Why did you choose Enjins, compared to other Data & AI consultancies?
I was looking for a role where I could combine engineering and data science with sustainability, a combination I found surprisingly hard to come by. In my previous roles as a Data Scientist, I was mostly limited to building ML models themselves. I had little visibility into how data reached my scripts or how models were deployed into production.
I joined Enjins to master the full process: building ML, LLM, and data systems from the ground up, while working with companies that aim to contribute positively to the climate.
What does a typical workweek look like for you as an AI Engineer?
My workweeks are quite diverse. I currently work on two projects, so I’m constantly balancing my time between them. To give a concrete example, here’s how my last week looked.
Monday
Mondays are busy at the Enjins office. We kick off the week with our Enjins Weekstart, syncing with the Berlin office to share project updates and goals.
My main focus that day was architecting a BigQuery schema for a Clean Energy scale-up, where we are building a real-time streaming platform to ingest high-frequency battery data. Later, I switched to debugging a deployment issue in our CI/CD pipelines. After work, I joined the Enjins Run Club through Utrecht, which went less smoothly than planned after not running for months.
Tuesday
I worked from home and prepared a demo for my second client, an Energy Fintech start-up. Together with a colleague from our Berlin office, we have been building the first version of a multi-agent system to help users navigate financing for sustainable home upgrades.
Presenting to a CEO and CTO is always a bit tense for me. The demo wasn’t perfect, but it generated a lot of enthusiasm. We received valuable feedback and immediately aligned on next steps for the upcoming sprint.
Wednesday
I spent the day at the office of my Clean Energy client. Our main task was deploying an ML forecasting model that uses data from our new streaming analytics platform to predict maintenance needs for battery systems.
Later that afternoon, we visited an on-site battery system with one of their engineers. It was great to see the hardware up close and learn more about how the batteries actually work, especially since I had limited prior knowledge in that area.
Thursday
In the morning, I joined Bart, one of our Commercial Leads, for a meeting with a potential client in Amsterdam. We met with their CTO and lead engineer to showcase a targeted demo and walk them through our Design Sprint approach, which helps de-risk projects before they kick off.
After a short bike ride back home, I spent the afternoon focused on the Energy Fintech project, implementing advanced monitoring and guardrails for our multi-agent system based on feedback from Tuesday’s demo.
Friday
I started the day with a few hours of focused work at the Enjins office, finalising data ingestion logic for my Clean Energy client. The rest of the day was dedicated to a AI LEAP training, where our Lead AI Engineer, Luuk, took us on a deep dive into system architecture.
We wrapped up the week with our Friday Tech Demo, followed by drinks at Neude with colleagues to celebrate the end of the week.
What skills did you learn in your first year at Enjins?
Honestly, a lot more than I expected. I’ve worked with new languages like Terraform and tools such as Kafka, Snowflake, dbt, InfluxDB, Docker, LangGraph, and multiple cloud platforms.
My first project focused on MLOps, and I’m now working on both an LLM project and a streaming analytics project. Compared to where I started, I now feel confident that I can design and build almost any kind of data or AI system.
What are your ambitions for the upcoming year?
After all the technical knowledge I gained, I was struggling a bit with not knowing if I wanted to continue this technical path. After discussion with my Lead, I came to the insight I want to focus more on project management and the commercial side. Now, I am working more on business development and sales tasks with one of our commercial leads. Hopefully this will also help me to learn more about the climate tech space, speak to a lot of companies and founders, and maybe find us some extra projects!
Want to ask Hugo more questions about his work?
Feel free to reach out to him directly at hkroonen@enjins.com
