Available for roles & freelance  ·  Leeds, UK

Akshay
Maroli Payyanadan

Automation Engineer  /  MCA & MSc Advanced Computer Science

I build systems that remove friction and actually get used — from workflow automation and document AI to edge computer vision. 100+ projects delivered. Recently completed my MSc with Distinction at Leeds Beckett University.

100+ Freelance Projects
3+ Years Delivering
2 Masters Degrees
About

I build things that
actually get used.

My instinct is to automate. When I see a repetitive process — a data pipeline, a document workflow, a manual task someone runs every day — I want to remove it. That thread has run through everything from early Fiverr scripts to the full-scale automation systems I've built more recently.

I've worked across the stack — Python, AppScript, REST APIs, GCP, Selenium, document AI — mostly on problems where success has a simple measure: does this save real time for real people?

Originally from Kerala, India. Now based in Leeds, where I recently completed my MSc in Advanced Computer Science with Distinction. What comes next is still forming — but it points at applied AI, edge systems, and software that earns its place.

Let's talk
Now

Currently building

MSc Dissertation — Completed with Distinction

Edge AI Wildfire Detection

YOLOv8 nano INT8 quantised model on Raspberry Pi 5 with Flask split-inference. Edge INT8 achieved 90.6% detection at ~166ms vs cloud Float32 at 92.4% / ~117ms.

YOLOv8Raspberry Pi 5FlaskEdge AI

Automation Systems

Ongoing workflow tooling — API integrations, document processing, and pipelines that cut manual overhead.

PythonAppScriptREST APIs

Personal Utility Hub

A personal ecosystem of tools, micro-automations, and utilities built around real friction in day-to-day work.

ToolsAutomationsPortfolio
Work

Projects

01 Production · Android + Web

Community Event & Meals App

Android app built for a community organisation covering event management, daily food distribution, food ratings, donations, and real-time push notifications. Accompanied by a companion web app for event attendance tracking — organisers monitor and record participant attendance in real time. Actively used in production daily — not a portfolio demo.

Android Event Management Push Notifications Web App Production
02 Freelance · 100+ Delivered

Automation & Workflow Systems

100+ projects delivered across Google Workspace automation, REST API integrations, document processing, Selenium test suites, and custom business tooling. Long-term collaboration with a UK-based client on AppScript, Document AI, and GCP pipelines.

AppScript Selenium REST APIs Python Document AI GCP
03 Freelance · SaaS

WhatsApp Automation API

Developed and deployed an API leveraging WhatsApp Web to automate message sending at scale. Hosted online and actively used by subscribed clients for daily business communication tasks.

Python WhatsApp API SaaS Automation
04 Live · Next.js

Daily AI Shots

AI news aggregator pulling from 10+ sources. Filter by category, source, and date — then save stories into personalised digests. Fully client-side, no backend or database.

Next.js News Aggregator Static
04 Live · Next.js

Vantage Capital

Business finance platform for loans from $50K–$50M. Covers term loans, equipment finance, and invoice factoring — with 48-hour credit decisions and a full product UI built in Next.js.

Next.js Finance Vercel
06 Live · Next.js + Prisma

LedgerMatch

Multi-user expense reconciliation platform. Import CSVs, normalise records, and match transactions via rule-based scoring. Includes dashboard analytics and role-based access control.

Next.js Prisma Auth.js Reconciliation
07 Live · Static

Utility Masterhub

12 browser-based utilities across 4 categories — text cleaning, data formatting, encoding, and calculations. Everything runs client-side with no server, cookies, or tracking.

HTML/CSS/JS Client-side 12 Tools
08 MSc Dissertation · Distinction · 2025–2026

Edge AI Wildfire Detection

MSc dissertation deploying a YOLOv8 nano INT8 quantised model on Raspberry Pi 5 for real-time fire and smoke detection. Core work was rigorous benchmarking across detection rate, false positive rate, inference latency, and resource utilisation under constrained hardware. Used a Flask-based split-inference architecture to keep processing at the edge without cloud round-trips.

Concluded with a cloud comparison against a Float32 pipeline — evaluating the accuracy and latency trade-offs of edge vs cloud deployment.

