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About Me - Mugunth Kumar

Who I Am #

I’m a CTO and engineering leader with nearly 20 years of experience building technology that creates real impact. My journey has taken me from India to Singapore to Melbourne, giving me a global perspective on technology leadership. I’ve built and scaled teams from 1 to 24 engineers, authored advanced programming books, and led technical transformations at companies ranging from startups to enterprises.

What sets me apart: I combine deep technical expertise with strategic business thinking. I don’t just build technology—I build teams, culture, and sustainable systems that deliver measurable outcomes. Whether it’s reducing attrition by 85%, improving gender diversity from 5% to 30%, or cutting infrastructure costs by 90%, I focus on results that matter to the business.

How My Values Drive Results #

Purpose-Driven Technology with Business Impact #

I build technology that serves a greater purpose while delivering business value.

As CTO of Pink Cloud (addiction recovery platform), I’m spearheading Australian expansion by establishing strategic partnerships with University of Melbourne, Monash University, and Turning Point (Australia’s leading addiction research centre). I’ve architected and delivered:

  • Subscriptions platform (Django/AWS Fargate) supporting 5M+ unique research codes with academic analytics
  • Meeting data platform (FastAPI/DuckDB) serving sub-100ms queries at ~$30/month operational cost
  • RAG-powered AI features expanding access to evidence-based care

On the side, I’m building Nool — an AI-powered reading companion that transforms scrolling into learning. Full-stack product (Django, Swift, Kotlin) demonstrating end-to-end ownership from concept to deployment.

Data-Driven Leadership That Moves Metrics #

I make decisions based on measurable outcomes, not opinions.

  • Education Horizons: Introduced DORA metrics and Story Mapping, reducing cycle time by 40% and improving delivery velocity across 5 teams (24 engineers)
  • PaperCut: Built CI/CD pipeline (Bitrise) improving build reliability by 60%
  • Xero: Implemented A/B testing and phased rollouts, decoupling engineering from product schedules and reducing deployment risk

Empathy That Reduces Attrition #

Technical excellence and human connection aren’t opposed—they’re complementary.

  • Reduced attrition from 30% to under 5% at Steinlogic through structured 1-on-1s, capability frameworks, and bias-free hiring
  • Education Horizons: Coached 3 tech leads into people managers within 90 days, increasing team autonomy
  • PaperCut: Built mobile guild from scratch by mentoring Go engineers into mobile specialists, eliminating external hiring needs

Diversity That Drives Innovation #

I build inclusive teams where different perspectives create better solutions.

  • Improved gender diversity from 5% to 30% through objective, rubric-based hiring at Steinlogic
  • Openpay: Expanded international hiring (NZ, Colombia) during COVID, improving global delivery capabilities
  • Created capability frameworks and technical guilds to democratize knowledge and growth opportunities

Transparency That Accelerates Problem-Solving #

I prefer harsh truths over comfortable lies—it’s how we find real solutions.

  • Education Horizons: Implemented formal incident management process and trained associate engineers to run production releases within 3 months
  • Steinlogic: Established architectural decision records (ADRs) ensuring technical choices were documented and challengeable
  • Built cultures where engineers felt safe raising concerns, leading to earlier issue detection and faster resolution

Strategic Technology Adoption #

I identify transformative technologies early and apply them pragmatically.

  • 2008: Pioneered iOS development, authoring advanced programming books (translated to Spanish, French, Chinese)
  • 2017-2024: Led backend/cloud transformations (AWS CDK, event-driven architectures, microservices)
  • 2024-Present: Building production AI/ML systems (RAG pipelines, scikit-learn, AWS Bedrock) focused on business value over hype

What I Bring as CTO #

Technical Leadership:

  • Architect scalable systems: event-driven architectures, BFF layers, microservices
  • Build AI/ML-integrated products: FastAPI, scikit-learn, RAG pipelines
  • Deep expertise: Python, AWS (CDK/Fargate/RDS), Swift, Golang, Docker, Redis

Strategic Execution:

  • Turn business goals into technical roadmaps with measurable KPIs
  • Balance build vs. buy decisions based on ROI and strategic value
  • Drive technical due diligence for M&A and partnership opportunities

Team Building & Culture:

  • Scale teams sustainably while maintaining quality and culture
  • Create psychological safety that accelerates innovation
  • Develop engineering leaders through structured coaching and capability frameworks

Operational Excellence:

  • Implement DORA metrics, incident management, and continuous improvement practices
  • Design CI/CD pipelines that enable junior engineers to deploy safely
  • Optimize infrastructure costs without sacrificing reliability (e.g., 90% cost reduction)

What I’m Looking For #

I thrive in purpose-driven organizations where technology creates measurable social or business impact. I’m most effective in:

  • Growth-stage companies needing to scale teams and systems sustainably
  • Organizations embracing AI/ML where I can apply strategic + hands-on expertise
  • Mission-driven environments where technology serves a greater purpose
  • Cross-functional leadership requiring alignment between product, engineering, and business

I’m based in Melbourne, Australia and open to opportunities that combine strategic technology leadership with meaningful impact.

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