About
Walter Teng
Software engineer with a broad interest in AI systems, cloud engineering, and solutions architecture.
A Little Intro
I care about building reliable, practical tools and systems that people actually find useful.
I’m currently at AI Singapore, a national-funded initiative focused on advancing Singapore’s AI ecosystem, where I explore the complex and rapidly evolving field of AI infrastructure.
Here’s what I’ve been up to for the last few years:
- Lead AI Engineer at AI Singapore2023 — Present
I lead the AI Infrastructure team, building the platforms and systems that power model training, inference, and the rapid delivery of SEA-LION models and real-world AI solutions for the region. The work spans distributed compute, deployment pipelines, and internal tooling; less about model development, more about making AI systems reliable, observable, cost-efficient, and deployable at scale.
- Software Engineer at Doctor Anywhere2021 — 2022
A telemedicine startup with a regional footprint during a period of rapid post-pandemic growth. I built reliable, scalable microservices, and spent a big part of my time integrating with regional insurance partners so patients could get better coverage and more affordable care.
- Senior Product Engineer at CrimsonLogic2018 — 2021
A technology solutions company with a global presence, delivering systems for governments worldwide. Worked on features for municipal and judiciary core products. What stuck with me was the importance of domain knowledge, especially when working on systems that need to reflect real-world processes and rules accurately.
Outside of Work
I’ve always been drawn to learning how to learn. I like the idea of digital gardens, second brains, and building systems that help us think better.
I’m interested in metacognition, mental models, and productivity. I tend to experiment until something clicks, then turn it into a reusable template others can use.
Some productivity tooling I built in the pre-ChatGPT / agentic AI era:
- Chrome extensions
- Obsidian templates
- Notion templates
I’m currently thinking about what it means to build tools that stay useful and evergreen in the post-LLM era.
A Little History
I grew up in Singapore, and some of my earliest experiences with technology came from building simple LEGO Mindstorms robots to get them to behave the way I imagined.
That curiosity expanded into graphic design during my teenage years, where I began experimenting with Photoshop and gradually developed an eye for spacing, typography, and composition. Building my own blog extended that thinking into how structure shapes clarity, flow, and intent in user interfaces. Over time, this mix of design sensitivity and systems thinking shaped how I approach engineering today, especially the balance between how something is built and how it feels to use.
I went on to earn my degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Nanyang Technological University. Some of my fondest memories there were with the Outdoor Adventure Club’s publicity team, where we created content, websites, and travelled around the region to document trips and races through photography. That mix of nature, travel, and photography is something I still genuinely enjoy.
I also spent a semester at the University of Surrey, which became one of the more formative chapters of my twenties. Backpacking across Europe during that time felt especially meaningful — it was a period when everything felt new and I was constantly absorbing people, places, and ideas. Alongside that, I still remember grappling with Smith charts and working on a hardware project with some of the most capable people I’ve collaborated with.
Catching the generative AI wave right before ChatGPT was a serendipitous moment. I was exploring a personal computer vision project, and while services like Amazon Rekognition were just an API call away, I felt drawn to understand what was happening under the hood. One thing led to another, eventually leading me to pursue a Master’s in AI at Singapore Management University. It became a way to ground myself more firmly at the intersection of AI, software engineering, and business.