Irina Safonova
Senior Software Engineer · Solution Architect — AI & Data Platforms
I build intelligent systems for complicated businesses.
For more than 20 years, I have been turning operational complexity into software: enterprise platforms, financial workflows, data products and, now, AI-powered solutions.
I work across product strategy, software architecture and implementation — from understanding how a business actually operates to designing the system, data flows and automation behind it.
My focus today is practical AI: products that help companies understand their data, reconcile complex processes and make better decisions.
Helsinki, Finland
Where I add the most value
Two kinds of people end up on this page — someone building a team, and someone with a system that needs fixing. Here's what each gets from me.
Solution architecture, start to finish
I design data and AI platforms from scratch, or untangle ones that grew faster than their architecture — data model, pipelines, APIs, security.
The bridge between business and engineering
I translate messy, half-formed requirements into technical plans, backlog items and something a team can actually build against.
Delivery, not just design
Tech lead or Scrum Master when a team needs both — I stay close to the code and close to the roadmap at the same time.
An outside look at your architecture
A plain-language technical review of what you have now, what's fragile, and what to fix first — before you commit budget to a rebuild.
Architecture built for what's next
Replacing brittle, hard-to-scale systems with cloud-native, API-first architecture — built to plug AI in, not bolted together to survive one more year.
Practical AI, not AI theatre
LLM features added where they actually save time — reconciliation, reporting, data understanding — not bolted on for the sake of it.
Toolkit
LLM integrations (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI)
AI agents & AI-driven workflows
RAG-style data access
Python (10 yrs)
Performance tuning
REST APIs & system integration
Streaming: Kafka, Azure Event Hub
Docker
Terraform (1 yr)
CI/CD fundamentals
Consulting & stakeholder communication
Tech lead / team lead
Cross-functional bridging
10+ systems shipped since 2000 — the timeline, and the ones worth reliving
Scan the timeline below for the quick version, or read on for the reconstructed screens and stories behind each role. Client and tenant data is redacted where confidentiality applies.
Early-stage B2B SaaS platform
Full ownership of the architecture for an early-stage product: data modeling, ingestion pipelines, API layer, authentication and per-tenant security, deployed on Python and Azure — with LLM-based components integrated where the product calls for it. Security and compliance (GDPR-aligned data handling, per-tenant isolation) are built in from day one, not bolted on later.
Good Sign — SaaS billing & pricing
Started as Technical IT Consultant, customizing the product to individual client needs in SQL — then moved into Senior Software Engineer, building SQL-centric, data-intensive architecture for a platform supporting hundreds of client organizations' billing operations, including LLM-based workflows and RAG-style access over structured enterprise data, with inference and data processing kept in separate, secure layers. Took the Scrum Master role for the team when needed along the way.
Reporting & workflow automation
Independent consulting for enterprise clients — legacy modernization, data-flow redesign, and reporting automation. The unglamorous plumbing that quietly saves a finance team its Friday afternoons.
Factory SAP-to-local-ERP migration
Led the migration of a factory's core operations from SAP to a local ERP alternative for Stroytechkom — data migration, business-process remapping, and a cutover planned around not stopping the production line.
Student assessment system
A desktop application built for Al-Arqam International School, Qatar: moved grade entry, term averages and report cards off paper and into one system, cutting out the manual paperwork teachers used to fill in by hand every term — report work that took 3–4 days dropped to about half an hour. No dashboards, no charts — a grid, a database, and evenings teachers got back.
ERP for the Giprosvyaz institute
Enterprise resource planning for a telecom design institute — contracts, project stages, and deadlines for fiber-optic and exchange projects across the region. Built the integration with the institute's CRM and automated the manual postings the accounting team did by hand, cutting their processing time by 70%; reports that used to take an hour to compile now generate straight from the ERP in about 10 minutes. A relational database behind, a six-person team I led through eight years of releases.
Foundations
M.Sc. Software Engineering & Digital Transformation
M.Sc. Communication Networks & IT
Automated Control Systems for Aircraft — B.Sc.
Automated Database Management Systems
Working stack: Python, SQL Server / T-SQL, Kafka & Azure Event Hub, Docker, Terraform, Azure & AWS, OpenAI / Azure OpenAI.
Also served as Scrum Master (Oppi AI, LUT, 2022), guiding Agile delivery for an internal team, and as Adjunct Lecturer (LUT University, 2023), teaching software engineering courses.
Building a data or AI platform? Let's talk architecture.
Based in Helsinki, working with teams anywhere. Consulting on data architecture, AI integrations, and making legacy systems earn their keep.
References available on request. · Download CV (PDF)