Freelance · Based in the Netherlands
I'm Mohammed Ben M'hand — a freelance data & AI platform engineer and solution architect. I design and build the Azure, Microsoft Fabric and Databricks platforms that turn scattered source systems into something your business can actually rely on.
Trusted by teams at
“Better decisions start with better data — and better data starts with a platform people trust.”
About
I work at the point where business questions meet infrastructure. That means sitting with stakeholders to understand what they actually need to decide, then designing and building the scalable, secure, future-ready platform that answers it — not the other way round.
Day to day that is ELT/ETL pipelines in Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks, modelled with dbt and orchestrated with Apache Airflow. I write Python, PySpark and (Spark) SQL, ship through CI/CD on Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions, and build AI features on Azure AI Foundry — from meeting-audio transcription to real-time email classification.
Right now I'm Lead Data & AI at SmartMed, responsible for the data and AI platform inside a cloud-native, event-driven microservices architecture — setting architectural standards, governance and MLOps, and integrating AI/LLM solutions into the enterprise architecture.
I've done this for organisations from ASML and KPN to Port of Rotterdam and Van Oord — as an engineer with hands on the keyboard, and as the architect drawing the target picture.
Capabilities
End to end, from the first source-system extract to the architecture decision record — or any single piece of that where your team needs the depth.
Reliable ELT/ETL pipelines that survive contact with real source systems — ERP, CRM, maritime telemetry, marketing APIs — and land clean, modelled data your analysts can use.
The target picture, written down and defensible: platform topology, governance model, migration path, and the trade-offs behind each choice.
Deployments that are boring on purpose. CI/CD for Data Factory, Synapse, Databricks and Fabric, with infrastructure defined in code and monitoring that tells you before users do.
Practical AI on top of a platform that can actually feed it — LLM solutions integrated into the enterprise architecture, with the MLOps and governance to keep them running in production.
Approach
Same shape whether it's a two-week assessment or a two-year platform build — understand first, architect deliberately, then build in slices that ship.
Stakeholder sessions to find the decisions the business is trying to make, and the data reality behind them. No architecture before this.
A target design with the trade-offs made explicit — platform, governance, cost and migration path, documented so your team can challenge it.
Delivery in vertical slices: one real source system, end to end, in production, with CI/CD and tests from day one. Then repeat.
Documentation, walkthroughs and pairing until your engineers own it. The measure of a good engagement is that it doesn't need me.
Experience
Seven years across healthcare, shipping, aviation, telecom, semiconductors, manufacturing, horticulture and real estate — mostly on Azure, mostly with data that did not want to cooperate.
SmartMed
Leading the design and delivery of scalable data and AI platforms inside a fully cloud-native, event-driven microservices architecture. I set the architectural standards and technology choices, implement governance, security and scalability, stand up MLOps processes and CI/CD, and integrate AI/LLM solutions into the enterprise architecture — acting as the primary technical point of contact for platform and architecture while mentoring engineers, data scientists and stakeholders.
The Data & Analytics Mind
My own consultancy: data engineering, data platform engineering, solution architecture and data strategy for organisations that need senior hands rather than another slide deck. Every engagement below is delivered through it.
Wulftec International · a Duravant company
Migrated an on-premises Progress OpenEdge database to Azure Synapse Analytics and Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. Built the ETL pipelines for ingestion and export, implemented the business logic and SCD Type 2 history in Synapse notebooks with Python and PySpark, and optimised SQL that significantly cut Power BI dashboard load times. Also drafted the cross-region architecture vision for the platform, centred on evaluating Microsoft Fabric.
Van Oord
ELT pipelines in Azure Synapse Analytics pulling from Dynamics 365, Workday, E-Business Suite and maritime systems, then led the migration of ingestion and the full environment onto Azure Databricks. Built a medallion lakehouse, helped implement a GDPR-compliant access model with Unity Catalog, deployed Azure resources with Terraform, and built Grafana monitoring for pipelines and Key Vault secrets.
vb&t Real Estate Management
Designed and implemented a real estate data integration solution on Azure and Microsoft Fabric: a medallion lakehouse, Synapse pipelines integrating the ERP systems and external APIs, PySpark validation and SCD Type 2 history, and the high-level architecture documentation behind it. Also built an AI minutes app on Azure AI Foundry for the VvE services department, and a real-time AI solution that categorises and assesses all inbound email for the secretariat and VvE managers.
FibrXL
A one-month Power BI consultancy engagement.
gr8 Nederland
A one-month Power BI consultancy engagement.
Dümmen Orange
Assessed the existing data platform and delivered a strategic advisory report for extending their Microsoft Fabric implementation into a cross-region architecture — weighing technical sustainability alongside governance and compliance.
KPN
Designed and implemented a data integration solution on the Azure platform, drawing the architecture in ArchiMate. Exposed REST APIs in Synapse for Awin, Google Ads, CM360, DV360, Search Console, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat and TikTok, built ETL pipelines at account, campaign, ad-set and ad level, transformed JSON to Parquet with Python and PySpark, and set up CI/CD in Azure DevOps.
Port of Rotterdam · via Riviq
Migrated on-premises SAP BW to Azure Databricks with Synapse pipelines and Airflow DAGs. Applied medallion architecture with Data Vault 2.0 in a data mesh, built dbt entities in PySpark and Spark SQL with data quality checks, automated ERD generation from dbt metadata, and wrote a Python linter that detects privacy-sensitive terms in the GitHub CI pipeline, ahead of an SRE Level 3 audit.
Transavia · via Riviq
ETL pipelines in Azure Data Factory with Airflow DAGs for orchestration, PySpark and Spark SQL transformations in Databricks, and an Azure Functions API exposing Transavia’s social media posts. Created dbt entities in JinjaSQL, wrote solution designs, and built the Power BI data models.
Riviq
Consultant on Azure data engineering projects, delivered at Port of Rotterdam and Transavia.
Shimano Europe · via Alten
Built Azure Functions APIs for B2C — real-time connectivity between Azure and Adobe Campaign Manager — and for B2B, syncing Shimano’s sales and inventory portal. Led the B2B interface projects in C# and .NET for real-time and batch exchange, and fully configured Azure API Management with client certificates, OAuth2 and JWT.
ASML · via Alten
Enhanced the Alert & Health Monitoring application in Splunk Enterprise: new features, KPIs, ITSI thresholds and alerts, and dashboards built on the collected data, with Bash and Python scripts pulling data via REST API. Worked in Agile Scrum within SAFe and presented delivered epics and features at Agile Release Train meetings.
Alten Nederland
Consultant delivering data engineering solutions, placed at ASML and Shimano Europe.
Credentials
Education
Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven
Specialised in data-driven business and IT management. Minors in Data Driven Business Lab, Big Data, ICT Management and Cyber Security.
Certifications held
In progress
Contact
Looking for a freelance data engineer, data platform engineer or solution architect — or just want a second opinion on an architecture? Tell me what you're working on. I answer every message personally.
