TECHNICAL DELIVERY & PRODUCT LEADER
Lalita Chopra
Building AI, fintech and digital products from concept to production and scale across the UK and UAE.
About
A little about me
I'm an engineer turned founder and product leader with 10+ years delivering technology across the UK and UAE. I've co-founded Wasta AI, run WorkPanda and CSG Solutions, led implementations across 15+ markets and launched financial products supporting 12,000+ UAE SMEs.
I connect customer, commercial and regulatory goals with technical delivery—from discovery and architecture to production and scale. My foundation spans AI/ML, APIs, microservices, integrations and cloud infrastructure, backed by a First-Class Computer Science degree.
Skills
Selected Work
Projects
Co-Founder by Peko GenAI business dashboard
2026Owned concept-to-deployment delivery of Peko's LLM-powered dashboard, helping 1,500+ monthly users retrieve company information and complete operational tasks 45% faster.
Peko Cards, payments & business banking
2025–2026Launched corporate cards, payment gateways and business banking within eight months, supporting 12,000+ UAE SMEs. Architected payment orchestration across banks, providers and engineering teams.
Wasta AI Middle East's first AI superconnector platform
2021–2024Built the iOS, Android and web platform as co-founder and CTO, leading six engineers and deploying AWS SageMaker ML. Reached 800+ weekly active users with 15% monthly growth and secured TikTok as a seed investor.
British Council 15-country payment infrastructure migration
2021–2025Led a 15-country payment migration from integration to production cutover with minimal disruption, then expanded Buy Now Pay Later into three new markets.
UK National Lottery Win-claim technical architecture
2023Designed the post-acquisition win-claim architecture, reducing the customer payout journey by 15%.
WorkPanda Proprietary ATS & analytics platform
2021–2024Built the proprietary ATS and analytics platform as founding CTO; ML automation cut hiring cycles by 56% and supported 300% revenue growth.
HMCTS (His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service) No Fault Divorce Implementation
Apr '21– Apr '22Delivered the digital service for the new divorce law, "No Fault Divorce", letting solicitors submit divorce cases online under the new process. Cut delivery time by 70% and improved solicitor satisfaction across the end-to-end divorce journey.
Career
Experience
Aug 2025 — Aug 2026
Director of Products
Peko, UAE
An all-in-one platform for businesses to manage payments, expenses and operations.
- Launched a GenAI business dashboard used by 1,500+ monthly users, improving task completion by 45%.
- Launched corporate cards, payment gateways and business banking in nine months, supporting 12,000+ UAE SMEs; also built OneKYB, Employer of Record, payroll and WPS services.
- Secured regulatory and banking approvals covering BIN sponsorship, KYB and compliance; architected payment orchestration across engineering teams, banks and providers.
- Built reusable white-label implementation processes, reducing new partner launch time to under one week.
- Translated customer, commercial and regulatory objectives into technical roadmaps; prototyped services with Claude Code and OpenAI Codex.
Apr 2021 — Aug 2025
Founder & Product Lead
CSG Solutions, UK & UAE
Founded a technology consultancy delivering transformation programmes across UK and UAE financial services, government and regulated industries, including the FCA, British Council, DEFRA, HMCTS and UK National Lottery.
- Led the British Council's 15-country payment migration and expanded BNPL into three markets.
- Delivered HMCTS's digital service for solicitors in time for the No Fault Divorce law, cutting application time by nearly 70%.
- Designed the UK National Lottery win-claim architecture, reducing the payout journey by 15%.
- Delivered 15+ DEFRA improvements, cutting publishing time by 40% across eight departments and identifying onboarding improvements of up to 18%.
- Owned customer engagements from discovery to production readiness, translating workflows and system constraints into specifications, data models and implementation plans.
- Advised individuals and businesses on adopting AI tools.
Apr 2021 — Dec 2024
Co-Founder & CTO
Wasta AI, UAE
Middle East's first AI-powered superconnector platform across iOS and web.
- Led architecture, infrastructure and delivery across a six-person engineering team.
- Deployed ML capabilities on AWS SageMaker to improve matching relevance and integrated SaaS payments to establish monetisation.
- Scaled from initial waitlist to 600+ weekly active users across MENA, with 15% month-over-month growth.
- Secured TikTok as primary seed investor and strategic partner.
Apr 2021 — Apr 2024
Managing Director
WorkPanda, UAE
A technical recruitment firm placing construction and design talent across the luxury hospitality sector.
- Built the proprietary ATS and analytics platform supporting international expansion.
- Used ML automation to cut hiring cycles by 56% and support 300% revenue growth.
- Supported expansion from Dubai into Singapore, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, working with PIF, HBA and DENNISTON.
Oct 2018 — Apr 2021
Full Stack Developer
Cognizant, UK
Architected and implemented full-stack solutions spanning web/mobile interfaces, server-side applications, databases and API integrations for enterprise clients.
- Built enterprise applications, microservices and REST APIs across Java/Spring, React/Angular, AWS and GCP.
- Delivered a digital migration for the UK's financial regulator and app prototypes for Boots and John Lewis.
- Produced Swagger API specifications and implemented CI/CD and testing with Jenkins, JUnit, Selenium and Cucumber.
Education
Education & Qualifications
2011 — 2014
B.Sc. Computer Science (First Class Honours)
Goldsmiths College, University of London
2014 — 2015
PGCE Computer Science with ICT (BCS Scholarship)
Middlesex University
Certifications
SAFe 4 Agilist · IELTS General Training · IC3 Digital Literacy
Teaching
Teaching Experience
Ongoing
AI Workshop Partner & Host
Lovable & Stripe
Partnered with Lovable and Stripe to deliver hands-on AI workshops, helping women turn ideas into functional digital products.
Ongoing
Advocate & Practitioner
AI Literacy & Adoption
Teach practical AI literacy and independently build digital products from concept and UX design through functional implementation using AI-assisted tools.
Community
AI & Community
AI Adoption Adviser
UK Organisations
Advised UK organisations on practical AI use cases and integrating AI into departments' day-to-day workflows.
Contact
Let's work together
For technical leadership, product delivery or AI advisory opportunities, get in touch.