Curious by nature.
Builder by instinct.
I’m David Vandenberg, an Applied AI Engineer and product builder in Sydney. I turn ambiguous customer needs into working systems, from discovery and design through architecture, hands-on engineering and deployment.
I work across disciplines because that is where many of the useful decisions happen. A model, an API and an interface all need to serve the same person.
Start with the person.
Build the whole experience.
I’m interested in the points where intelligence can remove effort or make a product feel more considerate. Sometimes that means a custom model. Sometimes it means structured generation, classical computer vision or straightforward software.
This blog is where I work through those choices: the constraints, implementation details, evaluation results and product decisions that connect an idea to an experience people can use.
Selected work
JobRok
Founder & Principal Applied AI Engineer
A personalised career platform that evaluates opportunities against a person’s capabilities, goals and constraints. I built the path from an Apify/Airtable MVP to a multi-tenant platform with structured LLM workflows, a contextual coach and OAuth-secured MCP access. It has processed approximately 100,000 job listings.
Visit JobRokPet Manager & Pet Analysis Studio
Lead Product Engineer
I led the customer application’s product direction, interaction design and implementation across web, iOS and Android. Alongside that brief, I conceived Pet Analysis Studio: a photo-driven workflow combining custom head detection, editable profile suggestions, prepared avatars and personalised captions.
Read the case studyChemist Warehouse / ePharmacy
Founding Developer / CTO
I worked with the founders to turn an online expansion brief into an e-commerce and fulfilment platform. The work connected prescription pricing, patient profiles, dispensing, picking and dispatch. The online business subsequently grew to millions of orders.
CastPass
Founder & Solution Architect
I built a ticketed streaming platform for performers and promoters, integrating streaming, ticket access and viewing controls. It became the primary streaming platform for Ticketek’s customers during that period.
Good products start
with a conversation.
I’m interested in applied AI work that connects technical depth, product ownership and customer delivery.
Connect on LinkedIndavid@thelab.com.au