Meet the Team

Senior Team

1. 

   Fitti Weissglas

   Managing Director and Chief Engineer

   Fitti leads Data XL’s overall direction and technical architecture.

   He combines company leadership with hands-on engineering judgement, product thinking, and responsibility for technical standards. His work sits at the intersection of software engineering, data engineering, architecture, public health, and business strategy.

   What Fitti brings to Data XL

   Fitti has spent years building data-rich systems, fixing fragile ones, and seeing what happens when software and data are not designed with enough care.

   That experience shaped Data XL’s point of view: systems should be understandable, maintainable, governed, and useful long after the first release.

   Background

   Fitti is a software engineer, data engineer, and technical architect with a background in epidemiology and an MBA. He combines deep technical expertise with strategic and organisational insight, and has spent more than two decades building data-driven systems for both public and private sector organisations.

   He worked for many years at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he founded and led the Health Informatics Hub. In that role, he managed an international team of over 45 software developers and data engineers, and led the design and delivery of large-scale data and digital health systems for ministries of health, research institutions, and international partners across more than twenty countries.

   With experience spanning software engineering, data engineering, epidemiology, and management, Fitti specialises in translating complex and imperfect data into systems that support analysis, decision-making, and long-term operation.

   Role at Data XL

   As Managing Director and Chief Engineer, Fitti focuses on:

   • company direction and strategy;
   • technical architecture;
   • engineering standards;
   • product and platform vision;
   • final technical decision-making;
   • the connection between client needs and system design.

   Working style

   Fitti brings a systems view to technical work.

   He looks at how software, data, infrastructure, people, workflows, and governance fit together — because the quality of a system depends on the whole architecture, not only the visible interface.

   Areas of focus

   • Software architecture.
   • Data platforms.
   • Cloud and infrastructure design.
   • AI-enabled systems.
   • Public health and operational data.
   • Engineering quality and maintainability.
   • Data XL’s long-term technical foundations.
2. 

   Wanjiru Waruiru

   Head of Strategy

   Wanjiru leads Data XL’s public health positioning and Africa-facing business development.

   She connects health-sector understanding, opportunity development, and relationship-building across public-sector, development, and health contexts.

   What Wanjiru brings to Data XL

   Wanjiru helps Data XL stay grounded in the realities of public health and African delivery contexts.

   Her role is important because strong technical systems only matter when they connect to the institutions, partners, programmes, and people who need to use them.

   Role at Data XL

   As Director, Public Health and Business Development Africa, Wanjiru focuses on:

   • public health leadership;
   • Africa-facing business development;
   • health-sector relationships;
   • opportunity development;
   • public health and digital health positioning;
   • connecting Data XL’s technical capabilities to real health-sector needs.

   Working style

   Wanjiru brings sector understanding and relationship focus.

   She helps ensure that Data XL’s health and Africa-facing work is not only technically strong, but also relevant, credible, and connected to real opportunities.

   Areas of focus

   • Public health.
   • Digital health.
   • Africa-facing partnerships.
   • Health-sector business development.
   • Public-sector and development contexts.
   • Programme and implementation environments.
   • Relationship-building and opportunity shaping.
3. 

   Petra Schäfer

   Head of Data Engineering

   Petra leads Data XL’s data direction and European business development.

   She connects data quality, analytics, client needs, and practical insight — helping organisations turn complex information into structured, usable work.

   What Petra brings to Data XL

   Petra’s strength is in making data meaningful.

   She understands that useful data work is not just technical. It requires careful interpretation, clear definitions, structured analysis, and an understanding of what clients actually need to decide or improve.

   Background

   Petra is a public health specialist, epidemiologist, and data analyst with over twenty years of experience designing and implementing data systems in complex health and policy environments. Her work spans Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East, where she has contributed to national electronic medical record platforms, data warehouses, and monitoring and evaluation systems, and advised ministries of health and international partners on data quality, governance, and analysis.

   She is an Oracle Certified Database Administrator and previously worked in the Netherlands as a team lead and database and systems designer for organisations including Allianz, PGGM, CZ, Sony, and the Municipality of Rotterdam. Petra combines deep technical expertise with a strong focus on usability and practical adoption.

