Manuel Levi CV/Resume
Leading by Impact. Strategic Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
Summary
Born in the university city of Coimbra, my family bought our first computer when I was 9 yrs old. This computer was slow and internet access was scarce. This meant, that unlike most of my friends, I wouldn't spend any time playing games or browsing the 90's internet. Instead, I found fun in programming scripts and my own games as a kid.
Today, I am a data scientist with experience working with +8 figure companies and market leaders around the world: retail, investing, banking, medical imaging and others.
I help business owners, entrepreneurs, founders and senior executives filter out the noise in AI and data science and invest only in truly profitable work, aligned with the existing company strategy. Through the definition of a data strategy, companies know what they should and what they shouldn't invest in when applying data science to their business.
Through my company, Enlightenment.ai, I provide a solution to the execution of the solutions to these problems.
I have worked with various market leaders in Singapore, London, Denmark and Portugal. This was only possible because I was lucky enough to be invited to apply AI as a research scientist for top research labs including MIT's Singapore lab - SMART, and CDV or amilab in Portugal, before companies were doing it.
Enlightenment.ai
Enlightenment.ai is a data science and artificial intelligence consultancy that helps companies apply data science to their business. We help companies define a data strategy, and then execute it.
The following list shows a number of relevant projects that I've helped develop.
Data Strategy
Confidencial Retail Company
Lisbon, Portugal // 2021 - 2022
I led the data strategy in a large retail company. During this time we applied the FORCE methodology I've created. We listed all data sources, defined OKRs, KPIs and initiatives. We prioritized initiatives according to the Principle of Constraints and the context of that particular company. I've also lead a number of analysis, including but not limited to consumer behaviour analysis, seasonality analysis, demand prediction together with stock analysis and prediction and a deep analysis on client's operations and quality control.
Data Strategy
Carlsberg
Copenhagen, Denmark // 2019 - 2020
I was the data strategist for a major innovation project developed by Carlsberg. Together with other colleagues from Enlightenment.ai we took large amounts of Carlsberg's data to generate relevant insights for restaurant owners. Strategically, I've helped identified relevant analysis by meeting with Carlsberg's leadership and its clients and managers from Hong Kong, Switzerland, Denmark and United Kingdom. Technically, I led a number of different analysis: identification of relevant events, identification of trends, anomaly detection, product recommendation, consumer behaviour analysis and churn analysis, to name a few.
Fraud Detection with Machine Learning
Confidential Payment Processor
Lisbon, Portugal // 2019 - 2019
I led a team of four data scientists in a major payment processor. We replaced human-made fraud detection models by data-driven machine learning models, achieving record performance. These models were trained automatically and integrated into IBM Safer Payments platform.
Data Scientist
ReachX
London, UK // 2017 - 2019
Supervision of three other data scientists. Development of data infrastructure and custom machine learning models in the financial industry. ReachX works with financial data such as the one provided by Refinitiv Eikon and Bloomberg terminal. We built anomaly detection systems, tracked news and social media sentiment, and developed a number of other models to help our clients make better decisions.
Experience
Data Science Advisor
Hire Space
London, United Kingdom // Sep 2017 - Sep 2018 // 1 yr 1 mo
As the UK's leading venue marketplace, Hire Space hired me as a consultant to provide expert advice on the application of data science and artificial intelligence (particularly machine learning) to their business.
Contract Data Scientist
Kheiron Medical
London, United Kingdom // Jan 2017 - Sep 2017 // 9 mos
Kheiron Medical is a medical company that uses state-of-the-art machine learning technologies, such as artificial neural networks, to produce top-performance medical imagining tools. During this time I've developed algorithms to detect cancer lesions using a mixture of traditional computer vision and deep learning.
Lead Data Scientist
Citizen Pace
London, United Kingdom // Sep 2015 - Dec 2016 // 1 yr 4 mos
Citizen Pace is revolutionizing the way OOH advertising works by improving both the planning of campaigns and their evaluation, making it simple to track different return metrics. The company aims to provide data-driven insights in near real-time about the preferences and types of people in a specific area and time, around cities. It does this by having a deep understanding of the movement of crowds, extracted from a variety of datasets, ranging from social networks to transportation data.
