Anishek
Kamal
Senior Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft · Founder
I help engineers ship AI to production and mentor 400+ people navigating careers in data and AI. 10+ years building at enterprise scale—Microsoft, Lululemon, and Press Ganey.
Recognised on Topmate
Currently building products using
Success in AI and data engineering
isn't about talent alone.
I'm Anishek Kamal, a Data and AI Solutions Architect. For 10+ years, I've helped enterprise customers ship AI that works in production. Currently a Senior Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, and founder of Toya, a financial clarity app built from lived experience.
I mentor 400+ engineers and advise startups on Data and AI adoption. I write regularly on LinkedIn for 8,000+ followers. I help engineers and founders navigate career growth in data and AI.
Startups I Advise
MCP-native QA engine for AI agents — catches behavioral failures and process shortcuts that traditional evals miss.
AI · DevToolsMaking genomic medicine personal and accessible through individual genetic profiles.
HealthTechAI-powered diagnostic assistant unifying imaging, genomics, and biomarkers for earlier cancer detection.
MedTech · AIEmpowering underprivileged women and children through education, healthcare, and community resources.
Non-Profit10+
Years in Tech
400+
Engineers Mentored
How I can help
AI architecture, data engineering consulting, and career mentorship — for engineers shipping in production and founders building with AI.
1:1 Career Mentorship in Data and AI
You're figuring out your next career move. You want to break into data or AI. You need someone who's done it before. This is that session—no fluff, just honest guidance from 10+ years in the field.
Data & AI Architecture
You have a data or AI problem that needs solving at scale. Bring your architecture, roadmap, or frustration. We'll diagnose the issue, map a solution, and you'll leave with a concrete action plan.
AI for Startups Advisory
Get practical AI strategy—not hype. I'll show you exactly where AI creates leverage in your product. You'll leave knowing which features to build first and which to skip.
Startup & Founder Coaching
Building a company is hard. Building one as an immigrant—with financial pressure and family expectations—is harder. I've lived it. I'll help you navigate what you're facing right now.
Unsure which session matches your needs? Read my articles on AI career paths and data engineering strategy . Then book a call when you're ready.
Or just reach outWhat I am building
AI, FinTech, and DevOps products I ship outside Microsoft. Each one solves a problem I personally lived through or couldn't find a good answer for.
Toya
usetoya.com
"Your money, finally making sense."
Toya helps people escape debt faster and build financial clarity. I built Toya while navigating $140,000 in personal debt. It transforms overwhelming financial chaos into clear, actionable steps.
Unconfuse
unconfuse.io
"Clarity for your career journey."
Unconfuse connects professionals with mentors for one-on-one career guidance. It serves people navigating career transitions, building a personal brand, or needing a trusted advisor.
Myndscribe
#
"Record it. Let AI figure out the rest."
Just record your thoughts and Myndscribe extracts ideas, to-dos, and tasks automatically. Integrated with email and SMS notifications via Resend so you get reminded of what matters, exactly when it matters.
GetClawBot
#
"Deploy OpenClaw in under a minute."
A one-click deployment platform for OpenClaw. Skip the setup headaches - teams and builders can get a fully running instance deployed in seconds, not hours.
Want to build one of these projects together?
If you're ready to contribute, collaborate, or co-create, let's talk about how we can work together.
Articles on AI, Data & Career Growth
Prompt Engineering is a Real Skill - Here's What Actually Makes a Good Prompt
The difference between a prompt that works in a demo and one that works in production is not magic. It's a learnable craft with clear principles.
Building Your First Agentic System - What Nobody Tells You Before You Start
The real challenges of building multi-step AI agents, from tool use to error handling to latency - and why most first attempts break exactly where the demos look flawless.
RAG vs Fine-Tuning - How to Actually Decide
A decision framework for when to use retrieval vs. when to actually train, from someone who has built both in production at enterprise scale.
How I'd Break Into Data Engineering in 2025 If I Were Starting Over
A realistic roadmap for breaking into data engineering in 2025 - from someone who has hired, mentored hundreds of engineers, and built data systems at enterprise scale.
The journey so far
Work Experience
Senior Cloud Solution Architect
Microsoft
Sep 2022 – Present
United States
I lead AI strategy for enterprise customers. I partner with C-level executives to define high-value AI use cases and ship them to production. I build applications with OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, and LangChain—including chatbots, research agents, and image analysis tools. I reduced inference latency by 30% and wrote technical blogs that field teams adopted company-wide.