   In addition to delivery work, Petra has extensive experience in capacity building. She established and taught the MSc course Business Intelligence and Data Mining at Makerere University in Kampala, delivered Oracle DBA training programmes, and supported teams in developing the skills required to manage and use data independently.

   Role at Data XL

   As Director, Data and Business Development Europe, Petra focuses on:

   • data leadership;
   • European client development;
   • analytics and reporting needs;
   • client-facing data solutions;
   • translating business questions into structured data work;
   • connecting insight with practical use.

   Working style

   Petra brings clarity to complex data questions.

   She helps bridge the gap between what organisations ask for, what their data can actually support, and what technical work is needed to produce reliable answers.

   Areas of focus

   • Data analysis.
   • Data quality.
   • Management reporting.
   • KPI frameworks.
   • Dashboard requirements.
   • European business development.
   • Client communication and interpretation.
   • Turning complex data into usable insight.
4. 

   Mwariri Mwangi

   Head of Partnerships and Delivery

   Mwariri leads partnerships and project delivery at Data XL.

   He helps move opportunities from relationship to execution: shaping delivery, coordinating people and partners, and keeping complex work connected to practical outcomes.

   What Mwariri brings to Data XL

   Mwariri’s role sits at the point where partnerships become real projects.

   That matters because strong relationships are only valuable when they lead to clear scope, delivery discipline, good coordination, and systems that are actually implemented.

   Role at Data XL

   As Director, Partnerships and Project Delivery, Mwariri focuses on:

   • partnerships;
   • project leadership;
   • delivery coordination;
   • multi-stakeholder execution;
   • relationship management;
   • turning opportunities into structured delivery;
   • supporting white-labelled and subcontracted delivery partnerships.

   Working style

   Mwariri brings structure to delivery.

   He helps align partners, teams, expectations, and execution so that work does not remain only an idea or proposal, but becomes a project that can move forward.

   Areas of focus

   • Partnership development.
   • Project delivery.
   • Technical delivery coordination.
   • Multi-partner execution.
   • Stakeholder management.
   • Delivery planning.
   • White-labelled and subcontracted work.
   • Moving from opportunity to implementation.

Engineering and Delivery

1. 

   Jamie Arodi

   Engineering Manager

   Jamie is a full-stack software engineer specialising in backend systems, data engineering, and cloud infrastructure, with a background rooted in digital health technology. He brings together frontend and backend expertise to build systems that are reliable end-to-end — from user-facing interfaces to the data pipelines and infrastructure that power them.

   He spent over three years at UCSF Global Programs, an NGO focused on public health surveillance and digitisation, progressing from intern to Lead Frontend Engineer. There he led a distributed engineering team across East and Southern Africa, delivered a reporting and ETL platform adopted by health ministries in multiple countries, and was a key contributor to an open-source health information system used across national healthcare programmes — work that meaningfully improved usability and reliability for the clinicians and administrators who depended on it.

   With experience spanning frontend engineering, backend architecture, data engineering, and cloud operations, Jamie specialises in translating complex requirements and imperfect data into systems that are scalable, maintainable, and built to last. He is currently deepening this specialisation through a Master’s in Big Data Technologies at the University of East London, and is especially engaged in applying AI-augmented engineering practices to accelerate delivery without compromising quality.

   Areas of focus

   • Platform Engineering.
   • Data Engineering and Analytics.
   • Data infrastructure.
   • Internal tooling.
   • Delivery support.
2. 

   Tito Kipkurgat

   Platform and Cloud Engineer

   Tito works across platform engineering and cloud infrastructure. That combination is a strength: he connects platform foundations with cloud infrastructure and reliability.

   Full profile content is being developed.

   Areas of focus

   • Platform Engineering.
   • Cloud and Platform Engineering.
   • Infrastructure.
   • Deployment and reliability.
   • Delivery support.
3. 

   Nate George

   Software and AI Engineer

   Nate is a software engineer and builder with a strong passion for using technology to solve meaningful real-world problems. He combines software engineering expertise with a practical, problem-solving mindset, turning ideas and complex challenges into reliable and scalable digital solutions.

   His experience spans full-stack development, system architecture, cloud infrastructure, payments, artificial intelligence, and business software. He has worked across different stages of product development, from designing and building systems to deploying and maintaining technology in real-world environments.