Technology Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur First
London, United Kingdom // Mar 2016 - May 2016 // 3 mos
Entrepreneur First is Europe's leading pre-seed investment program, with less than 3% acceptance rate, for technical founders who want to work on hard problems. 55% of their portfolio is educated at Oxford, Cambridge, or Imperial College London, and worked before in companies such as Google, Palantir, Amazon, Apple, Airbnb, and Uber.
Invited Research Scientist
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Research Center "SMART"
Singapore // Apr 2015 - Sep 2015 // 6 mos
Development of a parsimonious sensing system using Active Learning and Gaussian Processes. Development of a predictive system for events happening in Singapore and their effect on the country's transportation systems. I've built a system capable of Identifying traffic anomalies and developing a system capable of querying different search engines and automatically extracting information that would justify such anomalies.
Research Fellow
CISUC (Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra)
Portugal // Jul 2014 - Jul 2015 // 1 yr 1 mo
AMILAB, Cognitive and Media Systems Group, Coimbra, PortugalAMILAB, Cognitive and Media Systems Group, Coimbra, PortugalProject InfoCrowds - Information Retrieval techniques and application of active learning in the topic of crowds mobility management using social web data.
Data Scientist
SONAE
Portugal // May 2014 - Jul 2014 // 3 mos
SONAE is present in more than 60 countries, with more than 40.000 employees. CDV was working with Sonae Distribuição, the largest retailer in Portugal. A team at CDV was hired by SONAE to do some analysis on the client data they have been collecting for years. My team was exploring the data SONAE has been collecting for years to give them insights about what they could do with it. Besides interactive visualizations, we were working on a way to improve their operational inventory system and reduce the waste of perishable goods, study cannibalism within the brand and study people's buying habits.
Research Fellow
CISUC (Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra)
Coimbra, Portugal // Dec 2013 - May 2014 // 6 mos
Project RECARDI - Used computer vision and machine learning to build Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems.Project RECARDI - Used computer vision and machine learning to build Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems.
Research Fellow
CISUC (Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra)
Coimbra, Portugal // Aug 2013 - Dec 2013 // 5 mos
The objective of project SBIRC ( Style Based Image Retrieval and Classification ) was to use machine learning techniques to classify images into different styles. I was responsible for extracting the image features that would then be used to characterize each image.The objective of project SBIRC ( Style Based Image Retrieval and Classification ) was to use machine learning techniques to classify images into different styles. I was responsible for extracting the image features that would then be used to characterize each image.
Development Lead
Bark it!
Coimbra, Portugal // Feb 2013 - Sep 2013 // 8 mos
Bark it! was a technology startup backed by the Portuguese Government. During my work there I led two other computer scientists whilst creating a distributed system similar to a Domain Name Server for phone numbers. I've also worked on a solution to try to predict what phone numbers people would call at specific times and places.
Freelance Python Developer
Self-employed
Coimbra, Portugal // Sep 2012 - Jul 2013 // 11 mos
I was a freelance Python developer while I studying. I've done both websites and small private projects for individuals and small companies.
Certifications
BPMN 2.0 with Brian: A Beginner's Guide - Udemy - Issued Jul 2020
Deep Learning with Tensor - Packt Publishing - Issued Nov 2016
Computational Investing, Part I (with Distinction) - Georgia Institute of Technology - Issued Nov 2014
Networked Life (with Distinction) - University of Pennsylvania - Issued Oct 2014
Getting and Cleaning Data(with Distinction) - The Johns Hopkins University - Issued Nov 2014
Practical Machine Learning (with Distinction) - The Johns Hopkins University - Issued Sep 2014
R Programming (with Distinction) - The Johns Hopkins University - Issued Sep 2014
The Data Scientist’s Toolbox (with Distinction) - The Johns Hopkins UniversityIssued Sep 2014
Education
Bachelor and Master Degree in Computer Science // 2015
University of Coimbra, Portugal
Recommendations
Benjamin Yuan // Jan 12, 2023
Machine Learning Engineering Manager, Recommendation at TikTok
I highly recommend Manuel for any strategic role in data science and AI. As a co-founder, he demonstrated an exceptional ability to identify business opportunities and develop innovative solutions using data and AI. He is a valuable asset in any team.
