Life at WeBuild-AI: meet Stylianos Oikonomou, helping solve real-world problems with AI and the Pomodoro technique

What’s your role here at WeBuild-AI?

I am a Principal AI Engineer. I lead the design, development and deployment of advanced AI solutions across various industries, ensuring our technology meets complex client needs and pushes the boundaries of innovation. This involves hands-on coding, from design, to implementation and evaluation, and driving strategic technical initiatives to enhance our AI capabilities.

What does a typical day look like for you?

My day starts with our stand-up, discussing what we did yesterday, what we will do today and whether we have any blockers. Then I typically work on sprint objectives (2-week sprints), unless something urgent needs my attention. 

I like working using what science suggests is an effective method: the “Pomodoro technique”. A randomized controlled trial comparing Pomodoro breaks (25 minutes work, 5 minutes break) and self-regulated breaks, found that Pomodoro users maintained better sustained focus and reduced fatigue. Most of my day-to-day work is hands-on coding and AI tools help me be more efficient. When I am in the office, I like catching up with people across the business to better understand the big picture.

What’s your career journey been like so far?

I completed my MEng in Greece (Mechanical Engineering). Ironically, my first experience with programming was Fortran 90/95 and C++ and it goes without saying that I was not very impressed at first. 

My dissertation focused on modelling historical weather data and pollution from ships in Piraeus to estimate mortality. It was published in a reputable scientific journal (Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment) and has been cited more than 50 times. 

After completing my mandatory one-year military service in the Hellenic Navy, I moved to the UK. I completed my MSc in Economics at Newcastle University, with a dissertation on predicting vessel prices using ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average). 

After finishing my MSc, I was selected for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) in Artificial Intelligence funded by the UK Government. KTP allows the best graduates to work in the industry. This is where I worked hands-on as a Data Scientist developing a product to predict machinery maintenance from sensor data. 

Mid-way through my KTP I was given the opportunity to pursue a research degree (MPhil) based on the technology I was developing. My thesis was published by Springer Nature. During my time in the KTP I also attended Harvard University in person to study the course CRN 34555: Data Systems and Machine Learning, all expenses paid! 

After that I worked in Logically, a company focused on using AI to combat misinformation. During my time there I co-authored two papers: Logically at Factify 2022: Multimodal Fact Verification and Logically at Factify 2: A Multi-Modal Fact Checking System Based on Evidence Retrieval techniques and Transformer Encoder Architecture published in The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). The first paper achieved first place at the AAAI ’22 First Workshop on Multimodal Fact-Checking and Hate Speech Detection, and the second achieved third place at the AAAI ’23 Second Workshop. Then I worked in another AI company before joining WeBuild-AI.

What do you enjoy the most about your job here?

For me, the most satisfying aspect of working at WeBuild-AI is building AI solutions with real-world applications. In many companies, AI work does not translate into something users truly see, however here I can clearly see my work helping solve actual real-world problems.

Engineers: what’s a piece of code/work you’ve recently written that you’d be proud to show your past self, and why?

My ability to deeply understand a problem and think through the appropriate AI solution before even starting to code. Using AI tools more and more has led me to appreciate the value of human understanding even more.

Quick fire

Coffee or tea?

Both! I try to drink two cups of coffee and a matcha before 12. Then I continue with decaffeinated green tea, decaffeinated dark tea (earl grey) and finally Hibiscus tea.

Go-to playlist or genre for deep focus work?

Usually I let Spotify’s AI DJ play music while working. Sometimes I do like a specific music playing on and on when solving something difficult like Interstellar, Inception or other movie soundtracks.

Are you a nerd (and if so, what topics are you nerdiest in)? 

I try to educate myself with university-level knowledge across multiple topics such as medicine, physics, math, sociology and biology. My favourite topic is physics, from quantum mechanics to general relativity, and trying to understand the universe we live in.

Passionate about innovation?

Join a team that’s pushing boundaries together.