AI Agent Architect · Full-stack Engineer · AI Builder
Subtraction for life, addition for thought.
I build software that real teams and paying clients across New Zealand, China, and the US rely on every day — not demos. I work at the intersection of AI, cultural technology, and women's health.
I am a minimalist: I subtract until only the idea is left. This site is built the same way. The minimalism essays →
Master of Applied Computing with Distinction — Lincoln University, New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand. Book a call →
One · the path
Founded it and built all of it: the product, the floor-plan language underneath, and the payments.
Sole engineer across two platform generations for an organisation self-described as China's first in women's health technology.
Recruited by founder Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh to lead the website team and move a volunteer-run charity onto infrastructure it owns.
Promoted from Core Engineer to Founding Principal Engineer at a Delaware startup; owned the intelligence layer and a cross-cloud migration.
Sole instructor of TechNest's first AI-specialised track, a 12-week prompt-first course.
Recruited onto Anthropic's partner-architect track after an AI surfaced my open-source work to Engram's founder; my credentials backed Engram's approval into the Partner Network.
Earlier — CTO at women's-health startup Sanicle (led a team of five and built the IBM watsonx integration behind its IBM Silver Partner certification) and at period-equity startup FreePeriod, mentor with Forward With Her, backend engineer on ByteDance's Youth Training Camp, and developer of CORDE Mobile, the offline-first field-operations app that NZ infrastructure company CORDE's crews use today.
What each of them shipped is on the Work page.
Two · recognition
UN CSW 69 Speaker
United Nations HQ, New York — presented Sanicle AI at the Beyond Beijing 30 conference; drew IBM pilot interest
Outstanding Mentor Award, two years running
AI Hackathon Festival 2025 and Aotearoa AI Hackathon Festival 2026, where I also MC'd the opening
a11y-loop — being adopted by My Life My Voice
The disability-led NZ organisation that set the accessible-UI challenge at the 2026 festival is taking up the open-source tool I built for it, for its own development team
UN Women FemTech Hackathon — Outstanding Performer
2025 UN Women FemTech Hackathon, Beijing — recognised as an independent developer
FemTech China Excellence Award
FemTech China Women's Health Technology Challenge — core team member
Master's with Distinction
Master of Applied Computing, Lincoln University NZ — Dean's List, top 5%
Three · who vouches
Chan turns ambiguous founder-level direction into working systems and measurable proof — not just code.
Saba Gecgil
Founder & CEO, GAVIGO
A great mix of technical skill and a genuine passion for AI that shines through in everything she builds.
Cecilia Yin
Solutions Architect, AWS
A solo developer who took on monumental tasks with exceptional technical expertise and problem-solving.
Paige Afanu
CEO, Sanicle
An outstanding AI/ML infrastructure engineer who brings structure and calm to ambiguity.
Gabrielle Hurst
Product Marketing Manager, Houston Robotics
Excellent technical skills and a strong work ethic — she consistently excelled with critical thinking and creativity.
Patricia Anthony
Associate Professor, Lincoln University
Structured, engaging, practical — and genuinely invested in every learner's success. An outstanding AI educator.
Suliat Alaga
Senior Frontend Engineer · TechNest Co-Founder
She made time for everyone so no one was left behind — a top-tier AI instructor and mentor.
Kwame Essuman
Data & Full-Stack AI Engineer · TechNest AI Cohort 3
Very intentional in how she teaches: complex AI made approachable, with feedback that improved my projects beyond the course.
Abiodun Oyedele
TechNest Community lead · Full Stack Developer
A rare combination of sharp technical acumen and outstanding problem-solving — she takes extreme ownership and lifts everyone around her.
Ikenna Anasieze
AI Cloud Engineer, AWS
One of the most valuable learning experiences I've had — she makes complex AI concepts accessible, practical, and genuinely supported.
Swayam Dhir
Software Developer · TechNest AI course
A dedicated, patient mentor — she taught me to build and deploy real AI apps, and truly cares about open source.
Mahdieh Najmi
Full-Stack Developer · TechNest mentee
Rare technical breadth paired with an instinct to mentor — she brings structure and warmth to high pressure and raises the bar.
Shivani Dhandabani
Master of Engineering, RHCSA
Driven to solve real business problems, with outstanding technical skills from concept to production — a powerhouse of talent.
Prasanth Pavithran
Business Transformation Leader & She Sharp Mentor
A PR merged at 12:30am? That's pretty normal for Chan — someone you feel genuinely confident working with.
