Andrea Head

Cape Town, South Africa

Andrea Head - Machine Learning Engineer

Senior Machine Learning Engineer building practical AI systems that quietly do heavy lifting.

Languages
Afrikaans (Native) English (Fluent)
Interests & Hobbies
Continuous Learning Current Research Life Sciences AI Ethics Learning Languages Music Cooking
Skills & Expertise
Programming and ML
Python PyTorch/Keras/sklearn Prompt Engineering SQL/NoSQL Matlab
MLOps & Software Engineering
MLOps CI/CD Git MLflow DDD TDD
Infrastructure & Cloud
GCP/AWS/Azure Kubernetes Docker Terraform
Leadership & Product Development
Team Leadership Data-driven Product Dev ML Lifecycle Strategic Planning Mentorship Collaboration
Education
M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics (cum laude)

North-West University

B.Sc.Hons. in Applied Mathematics (cum laude)

North-West University

B.Sc. in Computer and Mathematical Science (cum laude)

North-West University

About Me

I'm a Senior Machine Learning Engineer based in Cape Town, focused on turning promising ideas into dependable production systems.

Most of my work sits at the intersection of MLOps, automation, and software engineering—where small design decisions can unlock big gains in speed, quality, and confidence.

I've helped deliver model monitoring and deployment tooling that made teams faster at spotting drift, shipping updates, and trusting what goes live.

I care deeply about thoughtful engineering, continuous learning, and building AI that is useful, responsible, and grounded in real-world outcomes.

Being neurodivergent has shaped how I work: I notice patterns quickly, stay calm in complexity, and keep digging until the solution is clear.

Outside of client work, I enjoy building end-to-end products (including this site with Django, CI/CD, Cloud Run, and Terraform) and staying close to scientific research that keeps my curiosity sharp.

Work Experience
  • Equal Experts
    Senior ML Engineer

    Equal Experts, Cape Town

    Feb 2024 – Present

    Data Engineering, MLOps, Data Science, Software Engineering

  • Jumo
    Senior ML Engineer

    Jumo, Cape Town

    Apr 2022 – Jan 2024

    MLOps, Data Science, Software Engineering

  • Jumo
    ML Engineer

    Jumo, Cape Town

    Jun 2021 – Mar 2022

    Software Engineering for Data Science and MLOps

  • Praelexis
    ML Engineer

    Praelexis (Pty.) Ltd., Stellenbosch

    Oct 2016 – Jun 2021

    ML solutions for banks like Capitec and Investec

  • NWU
    Lecturer and Researcher

    North-West University, Potchefstroom

    Jan 2013 – Oct 2016

    Lectured undergraduate Mathematics and Applied Mathematics courses. Active with research projects in Mathematical Biology.

Connect with me

I'm always interested in exciting projects and collaborations. Let's discuss how we can work together.