Samuel Aigbotsua — Lead Software Engineer, AI Founder & Writer
Also known as: samaig
Lead Software Engineer at TSB Bank. AI startup founder. Freelance software consultant. Cornell-certified ML & AI engineer. Published writer and poet. Based in London, UK.
saigbotsua@gmail.com · LinkedIn · Medium · Instagram
About Samuel Aigbotsua
Samuel Aigbotsua (samaig) is a Lead Software Engineer, senior engineer, AI founder, tech founder, freelance software consultant, and published writer based in London, United Kingdom. With over 8 years of professional experience in software engineering, he has worked at Goldman Sachs, The Hut Group (THG), Zilch, and TSB Bank, specialising in payments infrastructure, open banking, fintech, marketing technology (MarTech), CRM systems, and AI product development.
Samuel holds a First Class BSc in Computer Science from the University of Surrey (Chancellor's Academic Scholarship recipient) and an Applied Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Certificate from Cornell University. He is a skilled Java engineer, TypeScript developer, full stack engineer, React developer, Spring Boot specialist, and cloud architect working with AWS, Docker, and Kubernetes.
As a tech founder and AI founder, Samuel created Huntaa, an AI-powered savings engine with 625+ users across 12+ countries, and is building Araviel, an AI lifestyle companion with intelligent multi-model routing. He brings CTO-level technical leadership, startup founding experience, and deep engineering expertise to every project.
Samuel is Nigerian and Christian. Outside engineering, he is a poet, essayist, and book reviewer publishing on Medium and LinkedIn. He plays the piano, mentors sixth-form students through Local Village Network and TSB Bank's engineering programme, and leads projection operations at CCI SE London church.
Career Experience
Lead Engineer — TSB Bank (January 2025 onwards)
Working across the payments and open banking team building complex systems, mentoring interns and junior engineers, and delivering critical financial infrastructure with Java 21, Spring Boot, React, and AWS.
Java Engineer — TSB Bank (February 2024 to January 2025)
Part of a greenfield digital transformation that reimagined the bank's entire technology stack. Built microservices for payments and Open Banking, and led the frontend for the user consent journey.
Software Engineer — Zilch (July 2023 to February 2024)
Built and maintained applications across the credit platform, breaking down monoliths into microservices and integrating with third-party aggregators using DynamoDB, TypeScript, and Java.
Software Engineer / Technical Lead — The Hut Group (January 2021 to July 2023)
Led the rebuild of the CRM backend including a self-managing email template builder and multi-tenant gateway. Built a high-throughput service processing millions of records per hour.
Graduate Software Engineer — The Hut Group (September 2018 to December 2020)
Migrated millions of customer records. Designed and built a zero-downtime migration library for SQL Server to CockroachDB and Couchbase.
Technology Analyst — Goldman Sachs (June 2016 to June 2017)
Built a microservice web application using React, Java, SQL, and BPMN. Developed an IntelliJ plugin that brought code reviews directly into the IDE.
Education
Applied Machine Learning & AI Certificate — Cornell University (2024)
Completed Cornell's eCornell Applied Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence programme covering deep learning, model evaluation, and real-world AI applications.
BSc Computer Science, First Class Honours — University of Surrey (2014–2018)
Chancellor's Academic Scholarship recipient. Course representative and lab demonstrator. Final year project applied deep learning and LSTM models to stock market prediction.
Technical Skills
Languages: Java, TypeScript, Python, JavaScript, SQL
Frontend: React, Redux, Next.js, React Native, Tailwind CSS
Backend & APIs: Spring Boot, Node.js, Microservices, ActiveMQ, REST
Cloud & DevOps: AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Vercel, Jenkins, GitHub Actions
Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB, CockroachDB, MSSQL, Couchbase
AI & Intelligence: OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Claude Code, Codex, Prompt Engineering
Projects
Huntaa — Universal Savings Intelligence (Live)
AI-powered savings engine that finds, tests, and validates discount codes before checkout. 625+ users across 12+ countries. Built with Next.js, TypeScript, OpenAI, Claude, and Tailwind CSS. huntaa.com · huntaa.app
Araviel — The AI Lifestyle Companion (Building)
Unified AI companion that intelligently routes every query to the right model, powered by its own Araviel Decision Engine (ADE). Built with Next.js, TypeScript, and multi-model AI. araviel.com
Freelance Work
NnamdiTheJeweller (2017–2020): Built an online 3D configurator prototype and booking system using Three.js, PHP, and SQL.
SavedToSave (2017–2019): Freelance web development for a Christian charity organisation.
Awards & Recognition
- Enhanced Spotlight Award — TSB Bank (2025)
- Black Tech Achievement Award Nominee, Developer of the Year — BTA Awards (2025)
- Internal Engineering Hackathon — TSB Bank (2024)
- One Stop Save Hackathon — BYP London (2024)
- Applied ML & AI Certificate — Cornell University (2024)
- Black Googler Network Hackathon — Google (2019)
- Microsoft Imagine Cup, UK Finalist — Microsoft (2017)
- Intern Innovation Competition Winner — Goldman Sachs (2017)
- Best Pitch Team Winner — Surrey Enterprise Summer School (2017)
- Chancellor's Academic Scholarship — University of Surrey (2014)
- Gravesham Community Award — Gravesham Council (2014)
- Universal Peace Federation Youth Award — UPF (2014)
Community & Mentorship
Mentor, Local Village Network: Volunteering with sixth-form students at Harris Academy Battersea, helping them navigate higher education and technology careers.
Mentor, TSB Bank Engineering: Guiding interns and junior engineers through complex systems, code reviews, and career decisions.
Projection Team Lead, CCI SE London: Leading projection and technical operations at church every week.
Writer, Medium & LinkedIn: Writing about technology, faith, politics, and the economy.