Tengku Syafiq

Engineering leader.
10+ years scaling teams, integrating AI, shipping SaaS.

About

Innovative engineering leader with 10+ years of experience scaling tech teams, driving AI integration, slashing costs, and building revenue-generating SaaS products. Delivered impactful results in development, managerial, and CTO roles by optimizing ops, securing strategic partnerships, and leading 20+ engineers. Passionate about product growth, team excellence, and building future-ready, customer-centric platforms.

Work Experience

Software Engineering Manager / Acting CTO

vimigo

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • 2024-08 – Present

Pioneered AI initiatives by launching internal AI-driven R&D, integrating OpenAI and DeepSeek into sales automation, customer screening, and lead qualification tools to boost sales efficiency.
Secured AWS strategic partnership, negotiating a long-term deal that granted exclusive service discounts and credits. Coupled with a revised DevOps strategy, this reduced monthly server costs by 35% within 2 months.
Cut departmental expenses by eliminating unused services and tools, optimizing engineering operations and reducing bloat, contributing to positive P&L for the engineering division.
Expanded the company network on developers by building a scalable pipeline of individual freelancers and agencies for on-demand hiring, accelerating development cycles by 25% on new projects.
Formed strategic HRMS partnerships with JustLogin, Talenox, and Setgaji to enhance vimigo's ecosystem and unlock access to 3000+ potential B2B customers across SEA. This helps all parties expand their client base.
Oversee and onboarded corporate clients like FamilyMart, customizing performance reward systems that helped boost their frontline sales by 5.2% in the first month.
Revamped cloud infrastructure for notification service, migrating from EC2 to AWS Lambda-based microservices to enable auto-scaling notification systems, ensuring reliability during traffic spikes and supporting growing customer base.
Managed and delivered AI Goal Generator feature, used by 10+ businesses in the first 30 days, providing smart suggestions to align individual performance with company OKRs.
Enhanced existing performance reward system with progressive individual and team milestones.
Introduced business owners community app, connecting SMEs by industry for knowledge sharing and peer growth, increasing platform retention rate by 15%.
Built an education class management system with attendance tracking and gamified performance rewards. System now adopted by multiple swimming centers, managing 1,200+ students and teachers.
Deployed shift management module with multi-location support and automated working hours tracking, enhancing operational efficiency for businesses with rotating staff.
Upgraded existing HRMS with new features such as attendance pause/resume, hidden leave reasons, and budget-controlled gamified reward wheels, requested by 10+ clients.
Launched public reward marketplace within vimigo ecosystem, enabling 1,000+ businesses to buy and sell staff rewards during annual business award events, driving cross-promo exposure and lower-cost incentives. Successfully used by 100+ businesses during the launch event.

Deputy Engineering Manager

vimigo

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • 2023-01 – 2024-07

Led and managed an outsourced development team to optimize a chat app for mass adoption and compatibility with older devices, reducing delay from 3 seconds to near zero.
Established a software tester department to enhance product quality and streamline development processes using AWS Device Farm and automated end-to-end testing.
Managed multiple projects and products with a 20-member engineering team, delivering payroll, AI-powered HR, and employee rewards systems.
Advised engineers on career growth, technical challenges, and professional development, aiding promotions.
Developed a new development framework for front-end engineers, transitioning from Flutter web and Laravel Blade to Next.js, migrating 5 modules.
Led presentation of a new employee performance reward system at a +150 attendee SME event, securing +5 deals.
Doubled the engineering team size through active participation in hiring, reviewing assessments, and conducting interviews.

Senior Software Design Engineer

vimigo

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • 2022-01 – 2022-12

Developed a new API standard with a standardized MVC framework and internal CLI tool, increasing project development efficiency by 40%.
Delivered a new version of the leave management system with a multi-tier approval system.
Led development and deployment of self-hosted email servers and WordPress websites with real-time gold and silver price displays.
Managed and developed a workplace gamification app for SMEs, delivering the MVP within 1.5 months.
Led an internal team to deliver a virtual wallet app, initiating a hackathon for on-time completion.

Software Engineer

vimigo

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • 2020-03 – 2021-12

Developed backend (Laravel, PHP) and mobile frontend (Vue.js, JavaScript) for an offline attendance feature with anti-tampering measures.
Delivered a facial check-in feature during a 2-day hackathon, reducing human error.
Developed a new front-end framework, transitioning from Vue.js to Flutter within a month.
Co-managed a 10+ developer team in a 3-month project, releasing a new mobile app version with a 110% increase in monthly active users.
Enhanced notification feature scalability with indexing and caching, resolving 10+ user issues with zero downtime.

Software Engineer

ELMLAB

Selangor, Malaysia • 2019-09 – 2019-12

Spearheaded product development cycles as a Product Owner, gathering stakeholder requirements and leading a 5+ developer team.
Managed projects including a food delivery app for Jonker Street vendors and a vehicle fleet tracking app.
Developed and maintained Android, iOS, and web applications using React Native, React.js, JavaScript, and Elm with Firebase backend.

Part-time Mechatronics Engineer

Ag-IQ Australia

Adelaide, Australia • 2018-12 – 2019-07

Designed a user-friendly humidifier controller for almond storage sheds.
Established a wireless sensor network for real-time grain moisture monitoring in silos with remote manual override.
Utilized Microcontroller, IoT, MQTT, MySQL, Python, C++, DASH, Plotly, and Serial Communications.

Odd Jobs & Achievements

Part-time Trading
2017 – 2022
Manual and automated trading in Bursa Malaysia and cryptocurrency.
UGV Maze Challenge
2018
First UGV to complete the maze challenge since 2013.
Part-time at Hoyts Cinema
Adelaide • 2016 – 2017
Best Project Award
2016
Mechatronics Engineering Project.
Maintenance Engineer Trainee
Cyberjaya • Q-Cells • 2014 – 2015
Part-time Retail
2013
Worked at a local retail outlet.
3rd Place Malaysia Robotics Olympiad
2011
National Level, Smart Home Security System.
3rd Place Best Project Award
2010
Compact Electric Generator.
Best National Logo Design Award
2010
Malaysia.

Education

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

Skills

Software DevelopmentProject ManagementCommunicationStakeholder RelationsLeadershipProject PlanningSprint PlanningScrumAgile MethodologiesTeam ManagementFull-Stack DevelopmentArtificial Intelligence (AI)Internet of Things (IoT)