I’m currently working as an AI Engineer at a fintech company in London. Before this, I tried starting my own company through Entrepreneur First, a startup incubator, which taught me a lot, even though the company didn’t progress.
I also completed a fellowship at Faculty.ai, which was key in launching my commercial career. Faculty partners with organisations like OpenAI and runs a program that retrains academics to become commercial Data Scientists. Prior to all this, I was deep in academia, doing a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, where I focused on human decision-making and reinforcement learning.
So, it’s been quite the journey: from academia to entrepreneurship to AI engineering in fintech.
Initially, I wanted to become a professor. But halfway through my PhD, I realised how uncertain academia was with lots of short-term contracts and very little stability. I loved living in London and didn’t want to keep uprooting my life.
At the same time, I started to see industry differently, especially during COVID, when hybrid work became more accepted. I also realised that my favourite part of research wasn’t publishing papers; it was working with data and building models. I craved more collaboration and impact.
Pivoting wasn’t easy. I had to make my work more commercially relevant, improve my coding, and take risks, but the relationships I built made all the difference. A recruiter led me to the incubator, and a friend recommended the Faculty fellowship. Those connections fundamentally shaped my transition.
AI isn’t the product; it’s a tool. Depending on the goal, you could swap AI with any other tool...It’s a means to an end. Whether it's helping automate something or solve a specific problem faster, it’s always about the outcome, not the tech itself.
Another key thing is understanding the meaning of your data, and what questions you can answer with it . You don’t need to understand every part of an AI model to make informed decisions. In academia, I worked with small models, but now I’m dealing with huge models where understanding every parameter isn’t feasible. At that point, you focus on asking: “What problem am I solving?” and “What does success look like?”
Finally, sometimes the best solution isn’t the most complex. When you’re running something millions of times a day, you need a model that is fast and efficient, not necessarily just the most advanced. All in all, I think the key is understanding trade-offs and what truly adds value.
I have milestones I’m proud of, and a lot of them came from moments of rejection or uncertainty – hearing “no” or “maybe” and figuring out how to move forward from that. For instance, I applied for a research master’s in the Netherlands and was waitlisted, which devastated me. My grades were good, I had internship experience, and I just couldn’t understand their decision.
So, I printed out my CV, wrote a report on my internship, and literally biked to the programme coordinator’s office. I knocked on his door and said, “I applied for this master’s, I’ve been waitlisted, and I want to tell you that I really want to be in this program.” I explained everything, and in the end, he looked at me and said, “I don’t know why we waitlisted you – fine, we’ll put you in the program.” That moment taught me a lot about the importance of advocating for yourself. To this day, I’m incredibly proud of that.
Resilience and tenacity are key. I make it a habit to ask for feedback and constructive criticism regularly. That process reduces so much anxiety for me because people grow comfortable being honest with me and they start asking for my feedback too.
But receiving feedback also requires resilience, especially when it’s tough to hear. I’ve had to take difficult feedback, reflect on it, and use it to improve.
A challenge I’m facing currently is learning to prioritise projects effectively. In a context of conflicting ideas about what’s needed, I have to prioritise what to build. The key is making a decision, backing it up with data, and moving forward.
I don’t want to say Twitter... but Twitter is honestly a big one! I also subscribe to newsletters and keep in touch with academics, who offer valuable insights into what’s happening in both academia and industry.
I also dedicate time to personal projects. Every month, I experiment with new techniques, which keeps me sharp and helps me stay curious. This hands-on learning is important because the industry evolves so quickly.
I’m competitive with myself. I want to feel that I’m making progress and increasing my impact. My goal is to become the go-to person in my team, someone who others turn to with questions.
Long-term, my goal is to step into an executive role and maybe start my own company. During my PhD, I supervised students on their research projects. While it wasn’t quite the same as managing a team in a professional setting, I found it rewarding and would genuinely enjoy leading a team in the future. But for now, I’m not in a rush.
Networking has played a key role in my career. The startup incubator, fellowship, and even my current job, I found out about all of them through my network, whether it was someone reaching out to me or vice versa. Networking is about building genuine relationships, staying visible, and being aware of what's happening around you.
I’ve been really lucky to have mentors who openly shared their experiences with me. I’ve learned a lot from their stories, and their advice has helped me grow in confidence and see things more clearly.
Networking has also taught me to advocate for myself, understand my value, and communicate it effectively.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard is: “Be comfortable being uncomfortable.” It might sound a bit cliché, but it’s been so true in my experience.
During my PhD, I got into a summer school in Barcelona for advanced modelling. When I arrived, I was convinced they’d made a mistake. I couldn’t understand the code, I was panicking, sleep-deprived, and completely overwhelmed.
But once I opened up and asked for help, I realised everyone else was struggling too. By the end, I could actually handle some of the work and learned a ton. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life.
That discomfort was a sign I was growing. So my advice is: don’t be afraid to put yourself into uncomfortable situations and ask questions if you don’t know understand, even if you feel silly. Everyone struggles. That’s how you learn.
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