Ayana Mussabayeva

Languages

English (Professional, IELTS: 8.0)

Russian (First language)

Kazakh (Second language)

Skills

Machine Learning
Deep Learning
Signal Processing
Numerical Methods
Python
ML/DL Frameworks

Awards

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), 2023

CodeJam to I/O for Women coding competition winner, 2019

Community Service

Founder of IT Jobs KZ

Job board for IT specialists in Kazakhstan

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Co-founder of DSML KZ

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Community of data scientists in Kazakhstan with over 7,000 members

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Experience

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Green Eye Ltd | December 2024 - Present

Remote

Built AI systems for real-time detection of bullying, cheating, and intrusions; after proving research traction and delivering early results, was promoted to CTO to lead engineering and launch the product

Led a cross-functional engineering team of ~20 (ML, backend, frontend, mobile, UX/UI, DevOps)

Architected Kepler Vision platform for real-time processing, alerting, and analytics in educational institutions

Built the engineering organization from scratch; owned end-to-end hiring: sourcing, interviews, onboarding

Deployed system in pilot school in Astana; improved safety, reduced response time, and increased transparency for parents and staff

Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Green Eye Ltd | October 2024 - December 2024

Remote

Set up ML research workflows and built core CV systems (YOLO, keypoint interaction, face recognition) for event and action detection; validated feasibility through MVPs deployed in real school environments

Head of AI/ML

INUI GAMING | October 2023 - October 2024

Dubai, UAE

Established company's ML/AI function, leading a team on innovative projects for the gaming industry:

Anticheat system for Counter Strike 2 and CS:GO (computer vision based solutions for WallHack cheats and sophisticated deep learning and mathematical algorithms for AimBot, Spinbot type of cheats)

Recommendation systems for content suggestions and gaming marketplace

Match-making and ranking system for normal and custom modes of team playing in Counter Strike

Scaled the team from 2 to 5 senior ML engineers, overseeing the entire hiring process

Managed cross-team communication and stakeholder collaboration to ensure alignment, optimizing project delivery

Gaming platform that prevents cheating in multiplayer games, total raise of $17.8 million

Senior Lecturer

Kazakh-British Technical University | January 2023 - June 2023

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Designed and taught Electronics & Digital Design course for second year undergraduate students of Faculty of Information Technologies

Teaching Assistant

University of Manchester | February 2022 - December 2022

Manchester, UK

Taught Calculus (1st year students), Introduction to Python (2nd year students), Statistical Inference (3rd year students)

Research Assistant

Nazarbayev University | October 2019 - December 2021

Astana, Kazakhstan

Designed machine learning algorithms for brain-computer interface systems, specifically the EEG-based P300 Speller, resulting in the publication of 5 academic papers

Education

PhD in Machine Learning

Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence | August 2024 - Present

Abu-Dhabi, UAE

Relevant coursework: Advanced Continuous Optimization · Parallel and Distributed ML · Advanced Topics in Causality & ML

Member of BioMedIA and Causality research groups

Global top 20 across ML, CV, NLP (CSRankings), world's first AI university

MPhil. in Mathematical Sciences

University of Manchester | August 2021 - August 2023

Manchester, UK

Developed mathematical approaches to infer kinetics as a system of ODEs from catalytic reactions time-series data

Numerical linear algebra group member

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) scholarship holder (full coverage of tuition fees and £17.667 of yearly stipend)

Ranked 34th in the world and 6th in the UK (QSRankings)

MSc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Nazarbayev University | August 2021 - June 2023

Astana, Kazakhstan

CGPA: 3.30 (out of 4.00)

Thesis: "Meta-Classification of Brain Signals in P300 Speller". Implementation of EEG features classification using deep learning models

Top-1 research university in Kazakhstan

BEng. in Automation and Control

Kazakh-British Technical University | August 2015 - June 2019

Almaty, Kazakhstan

CGPA: 3.68 (out of 4.00)

Holder of KBTU Success 2019 award for outstanding academic achievements

ABET accredited university