tengkusyafiq.com
KL · 2026

Tengku
Syafiq.

CTO / Eng. Lead at vimigo · Kuala Lumpur. I run a 40+ engineering team shipping AI-first performance-reward software to 2,000+ SMEs across SEA.

40+ engineers managed·AI integrated·~60% AWS cost cut·AWS partner secured

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hiring loopsTypeScriptsprint planningGoAWSMCPcareer coachingNext.jsAnthropicstakeholder relationsReactCloudflare R2agent designOKR alignmentPHPOpenAIteam scalingLaravelDeepSeekspec-first workflowReact Nativen8ncode reviewFlutterNotion APImentorshipPythonmulti-agent devmicroservicesNode.jsClaude Codeperformance reviewsIoTDockercross-team deliveryhiring loopsTypeScriptsprint planningGoAWSMCPcareer coachingNext.jsAnthropicstakeholder relationsReactCloudflare R2agent designOKR alignmentPHPOpenAIteam scalingLaravelDeepSeekspec-first workflowReact Nativen8ncode reviewFlutterNotion APImentorshipPythonmulti-agent devmicroservicesNode.jsClaude Codeperformance reviewsIoTDockercross-team delivery
01 / About

THE SHORT VERSION.

Engineering leader with 10+ years writing software and 5+ years managing the people who write it. Currently CTO at vimigo, running a 40+ engineering team across performance-reward systems, HR tech, and AI integrations. Cut the AWS bill ~60%, landed a strategic AWS partnership, wired Anthropic, OpenAI, and DeepSeek into the core product, architected vimigo 5.0, and shipped the MCP service that lets AI assistants act on live company data.

Day job: helping businesses replace KPI theatre with performance + reward systems that actually drive the workplace: more engagement, more revenue, less spreadsheet politics.

INFJ / INTJ, depending on the day.

02 / Selected work

WHAT I SHIPPED.

vimigo · CTO / Eng. Manager
2024 · 08 → present · Kuala Lumpur
AI
  • Run the technical floor at vimigo's AI adoption events for SMEs: coached business owners and their teams through a 4-day program, 100+ participants in total, and by closing presentations each company had a centralized AI agent and a live operations dashboard running on data that had never sat in one place
  • Integrated multi-provider AI (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek) into the core product
  • Shipped vimigo MCP: lets AI assistants on ChatGPT or Claude act on live company data across 900+ product operations
  • Ran internal AI R&D: OpenAI + DeepSeek wired into sales automation, customer screening, and lead qualification
  • Delivered AI Goal Recommender based on industry insights: used by 10+ businesses in the first 30 days to align individual performance with company OKRs
  • Designed an agent-based testing harness: agents plan, execute, and review each change against a written spec
  • Made the in-house stack AI-ready enough to run full AI employees (CEO, CTO, Product Manager, Engineer, Designer) that take a product from spec to codebase without colliding with human engineers: 4 new modules and enhancements shipped across multiple projects in one day with a single human engineer
Cost
  • Cut AWS bill ~60% in total: 35% within the first week by clearing idle network gateways and right-sizing auto-scaling, the rest compounding from the Cloudflare R2 move, retiring unused databases, and rebuilding notifications on serverless
  • Retired two legacy databases and infrastructure: reduced hosting spend with zero customer-facing impact
  • Migrated S3 storage to Cloudflare R2: zero egress fees going forward
  • Cut departmental expenses by pruning unused services and tools: positive P&L for engineering
  • Migrated notification service from EC2 to AWS Lambda microservices: auto-scaling under traffic spikes, no manual capacity planning
Team
  • Lead 40+ engineers in total: 20+ in-house plus a scalable pipeline of freelancers and partner agencies for on-demand hiring
  • Doubled in-house headcount past 20 via hiring loops, technical assessments, interview panels
  • Built the freelancer + agency pipeline that accelerates dev cycles 25% on new projects
  • Built code-review + spec-first workflow with AI agents
  • Mentored juniors into seniors; ran sprint planning + retros
  • Drove hiring loops + onboarding playbooks
Partners
  • Secured AWS strategic partnership: exclusive service discounts and credits
  • Formed HRMS partnerships with JustLogin, Talenox, Setgaji: unlocked 3000+ B2B customers across SEA
  • Onboarded corporate clients like FamilyMart: performance reward systems lifted frontline sales +5.2% in the first month
Shipped
  • Rolled out Diamond: a second reward currency, wired through every leaderboard version in production and covered by automated tests
  • Added progressive individual + team milestones to the performance reward system
  • Launched business-owners community app: connected SMEs by industry, +15% platform retention
  • Built education class management system: attendance + gamified rewards, now run by multiple swimming centres (1,200+ students and teachers)
  • Deployed shift management module: multi-location support, automated working-hours tracking
  • Upgraded HRMS: attendance pause/resume, private leave reasons, budget-capped gamified reward wheels (10+ client requests)
  • Launched public reward marketplace: 1,000+ businesses on the platform, 100+ active during the launch event
Platform
  • Architected vimigo 5.0 so new modules plug into the core by addition alone: no rewrites, nothing breaks for existing customers
  • Designed plugin marketplace + creator economy: where the line sits between core product and plugin, and how each customer's setup is described
  • Made missing leaderboards build themselves the moment someone asks for one, replacing a nightly job that could fail quietly
  • Built admin tooling to recalculate ratings and rebuild rank ladders without pulling an engineer in
vimigo · Deputy Eng. Manager
2023 · 01 → 2024 · 07 · Kuala Lumpur
Build
  • Led outsourced dev team to optimize a chat app for mass adoption + older devices: 3s delay → near-zero
  • Established software tester department: AWS Device Farm + automated end-to-end testing
  • Developed new front-end framework, migrating 5 modules from Flutter Web + Laravel Blade to Next.js
Lead
  • Managed projects + products with a 20-member engineering team: payroll, AI-powered HR, employee rewards
  • Doubled engineering team size: active in hiring, assessments, interviews
  • Advised engineers on career growth, technical challenges, professional development: supported promotions
  • Presented a new employee performance reward system at a 150+ attendee SME event: secured +5 deals
vimigo · Senior Software Design Engineer
2022 · 01 → 2022 · 12 · Kuala Lumpur
Build
  • Developed a new API standard with standardized MVC framework + internal CLI tool: +40% project development efficiency
  • Delivered a new version of the leave management system with multi-tier approval
  • Led self-hosted email servers + WordPress sites with real-time gold and silver price displays
  • Managed and developed a workplace gamification app for SMEs: MVP in 1.5 months
  • Led an internal team to deliver a virtual wallet app: kicked off a hackathon for on-time completion
vimigo · Software Engineer
2020 · 03 → 2021 · 12 · Kuala Lumpur
Build
  • Built backend (Laravel, PHP) + mobile frontend (Vue.js, JavaScript) for an offline attendance feature with anti-tampering measures
  • Delivered a facial check-in feature in a 2-day hackathon: reduced human error
  • Enhanced notification feature scalability with indexing + caching: resolved 10+ user issues with zero downtime
Lead
  • Developed a new front-end framework: transitioned Vue.js to Flutter in a month
  • Co-managed a 10+ developer team on a 3-month project: new mobile app version drove +110% monthly active users
ELMLAB · Software Engineer
2019 · 09 → 2019 · 12 · Selangor
Lead
  • Ran product development cycles as Product Owner: gathered stakeholder requirements, led a 5+ developer team
Build
  • Managed projects: food delivery app for Jonker Street vendors and a vehicle fleet tracking app
  • Developed and maintained Android, iOS, and web apps: React Native, React.js, JavaScript, Elm, Firebase backend
Ag-IQ Australia · Part-time Mechatronics Eng.
2018 · 12 → 2019 · 07 · Adelaide
Hardware
  • Designed a user-friendly humidifier controller for almond storage sheds
  • Established a wireless sensor network for real-time grain moisture monitoring in silos: remote manual override
Stack
  • Microcontroller, IoT, MQTT, MySQL, Python, C++, DASH, Plotly, Serial Communications
03 / Odd jobs & wins

