Shahzaib Ishaq — Engineering Lead, Fintech Systems Architect

Name

shahzaib — engineering lead, fintech systems architect, applied ai/ml

Manchester, UK

Synopsis

shahzaib [--problem=REAL_WORLD] [--stack=js|python|infra] [--timeline=~10d] [--no-leetcode]

Description

Engineering lead and fintech systems architect, currently finishing an MSc in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Hull. The professional summary is short. The actual path was not: graphic design training, a mobile repair academy, a phone-sales business that paid the first year's university fees, and a rejected job offer all show up in the commit history below.

Everything after 2017 was built on one core language — JavaScript — before Python and applied ML were added for the research work. Presently operating within fintech: architecture, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and a team of 15–20 developers, spanning bare metal servers, web, mobile, and databases.

What follows in HISTORY is the real sequence, not the polished one.

History

a1e40f2start apprenticeship: graphic design trainingnot merged2015

branch: design/apprenticeship — an early placement arranged through family, ahead of exam results.

b207ac9redirect: mobile repair academy — software + hardware2015–16

branch: hardware+software — family circumstances changed the plan. finished the course, learned both sides of a device.

c88d013start phone-sales business w/ a friend2017

branch: business/mobile-sales — margins were good, scale was small. paid for the first semester of university.

d34aa71enroll: BSc Information Technology, Univ. of Gujrat2017

e5109fcrole: Amazon Product Hunterreverted2019

too far from core programming. left after a few months.

f9c221bfull-stack dev — C# + Angular2019–20

0a77e58learn React Native; open a small office, train juniorsfreelance launch2020–21

1b4f902attempt: co-found a software housemerge conflict2019

branch: software-house-attempt — the disagreement was over the company name. never resolved, never merged.

2c88e13pass Node.js technical test, offer rejected on terms2020

"lower rate, no long-term retention." the moment that set the direction below.

3d9f221graduate BSc IT — distributed systems, MANETs, cloud2021

4e1a087found Codek Technologiesorigin2021

built as the counter-offer to 2c88e13: real industry experience, structured like an institution.

5f2b910merge: TetradPay + Tetrad Businessmajor merge2022–present

team of 15–20 devs; cloud, cybersecurity, devops, bare metal, web, mobile, databases.

6a3c802branch: MSc AI, University of Hull2025

federated learning + privacy-preserving 30-day prediction pipeline. unmerged, in progress.

HEADopen to the next real problemcurrent2026

Platforms

Client engagements delivered through Codek Technologies, end-to-end: architecture, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, cybersecurity, and database ownership.

drwxr-xr-x	tetradpay/	International money transfer platform. ~100,000 users, several million transactions/month. Real-time FX conversion integrations across mobile and web; deployment and performance optimisation for high-volume, low-latency transfers.
drwxr-xr-x	simlesspay/	Mobile payments platform. Third-party payment gateway and financial API integrations; security protocols established for sensitive financial data.
drwxr-xr-x	tetrad-business/	B2B treasury & reconciliation. Unified multi-currency FX ledger — wallets, lot-based FIFO allocation — powering client reporting and reconciliation.
drwxr-xr-x	codek-technologies/	Founder & Technical Lead, 2021–present. Consultancy providing embedded technical leadership and engineering delivery to fintech clients; grown from a solo build to a full delivery team.

Competencies

$ shahzaib --help

Core Competencies

--fintechFintech & payments infrastructure architecture, high-volume & multi-platformcore

--securityCybersecurity, database architecture & compliance — incl. remediation of a critical unauthenticated RCE (CVSS 9.8)core

--federated-mlFederated learning & privacy-preserving machine learning, fintech and healthcarecore

--infraCloud infrastructure & DevOps, end-to-end GCP ownership; self-hosted, data-sovereign systems designcore

--leadershipTechnical leadership across cross-functional engineering teams (15–20 developers)

--fx-ledgerMulti-currency FX ledger & treasury systems design

--researchApplied AI/ML research, model fairness & evaluation

Stack

languagesTypeScript, JavaScript, Python

frameworksNestJS, React, React Native, Node.js

ml / aiPyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, Flower (federated learning), Differential Privacy (DP-SGD)

dataPostgreSQL, Firebase Firestore, Redis, BullMQ

cloudGoogle Cloud Platform, AWS, Docker, CI/CD, Traefik, Nginx

identityKeycloak, NetBird, Headscale, Infisical, Coolify, Pulumi, Ansible

securityCVSS/CWE/OWASP, Wazuh, CrowdSec, Trivy, Gitleaks, SonarQube, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring

Credentials

Education

2025–26MSc, Artificial Intelligence & Data Science — University of Hull, UK. Dissertation: privacy-preserving federated learning for 30-day hospital readmission prediction (MIMIC-IV).

2017–21BSc, Information Technology — University of Gujrat, Pakistan.

Certifications

CISMCertified Information Security Manager — Cybrary

securityPre-Security Learning Path — TryHackMe

mlSupervised Learning with scikit-learn — DataCamp

statsStatistical Thinking in Python — DataCamp

Philosophy

"I don't interview well against a whiteboard. Define the real problem, then give me about ten days of quiet to solve it completely, on my own terms."

How to Hire

$ ./hire-me.sh --problem="<your real problem>"

> no leetcode ......................... enforced

> allocating quiet focus .............. ~10 days

> output ..... one complete, considered solution

Bugs

Best matched to clearly scoped, real-world problems rather than open-ended or algorithmic screening exercises.
Favours self-hosted, data-sovereign infrastructure over third-party SaaS where ownership of operational data matters.

Author

Muhammad Shahzaib Ishaq Anjum — Manchester, UK. Founder, Codek Technologies.