DataTwinLabs
● About
A small studio for useful data work.
DataTwinLabs started with a digital twin of a Dutch city: putting traffic, air, weather and building data together so people could actually use it.
That project needed data pipelines, forecasting models and a working app. Ten years of software engineering beforehand made the last part the easy one. I still do all three — for cities, companies and research teams.
Currently
Senior Data Engineer, AI & data analytics at OpenTrace Africa: designing the data architecture and building robust pipelines
About OpenTrace
An African-led agricultural intelligence platform that brings together data from governments, satellites, research and markets across the continent, and scores every insight with a confidence level
Current stack
Google Cloud, BigQuery, dbt, Airflow, Airbyte, SQL, ETL and REST APIs
Background
10 years software engineering, then EngD data science (TU/e & JADS)
Recognition
KIVI Award finalist
Published
CENTERIS 2025
Works with
Teams anywhere, remote or on site
● Before DataTwinLabs
10 years of building software that had to work.
Long before data and AI, I spent 10 years as a software engineer building systems for banks, shops and public organisations. Along the way I led development teams. I like hard problems, and I usually end up improving how things are done wherever I join.
That's why the data and AI work I do now always ends in software that holds up in daily use.
Banking & fintech
Payment APIs and secure alert notifications for banking customers — software where mistakes aren't an option.
Enterprise Java
Large business applications built with Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Struts and Hibernate, plus Groovy and Grails, running on Linux.
Architecture
Object-oriented design, design patterns and dependency injection. Service-oriented systems, REST APIs and microservices that teams could keep extending.
Web & mobile
PHP and JavaScript web applications with Bootstrap, and Android apps in Java.
Websites & CMS
Sites on WordPress and Joomla, including custom themes and plugins, so clients could edit their own content.
Databases
Oracle, MySQL and SQL Server — designing them, tuning them and moving data between them.
E-commerce
Online shops that had to stay fast and reliable on the busiest days.
Community tracking
A tracking system for community work, built in ASP.NET MVC with Telerik and DevExpress.
Leading teams
Led a team of 5 developers: reviewing code, planning the work and keeping everyone on track under deadlines. In larger corporate teams I was the section lead for my unit, and the person everyone went to for how things worked and why.
Kai
Ask Kai about me
Curious about my experience, stack or how I lead teams? Ask Kai and get a straight answer.
Kai — ask about my experience
Answers come only from my approved profile. Client details stay confidential.
How I work
Small on purpose
You talk to the person who does the work. No account managers, no handovers.
Honest about AI
If a simple rule or a good spreadsheet does the job, I'll say so.
Built to hand over
Open tools and clear documentation, so your team can carry on without me.