Founding Engineer · London

I build AI products that hold up in the real world.

Founding engineer with twenty years shipping software across the US and Europe. I take AI products from idea to working pilot, and I make the build decisions along the way.

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How I can help

Where I tend to add the most value

Founding engineer

Joining an early team to own the technical build, from the first architecture decisions to a product real users rely on.

Prototype to production

You have an AI proof of concept that works in the demo but breaks in the wild. I get it reliable enough to put in front of real users.

Agentic systems

Designing agent and RAG systems that behave sensibly when the inputs are messy and the edge cases pile up, not just on the happy path.

Track record

Two decades of shipping, across very different worlds

Richard Hensler, founding engineer, London

My work has spanned the US and Europe. In the States I delivered global projects for ABB early in my career, and later a modernisation for the Arizona Department of Transportation that retired a 35-year-old mainframe system. In the UK I have written software for oil and gas logistics at Glencore and senior front-end work for LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor. Enough different problems, over enough years and continents, that I understand that human change is the hard part. My experience is built on a foundation of real engineering training, a Masters in Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering.

These days I design and build my own AI products. PersonalTourister is a travel concierge I run with a co-founder who leads the business while I own the technology. YeahBoss is a time-management tool for independent contractors. Running my own products is why I think in terms of users and outcomes, not just clean architecture.

AerospaceAutomotivePharmaceuticalElectricity transmissionOil & gasHealthcarePublic sector