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Kushan Manahara

AI/ML engineer

I turn ideas into systems people can rely on.

I'm an AI/ML engineer building real-world intelligent systems across machine learning, LLMs, agents, backend infrastructure and cloud, from the model and data pipeline to the production system people actually use.

Built with teams at
Kushan Manahara
Kushan Manahara — Sri Lanka, 2026

About

I'm Kushan, an AI/ML engineer and full-stack builder working where machine learning, software engineering and cloud infrastructure meet.

My work spans research and production: from experimenting with ML models and LLM-based systems to designing APIs, data pipelines, agent workflows and scalable cloud infrastructure.

More about me
Based in
Sri Lanka, building toward global AI/ML engineering work.
Currently
Machine Learning Engineer at H2O.ai, working on forward-deployed AI engineering.
Focus
Intelligent production systems combining AI/ML, LLMs, agents, backend infrastructure and cloud.
Education
B.Sc. Engineering (Hons) in Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya.

Expertise

What I build.

Most of my work touches several of these at once: the model, the data and APIs around it, and the infrastructure it runs on.

See it in the projects →
01

AI / Machine Learning

Building production ML systems from data and experimentation through model serving, evaluation and deployment.

Machine LearningDeep LearningPyTorch
02

LLMs & AI Agents

Designing intelligent applications around LLMs, RAG, tool use, agent workflows and multi-step reasoning.

LLMsRAGAI Agents
03

Backend & Distributed Systems

Engineering reliable backend systems, APIs, data pipelines and distributed workflows that support production AI applications.

PythonNode.jsKafka
04

Cloud & MLOps

Taking AI systems from local experiments to secure, scalable cloud infrastructure and production workflows.

AWSGCPMLOps
05

Full-Stack Engineering

Building complete products across frontend, backend, databases and intelligent services rather than treating AI as an isolated component.

ReactNext.jsTypeScript

Deep dive — Sitejabber

Turning 2M+ reviews into answers in under two seconds.

  1. 01 — ProblemToo many reviews to read.Sitejabber holds over 2 million customer reviews. Pulling insight out of them, or answering questions about them, did not scale by hand.
  2. 02 — ApproachAgents over a searchable review base.Reviews are indexed for retrieval, and a set of agents analyses them and answers questions through a chatbot.
  3. 03 — TechnologyLangChain and vector databases.Multi-agent workflows in LangChain, with vector databases for retrieval over the review corpus.
  4. 04 — OutcomeFast answers, hours saved.Answers in under 2 seconds across 2M+ reviews, saving more than 100 hours of work every month.
2M+Customer reviews behind the assistant
<2sResponse time
100+Hours of work saved every month
Full write-up

Experience

Four roles, one direction.

Full-stack development, research, machine learning and AI engineering, most recent first.

All experience Full résumé on request →

H2O.ai

May 2026 — now · Sri Lanka
Machine Learning Engineer, Forward Deployed AI Engineering

Enterprise AI platform company. I build production AI applications that combine LLMs, agents and ML systems.

LLM applicationsAI agentsML pipelinesComputer visionProduction infrastructure

CML Insight

Dec 2024 — Apr 2026 · Remote
Machine Learning Engineer

US company working on causal machine learning.

Machine learning engineeringProduction AI systemsAI/ML pipelinesApplied ML

University of Peradeniya

Jul 2024 — Apr 2025 · Peradeniya
AI/ML Research Assistant

Applied AI/ML research with professors, for a US client. The project was completed and well received.

AI/ML researchResearch collaborationEnd-to-end implementation

GTN Technologies

Jul 2023 — Feb 2024 · Sri Lanka
Full-Stack Development Intern

Fintech company. My first professional software engineering role.

Full-stack developmentFintech applicationsBackend/frontend integration

Technical stack

The stack, layer by layer.

The tools I reach for, grouped by layer: from models and retrieval to the backend, interfaces and infrastructure they run on.

01AI / ML

Modelling, experimentation and the numerical toolkit underneath it.

PythonPython
PyTorchPyTorch
TensorFlowTensorFlow
scikit-learnscikit-learn
PandasPandas
NumPyNumPy
SciPySciPy
02LLMs / AI Systems

Retrieval, agents and the model platforms I build LLM applications on.

ClaudeClaude
BRAWS Bedrock
h2oH2OGPTe
LangGraphLangGraph
RAGRAG
PinePinecone
AgentsAI Agents
03Backend / Data

APIs, services and the databases and streams behind them.

Node.jsNode.js
ExpressExpress
PythonPython
PostgreSQLPostgreSQL
MySQLMySQL
KafkaKafka
RESTREST APIs
04Frontend

The product around the model: interfaces people actually use.

ReactReact
Next.jsNext.js
TypeScriptTypeScript
Tailwind CSSTailwind CSS
shadcn/uishadcn/ui
05Cloud / Infrastructure

Taking systems from a laptop to secure, scalable cloud deployments.

awsAWS
Google CloudGoogle Cloud
DockerDocker
KubernetesKubernetes
MLOpsMLOps
06Developer / Engineering

Everyday engineering tools for shipping and collaborating.

GitGit
GitHubGitHub
LinuxLinux
VSVS Code
CI/CDCI/CD
Full stack

Engineering philosophy

How I think.

Tools change every year. These habits have held up across full-stack work, research and AI engineering.

Journey

The long way to AI.

Full journey
2020 — 2024 · Peradeniya

University

B.Sc. Engineering (Hons), Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya

Studied Computer Engineering and built the foundations in software engineering, systems and AI/ML.

Computer EngineeringSoftware, systems, AI/ML
2023 — 2024 · Sri Lanka

Full-Stack Engineering

Full-stack development intern, GTN Technologies

Entered professional software engineering through full-stack development and worked on fintech products.

FintechFull-stack
2024 — 2025 · Peradeniya

Research

AI/ML research assistant, University of Peradeniya

Moved deeper into AI/ML research, working with professors and a US client on an applied research project.

Applied researchUS client
2024 — 2026 · Remote

Machine Learning Engineering

Machine learning engineer, CML Insight

Moved from research into production ML engineering and began connecting machine learning with real software systems.

Production MLCausal ML
2026 — now · Sri Lanka

AI Engineering

Machine learning engineer, H2O.ai

Moved into forward-deployed AI engineering, working across LLMs, agents, ML platforms, computer vision and production infrastructure.

LLMs & agentsML platforms

Contact

Let's build.

Hiring for AI/ML engineering, or building something with models in it? Tell me about it.