Gonçalo Rieff Montalvão // May 8, 2020
Performance Analyst at Galp Commercial
I worked with Manuel at EAI in refining offerings and enhancing value creation. Manuel is a highly effective professional with an ambitious and entrepreneurial mindset!
João Nuno Correia // July 4, 2016
Assistant Professor at University of Coimbra
Manuel is an organized, responsible and pro-active person, that impressed me with his exploratory and inventive skills. During our work in the SBIRC's Image feature extractor he learned different new concepts really fast, easily understanding the work already done which allowed him to actively contribute to the project. He showed knowledge of machine learning, image and data processing skills, allied to excellent programming skills and ability to solve problems.
Adriano Vinhas // July 4, 2016
Machine Learning Engineer at Captify || PhD student at University of Coimbra
I met Manuel while we were working in the same Lab. At the time, we were both studying different machine learning techniques for image processing. Manuel's autonomy and impressing problem-solving capabilities, along with his drive for self-improvement and openness to challenges made him a fast learner and one of the best people I ever met to work in a data science team.
Shahram Mossayebi, Ph.D // July 4, 2016
Founder & CEO at Crypto Quantique
Through various discussions Manuel comes across as a knowledgeable person with strong analytical skills. I found him an expert in coding and emerging technologies such as machine learning.
Francisco Antunes // July 2, 2016
Researcher | Data Science | Machine Learning
I met Manuel at CISUC while he was a researcher there and working on his Master thesis. We were both researchers within the same research lab. We used to regularly discuss many things and help each other either regarding his work or mine. These discussions were often heavily constructive and enlightening. Manuel always proved to be very pragmatic, analytical, objective-oriented and imaginative person, which undoubtedly makes him a skilful and resourceful colleague and professional. He is also quite autonomous, as he is always able to work around unexpected problems with ease. It was a pleasure to meet and work with Manuel. I hope we can collaborate again in the future.
Stanislav Borysov // June 30, 2016
Senior Manager, Data Science at Vay
I worked with Manuel at the MIT research center SMART in Singapore and can definitely recommend him as a knowledgable person and excellent team-player. During our collaborative work on various projects related to intelligent transportation systems, Manuel showed his deep knowledge of modern machine learning techniques, including clustering, regression, text classification and natural language processing, and successfully applied them to tackle real-world problems.
Peter Kecskemethy // June 25, 2016
CEO & co-founder, PhD at Kheiron Medical
Manuel has been one of the greatest minds at EF - a definite problem solver and a great data scientist. He is the kind of person I would be very happy to work with closer.
Mariana Lourenço // June 24, 2016
Principal Data Scientist at RedLight
It's rare to come across someone like Manuel. I had the pleasure of collaborating with Manuel when we were working for MIT in Singapore. It was impressive seeing him developing inventive ways to explore and model the transport datasets we had at our disposal. He's also a very pragmatic person, which helps in a lot of situations. Manuel, either as a team member or a leader, earns my highest recommendation.
Filipe Assunção // November 6, 2015
Lead Research Scientist at OutSystems
Manuel is a self-driven researcher, making him a vital member of the team he is working with. I had the pleasure to cooperate with Manuel in the Computational Design and Visualization Lab., CISUC, where the work he developed become of huge importance for my own tasks. He developed a powerful feature extractor for image-based evolution, with which I was later capable of evolving aesthetic images, mapped from Context Free Design Grammars, using a genetic programming approach.