SIDE NOTES.

2017–22
Part-time trader: manual and automated, Bursa Malaysia + cryptocurrency
2018
First UGV to complete the University of South Australia maze challenge since 2013
2016–17
Part-time at Hoyts Cinema, Adelaide: through engineering school
2016
Best Project Award: Mechatronics Engineering, University of South Australia
2014–15
Maintenance Engineer Trainee: Q-Cells, Cyberjaya
2013
Part-time retail: a local Malaysian outlet
2011
3rd place, Malaysia Robotics Olympiad (National): Smart Home Security System
2010
3rd place, Best Project Award: Compact Electric Generator
2010
Best National Logo Design Award, Malaysia
04 / School

WHERE I LEARNT.

University of South Australia
Bachelor of Eng. (Hons.) Mechatronic Engineering
2016–2019 · CGPA 5.32/7.0
German-Malaysian Institute
Diploma in Industrial Electronics (Mechatronic)
2013–2016 · CGPA 3.52/4.0
MARA Junior Science College Taiping
Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (equivalent to British GCSE)
2011–2012 · CGPA 3.56/4.0
05 / Stack

WHAT I USE.

Lead
team management, hiring loops, onboarding playbooks, sprint planning, retros, 1:1 career coaching, mentorship, performance reviews, OKR alignment, stakeholder relations, cross-team delivery, agile/scrum, systems design, full-stack ownership, presenting to clients
Build
TypeScript, JavaScript, Next.js, React, React Native, Flutter, PHP, Laravel, Node.js, Python, Go, WordPress
Run
AWS, Cloudflare (R2, Pages, Workers), MySQL, Postgres, Redis, Docker, microservices, DevOps, Git, Jira, CI pipelines
AI
Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, MCP (Model Context Protocol), agent design, Claude Code, multi-agent development, evaluations, spec-first workflow
Automation
n8n, Notion API, MCP servers, workflow orchestration, scripted infra glue, CI pipelines
Other
IoT, mechatronics, microcontrollers, MQTT, hardware prototyping, technical writing, Velite, Tailwind, Strapi → git CMS migration
06 / Writing

RECENT POSTS.

all posts →