Edge · INT8
90.6%Detection
8.2%FPR
~166msInference
Cloud · Float32
92.4%Detection
7.6%FPR
~117msInference
YOLOv8 Nano · INT8 Raspberry Pi 5 Flask Edge AI Benchmarking Computer Vision Cloud Comparison
Career

Experience

Automation Engineer · Part-Time

Acefast Computers Ltd  ·  Ipswich, UK (On-site)
Jun 2025 – Dec 2025
  • Continued automation engineering on-site at the Ipswich office while completing the MSc in Leeds
  • Built an IPAFFS form automation tool using Selenium: fetched case data from Airtable, navigated multi-page UK government forms, conditionally filled fields, uploaded files, and returned the draft form URL to a staff dashboard — errors triggered automated email notifications
  • CHED status checker: VM-hosted Python script polled CHED numbers from Airtable, scraped live status from the UK government portal (no public API available), and wrote results back to Airtable to trigger downstream automated actions
  • Maintained and extended Document AI pipelines, Airtable integrations, and Selenium tooling

Automation Engineer · Full-Time, Remote

Acefast Computers Ltd  ·  UK (Remote from India)
Mar 2024 – Jan 2025
  • Sole automation engineer for a UK customs clearance company, working full-time remotely
  • End-to-end Document AI pipeline: custom parsers for Invoices, Phytosanitary certificates, CMRs, and MRN docs; structured JSON extraction with business-rule post-processing
  • Trained a Document Splitter to classify pages by type within multi-document PDFs; Python script split and routed documents to designated Drive folders automatically
  • Fully automated email ingestion workflow: Apps Script captured PDF attachments → Splitter classified → Python (VM) split and filed → data extracted to Airtable — zero manual intervention
  • Xero API for invoice generation; Airtable and Google Sheets via Apps Script with scheduled triggers; HMRC API integrations for customs clearance and compliance workflows

Freelance Software Developer

Fiverr  ·  Level 2 Seller  ·  5.0★  ·  153 reviews
Oct 2022 – Jan 2025
  • 100+ projects delivered across 2+ years with zero negative feedback
  • Core specialisations: Apps Script (Sheets, Docs, Forms, Gmail, Drive, Calendar), REST API integrations, Amazon web scraping (price, ASIN, ratings), and multi-tool Workspace pipelines
  • Long-term UK client collaboration on Apps Script, Document AI, GCP pipelines, and Selenium automation — led directly to a full-time engineering role
  • Handled full project lifecycle: requirement scoping, solution design, development, delivery, and post-launch support

Automation & Analytics Engineer

Quantiphi  ·  Bangalore
Jan 2022 – Dec 2022
  • Joined as Automation & Analytics Intern (Jan – Jul 2022), converted to full Engineer (Jul – Dec 2022)
  • Automated monthly report generation and compliance checks, reducing significant manual effort
  • Built a solution merging Excel attendance records with swipe data to track hybrid eligibility and automate monthly allowance calculations
  • Served as primary point of contact during the company's migration to Workday

Software Tester

Tata Consultancy Services  ·  Bengaluru
Oct 2018 – Apr 2019
  • Collaborated with the client-side dev team testing an online tool migrated from a Windows desktop application
  • Conducted comprehensive testing during the PDT phase to verify correct live-environment behaviour across all workflows
  • Recipient of the TCS Gems Award for outstanding performance and contribution
Capabilities

Skills & Stack

Automation & APIs
Workflow Automation Google Apps Script REST APIs Selenium HMRC API Xero API IPAFFS Automation Airtable
AI & Document Intelligence
Google Document AI Edge AI Computer Vision YOLOv8 Model Quantisation Applied AI
Google Workspace & APIs
Apps Script Sheets Drive Docs Gmail Forms Calendar Document AI
Data & Integration
Airtable JSON Data Processing ETL Pipelines Business Rule Implementation
Cloud & Infrastructure
GCP AWS VM-hosted Scripts Cloud Foundations
Languages & Frameworks
Python JavaScript Flask HTML / CSS
Delivery & Practice
Client Collaboration Freelance Delivery Technical Documentation Problem Scoping
Academic

Education

Completed · Distinction
MSc Advanced Computer Science
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds, England  ·  Jan 2025 – May 2026
Dissertation: Edge AI Wildfire Detection
MCA — Master of Computer Applications
Christ University
Bangalore, India  ·  Jun 2019 – Jun 2022
BCA — Bachelor of Computer Applications
New Horizon College of Engineering
Bangalore, India  ·  2015 – 2018
Certified

Certifications

AWS Academy Graduate
AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
Verified
The Complete Android Development Bootcamp
Udemy
Completed
The Web Developer Bootcamp
Udemy
Completed
Complete Python Bootcamp — Zero to Hero
Udemy
Completed
Recognition

Achievements & Awards

TCS Gems Award
Tata Consultancy Services  ·  Bengaluru, India
Awarded for outstanding performance and contribution during the PDT testing phase of a client migration project.
NCC 'A' Certificate
National Cadet Corps  ·  India
Awarded the NCC 'A' Certificate upon successful completion of the cadet programme.
GST-Registered Business at 19
Self-Founded  ·  India
Established and operated a GST-registered online business at age 19, handling legal registration, operations, and client delivery independently.
Contact

Let's work
together.

Open to full-time engineering roles, contract work, and interesting freelance projects. If you're building something useful and need someone who ships — I'd like to hear about it.