Available for collaboration Johannesburg, South Africa

Hi, I'm Rito Chabalala.
I build AI-powered products.

I'm a

AI / Software Engineer · Full-Stack & Cloud Solutions · Data & AI Enablement. I design, build, and ship full-stack and AI-driven solutions on Azure using modern React / TypeScript and Python — with strong DevSecOps fundamentals.

3+
Years building software
Azure
Cloud-native delivery
GenAI
LLMs & RAG in production
SA / DE
Cross-region teams
About

Engineer behind the work

Junior AI / Software Engineer with 3+ years of hands-on experience delivering full-stack, cloud-based, and AI-driven solutions in enterprise environments. I design, build, and deploy scalable applications using DevSecOps practices, Azure, and modern AI/GenAI technologies.

At Sasol, I lead end-to-end delivery of enterprise AI platforms — from architecture through production — building knowledge assistants and data products that improve decision-making across the business. I work across teams in South Africa and Germany to standardise AI architecture patterns and engineering practices.

I care about shipping reliable, observable software: CI/CD, security scanning with Snyk & SonarQube, and runtime monitoring with New Relic are part of every project I lead. Outside enterprise work, I tinker with RAG, agent workflows, and OCR pipelines.

Skills

Tools I use to ship

A working stack across AI, full-stack development, cloud, and DevSecOps — chosen for what gets reliable software into production.

Languages

  • Python
  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript
  • C#
  • Java
  • R
  • SQL
  • PHP
  • C++
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • LaTeX

AI / ML

  • Machine Learning
  • Generative AI / LLMs
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
  • ML-based OCR
  • Predictive Analytics
  • Statistical Modelling
  • LangChain
  • TensorFlow
  • scikit-learn
  • Pandas / NumPy

Frameworks & Frontend

  • React (TypeScript)
  • Next.js
  • Django REST Framework
  • ASP.NET Core MVC
  • Tailwind CSS

Cloud & DevSecOps

  • Microsoft Azure
  • Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • Azure DevOps
  • GitHub Actions
  • CI/CD Pipelines
  • Snyk
  • SonarQube
  • New Relic

Databases & Analytics

  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • SQL Server
  • MongoDB
  • Oracle
  • Power BI

Ways of Working

  • Agile / Scrum delivery
  • SDLC best practices
  • AI & technical governance
  • Stakeholder engagement
  • Continuous improvement
Experience

Where I've shipped

  1. Junior AI / Software Engineer · Sasol

    Aug 2024 – Present

    Johannesburg, South Africa

    • Lead end-to-end development of AI-driven and full-stack digital solutions — from architecture to production deployment.
    • Design and ship scalable AI systems aligned with enterprise architecture, cloud, and security best practices.
    • Build full-stack apps with React (TypeScript) + Django REST, integrating GenAI capabilities into enterprise platforms.
    • Secure RESTful APIs and run cloud-native deployments on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
    • Apply DevSecOps & CI/CD with Azure DevOps, GitHub, Snyk, SonarQube, and New Relic.
    • Contribute to AI architecture patterns standardised across South Africa and Germany teams.
  2. Optimisation Developer / Data Scientist · Sasol

    Apr 2023 – Jul 2024

    Johannesburg, South Africa

    • Built and deployed ML solutions to support operational optimisation and data-driven decision-making.
    • Developed predictive and statistical models on diverse enterprise datasets.
    • Implemented ML-based OCR to automate auditing — improving accuracy and compliance.
    • Streamlined data pipelines and analytical workflows using Python.
    • Designed model validation and testing frameworks ensuring robustness and performance.
Education

Academic background

BSc Honours in Computer Science & Information Technology

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

2022 – 2023

Key modules

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Advanced Database Systems
  • Mobile Application Development
  • Health Informatics

Research Project: Customers’ Perceptions Toward Mobile Banking Applications in Rural Areas of Limpopo.

Bachelor of Science (BSc) – Mathematical Sciences

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

2018 – 2021

Majors

  • Computer Science
  • Statistics
  • Mathematics
  • Applied Mathematics

Bachelor's Degree for NSC 2017

Nkwangulatilo Education Centre

2017

Subjects

  • Mathematics
  • Physical Sciences
  • Life Sciences
  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Xitsonga (Home Language)
  • English (First Additional Language)
  • Life Orientation
Projects

Selected work

A mix of enterprise systems, AI experiments, and side projects. More on GitHub.

Orbit — Innovation Management Platform

2026Featured

Led the development of Innovation Orbit, an AI-enabled enterprise innovation management platform supporting idea generation, evaluation, and cross-team collaboration.

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Django REST
  • Azure AKS
  • GenAI

AI Knowledge Assistant (RAG)

2025Featured

Retrieval-Augmented Generation system integrating vector search and LLMs — document ingestion, embeddings, grounding validation, and context-window-aware retrieval for long-document QA.

  • Python
  • LangChain
  • LLMs
  • RAG
  • Vector DB

ML-Based OCR for Auditing

2024Featured

Automated auditing workflow using ML-based OCR to extract, validate, and reconcile structured data from scanned documents — improving accuracy and compliance.

  • Python
  • Computer Vision
  • OCR
  • ML
  • Automation

Full-Stack Blog Application

2024

Built a Django REST + React-based blogging platform with authentication and full CRUD functionality.

  • Django REST
  • React
  • Auth
  • CRUD

Disease Prediction System

2023

Machine-learning model that predicts diseases from user-reported symptoms, using data preprocessing and predictive modelling techniques.

  • Python
  • scikit-learn
  • ML
  • Healthcare

University Online Admission System

2022

Designed and implemented an automated admissions system to improve efficiency and reduce manual processing for university intake.

  • Web App
  • Workflow Automation
  • Databases

E-Commerce Platform

2021

Full-stack web application supporting multi-brand product browsing, cart, and online transactions.

  • Full-Stack
  • Web
  • Payments

Render-Visualisations

2023

Earlier exploration of data rendering and visualisation techniques on the web.

  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • Data Viz

Portfolio Site

2026

This site — Next.js, Tailwind CSS, statically exported and deployed to GitHub Pages.

  • Next.js
  • Tailwind
  • TypeScript
Certifications & Awards

Recognition & credentials

Certifications

  • Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals (SC-900)

    2025

    Microsoft

  • National Certificate: Business Analysis (NQF Level 6)

    2024

    MICT SETA

Awards

  • Huawei Seeds for the Future — Top Project in Africa

    2023

    Huawei

    Selected participant; part of a team awarded Top Project in Africa for innovation and technical excellence.

Contact

Let's build something.

Open to collaborations on AI, full-stack, and cloud projects — or just a good chat about engineering. The fastest way to reach me is email or LinkedIn.

Johannesburg, South Africa

References available on request.