Lesley Gao
Product Designer & Web Developer, She Sharp
Exceptional leadership architecting a full-stack platform — technical innovation paired with practical, scalable solutions.
Nirmala Chinnappan
Project Coordinator (ITIL), AUT
A rare blend of technical excellence and genuine dedication — she elevates everyone around her.
Yesha Kaniyawala
AI Engineer, Possibl.ai
Her insights on identity and self-awareness deeply inspired me and broadened how I think — highly recommended for anyone growing in tech.
Siyu Xing
Ph.D. Candidate in CS (AIGC), UCAS
Not just a mentor but a role model — her drive and clarity are what I want to learn; you'll gain a lot.
Amy Li
Student, China West Normal University
Deep understanding of AI and an exceptional willingness to learn — pivotal to winning the IBM MVP.
Chaste C. Inegbedion
Program Ops Leader, Sanicle
One of the most talented and reliable professionals I've worked with — she led our web app's technical development with calm, responsive professionalism.
Daryll Hall
Chief AI Officer, Sanicle
A mentor committed to others — patient, always current with the latest tech, and a great full-stack engineer.
Mi Su
Designer · Guangxi University
An inspiring mentor whose passion for coding is contagious — patient, supportive, and deeply skilled.
Shushu Qin
Software Developer, AWS Certified
Her passion, expertise, and patience helped me gain real technical skills and innovative thinking — she opened the door to technology's future.
Yijia (Robin) Lee
Student, Tianjin Normal University
Her innovative approach to combining AI with web development is truly inspiring — a fantastic mentor who makes learning tech fun.
Shiyu Fang
Web Developer, GDS Communication
A meticulous, patient teacher — she enhanced my skills and greatly boosted my confidence.
Jessie Wan
Data Analyst, Deloitte
Her hands-on teaching made complex concepts approachable — I built my first website with her and discovered the world of development.
Di Peng
Student, ShanghaiTech University
Meticulous and enthusiastic about new tech — her patience in debugging and contagious passion showed me programming can be fun and rewarding.
Qiao Jun
Student, Tsinghua University
Four · the short answers
Chan Meng is an AI Agent Architect & Full-stack Engineer based in Auckland, New Zealand. She architects production AI agents, ships full-stack platforms end-to-end — for paying customers, sensitive health data, and regulated work, not demos — and teaches others to do the same. She holds a Master of Applied Computing with Distinction from Lincoln University.
She builds AI agents that act safely on their own, with guardrails enforced in code rather than hopeful prompts, and ships whole products from database to interface to billing — often solo or as the first engineer. Recent work includes a Māori-culture AI wellbeing coach, ArchCanvas (an AI design agent for architects, powered by her own ArchLang floor-plan language), and an AI career agent.
Her core stack is AI agents — Claude Code, Model Context Protocol (MCP), LangGraph, CopilotKit, and RAG — with TypeScript, Python, and Go. On the full-stack side she uses React, Next.js, and React Native on the front end, and Node.js, PostgreSQL, Drizzle, Redis, Cloudflare, Docker, and Stripe on the back end.
Her flagship builds include GAVIGO IRE, a Delaware startup's app-launch platform where tapped games and videos open in under a millisecond; ArchCanvas, an AI design agent that turns a plain-language brief into a buildable floor plan, powered by her own ArchLang language; Tam-AI-Ti, a te reo Māori AI wellbeing coach; and She Sharp, the member platform she led the build of for a volunteer-run New Zealand women-in-STEM charity. She also shipped one of the first Google News MCP servers, 35 days after the standard launched.
Yes. She designs and solo-teaches AI-programming cohorts — five since 2024 — and publishes the entire curriculum free at programming.chanmeng.org, with no paywall and no signup. All five cohorts stay online permanently, and every one of the 153 lesson pages exists in both English and Chinese. The 2026 TECHNEST track graduated 30 students who shipped six deployed multi-user AI products to a public Demo Day. The platform itself is Apache-2.0 open source and includes an AI tutor that answers from each class's own lessons. She also won the Outstanding Mentor Award at AI Hackathon Festival 2025.
Yes — she's open to founding-team, staff-IC, and AI architecture engagements, alongside technical consulting, speaking, and mentorship, with a focus on AI agents, cultural technology, and women's health. Reach her at hello@chanmeng.org or book a 30-minute call at cal.com/chan-meng/30min; she typically responds within 24–48 hours.
Chan Meng is based in Auckland, New Zealand, and works with teams across New Zealand, China, and the remote US. She is bilingual in English and Chinese, and spoke at UN CSW 69 at the United Nations headquarters in New York in March 2025.