AI systems you can trust
Retrieval pipelines, grounded agents, and MCP servers with citations, abstention, and evaluation built in from the start.
Software engineer · AI systems
Kiarie Henry Mbugua
I build AI systems that are grounded, evaluated, and secure: retrieval pipelines that cite their sources, agents that propose changes instead of making them blindly, and the identity layer that keeps both safe.
I've spent more than ten years shipping Python backends, payment integrations, and developer platforms, most recently at Microsoft on Microsoft Entra ID. I'm based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Open to AI-focused software engineering roles
I'm looking for a team building AI products where reliability matters. Email me for my résumé or to talk about a role.
What I do
Where I can help your team
Identity and security
OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, MSAL, and Microsoft Entra ID, from token flows to Zero Trust posture checks.
Python backends
FastAPI and Flask services with PostgreSQL, layered architecture, and test suites that run in CI.
Selected work
Featured projects
Entra identity posture MCP server
An MCP server that lets AI agents audit Microsoft Entra ID app registrations and Conditional Access policies against Zero Trust rules, then propose fixes a human reviews before anything changes.
- Python
- FastMCP
- Microsoft Graph
- MSAL
- Pydantic
- pytest
Claude chat CLI with hybrid RAG
A streaming Claude chat client with a hybrid retrieval system built from first principles, plus an evaluation harness for testing prompt changes before adopting them.
- Python
- Anthropic API
- Voyage AI
- RAG
- pytest
Enterprise RAG with access control
A permission-aware enterprise AI assistant that answers from documents and databases while respecting who is asking. It implements every control from the Brimmora case study and runs locally on Docker Compose.
- Python
- FastAPI
- OpenSearch
- PostgreSQL
- Redpanda
- Airflow
- Ollama
- Prometheus
Governed dependency pipeline
A quarantine-to-approved npm pipeline that scans every requested package, judges it with a tested Open Policy Agent policy, and keeps evidence for every decision before developers or AI agents can install it.
- Open Policy Agent
- Rego
- Trivy
- Sonatype Nexus
- Dependency-Track
- Docker Compose
Experience
Where I've worked
2021-2026
Knowledge Engineer II
Microsoft, Identity and Network Access
- Built grounded Q&A agents with Azure AI Foundry that answer Microsoft Entra ID questions from approved sources, and wrote the Python scripts that generated training data for an AI copy-editing project at the 2024 Microsoft Global Hackathon.
- Led developer validation for Microsoft Entra External ID native authentication from private preview through general availability, so developers can build fully custom sign-in screens in Android, iOS, and macOS apps without browser redirects. I contributed to the Microsoft Learn tutorials that teach it, including the Android and iOS and macOS series.
- Contributed 55 pull requests and 43 reviews to public Microsoft repositories, including the MSAL library for iOS and macOS and the identity code samples.
- Cut the number of identity code sample repositories by more than half, so developers find a working sample faster and fixes land in one place instead of several.
- Led the Microsoft Identity Manager Service Pack 3 documentation release and tested every install and upgrade path before launch, so customers had verified upgrade steps on day one.
- Received an Excellency Award in September 2025, with nominations from multiple leaders.
2020-2021
Senior Software Engineer
Power, a fintech startup
- Built the company's payments backend in Python and Flask, integrating Safaricom M-Pesa for automated disbursements.
- Took the platform from no system to production, disbursing over KES 5 million in its first year.
2019-2020
Software Engineer and Technical Lead
Resolution Insurance
- Co-developed a Django case management portal that raised care-staff efficiency by 35%.
- Shipped a USSD motor-valuation app that cut turnaround from two weeks to 24 hours.
2015-2019
Software Engineer and Developer Educator
Muva Technologies
- Grew from intern to senior engineer and introduced Python and Django as the company's core stack.
- Wrote the blog tutorials on authentication, payments, and API integration that HLAB Journal still publishes.
I started writing here in 2018 to teach what I was learning, then went quiet during my years at Microsoft. Now I'm writing again, about how to build AI systems that hold up in production.