   As a builder at heart, Nate is driven by the belief that software can be used to address complex challenges, improve how people and organisations operate, and create meaningful impact.

   He focuses on building practical, scalable, and user-focused software that transforms ideas into solutions with real-world value.

4. 

   Trevor Omondi

   Software and AI Engineer

   Trevor is a software developer working at the intersection of frontend engineering, data systems, and real-world operations. His background is in Informatics and Computer Science, but most of what has shaped him has come from building systems that have to work beyond the screen — in clinics, in commerce environments, and in organisations where reliability actually matters.

   He has worked with UCSF Global Programs for Research and Training, Pagamio, and Data XL, contributing to digital health platforms, fintech systems, and internal engineering frameworks. Across those roles, he has spent a lot of time translating unclear requirements and imperfect data into structured, usable software — whether that’s reporting systems in the OpenMRS ecosystem, commerce platforms handling real transactions, or reusable web frameworks designed for long-term maintainability.

   His work sits mostly in React, TypeScript, Python, and Django, but the deeper focus for him is systems thinking — designing software that remains understandable, testable, and sustainable as it grows.

   Trevor is particularly interested in building tools that support decision-making and operational clarity, especially in environments where technology directly impacts people’s daily work.

   Areas of focus

   • Software Engineering.
   • AI Engineering.
   • Workflow tools.
   • AI-enabled features.
   • Delivery support.
5. 

   Grace Wambui

   Product Manager and QA Specialist

   Grace works at the intersection of product, engineering, and quality. At Data XL, she manages the day-to-day product delivery process, from refining requirements and prioritising work through developer coordination, release planning, testing, and production readiness.

   With a technical background spanning software development, QA, and product management, Grace brings an engineering mindset to product development. She specialises in turning complex or ambiguous requirements into clear, actionable specifications, identifying gaps and edge cases early, and ensuring that what is delivered works as intended for both users and the business.

   Her experience spans commerce, fintech, healthcare, and mobile platforms, giving her a broad perspective on building and improving digital products. She is particularly interested in creating structured product processes, improving user experiences, and using technology and data to solve real-world problems.

   Areas of focus

   • Quality assurance.
   • Testing.
   • Regression checks.
   • User acceptance support.
   • Delivery readiness.
   • Product reliability.
6. 

   Dan Njuguna

   Data Engineer

   Dan helps organisations get real value out of the data they already have. Most businesses are sitting on information spread across systems that don’t talk to each other — an ERP here, spreadsheets there, an app somewhere else. Dan’s work is joining that up and turning it into something people can actually make decisions with.

   At Data XL, he works on the data systems and AI tooling behind client analytics engagements — pulling together information from ERP systems, advertising platforms, operational apps, and spreadsheets so clients get one reliable view of their business instead of a manual consolidation exercise every reporting cycle. He also works on internal tooling that lets business users ask questions of their own data in plain language, without waiting on an analyst.

   Before Data XL, Dan spent two years building production AI at Solutech. He rebuilt EvaVision, a retail intelligence product that reads shelf photographs to show manufacturers how their products are competing against others on shelf, taking it from a struggling implementation to a system serving multiple clients. He also scaled EvaDocs, which reads incoming purchase orders and enters them into client ERP systems automatically — removing a manual data-entry task entirely. It has since handled over 30,000 documents at above 95% accuracy.

   Dan’s approach is consistent across all of it: start with the business problem, not the technology, and build the thing that makes a measurable difference.

7. 

   George Okumu

   Data and AI Developer

   George builds the data systems organisations use to make informed decisions: pipelines, warehouses, and the services around them.

   He works to a simple standard of fast and right. Something delivered late has already lost part of its value, and something delivered wrong has to be built twice. He treats speed and correctness as a single requirement rather than a trade-off to be settled.

   Through Data XL, he brings this to client work with the conviction that well-built technology can transform lives in meaningful ways.

   Areas of focus

   • Data Engineering and Analytics.
   • AI Engineering.
   • Dashboards and reporting.
   • AI-enabled insight.
   • Delivery support.
8. 

   Mozart Kandie

   Frontend Developer