Production AI agents
Tool use, durable runs, memory, model routing, streaming, human takeover, and evaluation.
Screen-readable profile
Resume
Senior AI engineer and entrepreneur with 17+ years of production software experience and a current focus on agent runtimes, applied AI, and durable product platforms.
PROFILE.EXE
Leonel Machava
Senior AI Engineer & Entrepreneur
- Location
- Maputo, Mozambique
- Timezone
- UTC+2, no daylight-saving time
- Languages
- Portuguese (native) · English (full professional)
Since 2015Toptal Verified Expert
I build production AI agents, intelligent developer tools, and durable software products.
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Core capabilities
Safe execution
Sandboxing, typed capability surfaces, credential isolation, policy, validation, and audit trails.
Applied AI & automation
Browser agents, LangGraph pipelines, computer vision, on-device ML, and human-in-the-loop systems.
Platform architecture
Distributed runtimes, Durable Objects, Workers, identity, RBAC, billing, data, and observability.
Full-stack product delivery
TypeScript, React, React Native and Expo, Node.js, Python, APIs, and cloud-native delivery.
Technical leadership
System design, 0→1 product ownership, team leadership, architecture, and long-running remote delivery.
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Career highlights
2025–present
Monto
Senior Software Engineer
Builds production AI systems for enterprise accounts-payable portal automation, including schema research, evaluation, and browser-agent tooling.
→ Productionised a multi-phase LangGraph pipeline that explores invoice portals and emits validated machine-usable schemas.
2019–2022
CacheFly
Front-end Engineer → System Architect
Worked on products and architecture for a global CDN provider and was promoted to System Architect.
→ The promotion and multi-year engagement provide externally visible seniority and long-term remote-delivery evidence.
2021–2023
Lumin / Pangaea Holdings
Technical Lead
Led engineering for loyalty and promotions capabilities at a direct-to-consumer eCommerce brand.
→ Led a cross-functional group of seven software engineers and five QA engineers.
2017–2019
Keepy
Full-stack Developer
Built mobile and backend systems for a family-memories product.
→ The public Toptal profile attributes 200,000+ active users and internationalisation for the Japanese market to this work.
2013–2020
Maputo Port Development Company
Software Development Consultant → Software Engineering Manager
Progressed from consultancy into leadership of the port's software team and project portfolio.
→ Long-running local leadership experience before the current AI-product chapter.
2008–2013
Jembi Health Systems / MOASIS
Software Engineer, eHealth
Built health-information systems in collaboration with Mozambique's Ministry of Health.
→ The starting point of Leonel's continuous professional software-engineering record.
03
Education & certificate
EDUCATION
University studies
Computer Science — Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo (2005–2008) · full coursework completed (no dissertation)
CERTIFICATE
BerkeleyX Artificial Intelligence
CS188.1x · completed with distinction, 2012
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