Staff Data Engineer
Press Ganey Associates
Nov 2021 – Aug 2022
United States
I drove Data and AI integration for healthcare clients. I built scalable data pipelines that reduced time-to-insight by 40%. I managed Azure infrastructure and Databricks workflows that served 5+ cross-functional teams.
Azure Data Engineer
Lululemon
Sep 2020 – Oct 2021
United States
I built a personalized recommendations model that increased sales conversions by 12%. I developed scalable data pipelines and containerized 10+ applications using Docker and Kubernetes. I improved data processing times by 30%, accelerating analytics and ML workflows.
Technical Architect
Neal Analytics LLC
Dec 2017 – Aug 2020
United States
I served as pre-sales Data/AI architect for enterprise clients, where I scoped solutions that closed multi-million dollar deals. I designed end-to-end data and AI systems that cut cloud costs by 35%. I mentored engineering teams and accelerated delivery by 60% through DevOps automation.
Big Data Developer
KloudData Labs
Earlier
India
Healthcare AI use cases and data migration. Worked on Hadoop pipeline design and performance tuning across enterprise data environments.
Education
Quantic School of Business and Technology
Executive MBA
2024
Focused on technology entrepreneurship, product strategy, and business innovation. Applied MBA concepts directly to building and scaling tech ventures.
Jagannath University
Bachelor of Computer Science
2016
Foundation in computer science, algorithms, and software engineering.
Built to build
I've shipped AI and data systems for 10+ years across enterprise, startup, and cloud environments. I master the full stack—from raw data ingestion to production AI deployment.
AI & Machine Learning
End-to-end AI application development, from prompt engineering to production agentic systems.
Data Engineering
Scalable pipeline design, lakehouse architecture, and real-time data systems at enterprise scale.
Cloud & Infrastructure
Certified across the three major cloud platforms with deep Azure expertise.
Languages & Frameworks
Core programming languages and frameworks used day-to-day to build and ship.
Certifications
Solutions Architect Expert
Microsoft
Azure Developer, Data Engineer, Administrator, DevOps
Microsoft
Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution
Microsoft
Solutions Architect – Professional
AWS
Snowflake Certified Associate
Snowflake
Let's work
together
You might be scaling a data platform. You might be figuring out where AI fits in your product. Or you might be building as an immigrant founder. I'll give you direct, practical guidance—no fluff.
Book on TopmateWho I work with
- Data engineers navigating career growth
- Startup founders who need AI strategy
- Immigrant entrepreneurs building under pressure
- Tech leaders designing data platforms
Response time
Usually within 24 hours
Questions people ask me
What does Anishek Kamal do?
I'm a Senior Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft specializing in AI and data engineering. I help enterprise customers ship AI that works in production, mentor engineers on career growth in data/AI, and advise startups on AI strategy. I'm also a founder — I built Toya, a financial clarity app.
Who do you work with on mentorship and advisory calls?
Data engineers navigating career growth, startup founders figuring out where AI fits in their product, immigrant entrepreneurs building under financial and visa pressure, and tech leaders designing data platforms at scale. Book a session on Topmate.
What AI and data engineering tools do you work with?
I build on Azure AI Foundry, OpenAI, LangChain, LangGraph, Databricks, and Apache Spark. I ship RAG pipelines, agentic AI systems, and scalable data platforms. I hold Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert, AWS Solutions Architect Professional, and Snowflake certifications.
How do I break into data engineering or AI in 2025?
Start with SQL fundamentals, then add Python, dbt, one cloud platform (Azure or AWS), and orchestration with Airflow or Dagster. Ship a real project — a pipeline that pulls from a public API, transforms with dbt, and loads to a warehouse — and put it on GitHub. Hiring managers care about projects, not courses.
Should I use RAG or fine-tuning for my AI application?
Use RAG when the knowledge changes frequently, you need source citations, or your corpus is large and heterogeneous. Use fine-tuning when you need consistent style or format across thousands of outputs, latency is critical, or your task is highly specialized. They're not in competition — many production systems combine both.
How can I book a session with Anishek?
All sessions are booked through Topmate at topmate.io/anishekkamal. Available formats: 1:1 career mentorship (30 min), data & AI architecture review (60 min), AI for startups advisory (45 min), and startup & founder coaching (30 min). Response time is typically within 24 hours.
Still have questions?
Book a 15-min intro callGet in touch
Have a data or AI project in mind? Want to collaborate on building something? Or just want to connect? Send me a message. I respond within 24 hours.