, and secure process automation.
Visit Site
- Government Platform
- COGHSTA
Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature
High-performance citizen portal built with Next.js App Router, dynamic React components, and headless Sanity CMS for rapid updates and secure content delivery.
Visit Site
- Government Portal
- Mpumalanga
Saintflowers | Digital Florist Storefront
High-conversion WooCommerce storefront optimized with custom PHP plugins, LiteSpeed Cache, and Cloudflare CDN integration for premium flower delivery.
Visit Site
- E-commerce / Retail
Lethabong Estate | Property & Tenant ERP
Custom PHP & MySQL property management platform automating tenant billing, utility tracking, access control logs, and administrative leasing workflows.
Visit Site
- Property ERP
Delivery Focus
Proven end-to-end ownership of LLM agents and the platforms they run on: prompts, tools, APIs, CI/CD, and live support.
AI systems
Agents, tools, guardrails, production
Execution
Agile delivery across Scrum and Kanban
Strong collaboration with technical and non-technical stakeholders while maintaining clean, testable, production-ready code.
Reliability
Performance optimization, cloud operations
Let's Build Something Impactful.
Contact Me!
