> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://hasithz.gitbook.io/hasith-abayakoon/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://hasithz.gitbook.io/hasith-abayakoon/readme.md).

# Hasith Abayakoon

Senior Software Engineer | Applied AI & Platform Engineering

**Senior Software Engineer | Applied AI & Platform Engineering**

I build the delivery and security tooling that lets engineering teams ship reliably, and I take applied-AI research through to production. At Pearson I own the Snyk and SonarQube scanning components used across a shared GitLab CI/CD platform. Before that I led the AI systems behind a camera-based security product, and I published research on reinforcement learning for child–robot interaction.

The problems I solve tend to be the same three: making shared infrastructure safe to change, turning models into dependable services, and retiring legacy tooling without breaking the teams that depend on it.

Based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

[Selected work](/hasith-abayakoon/selected-work/projects.md) · [Experience](/hasith-abayakoon/experience/experience.md) · [CV and contact](/hasith-abayakoon/contact/contact.md)

## Selected work

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Security scanning components for a shared CI/CD platform</strong></td><td>Snyk and SonarQube components, the Python modules behind them, and the release automation that ships them to Pearson's GitLab pipelines.</td><td><a href="/hasith-abayakoon/selected-work/projects/secure-scanning-components.md">Security scanning components for a shared CI/CD platform</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>EagleEye</strong></td><td>Applied AI on existing security cameras to surface threats, suspicious activity, and weapons. Led from concept to deployment.</td><td><a href="/hasith-abayakoon/selected-work/projects/project-1.md">EagleEye</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>DrDok</strong></td><td>Document digitisation for scanned forms, images, and PDFs. Recognition models developed, fine-tuned, and evaluated at BooleanLabs.</td><td><a href="/hasith-abayakoon/selected-work/projects/drdok.md">DrDok</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Each case study follows the same structure: the problem, my role, the constraints, the decisions and their trade-offs, the evidence, and the outcome.

## Selected achievements

* **Shipped two scanning components to a shared platform.** The Snyk module from 2.0.0 to 4.0.0 and the SonarQube module from first commit to 0.5.x, both included in Pearson's platform pipeline (2026).
* **Retired four legacy scanners** (Twistlock, Insight AppSec, InsightCloudSec, Scorecard) from that platform, and removed hard-coded credentials and SSH keys from its images and configuration.
* **Published at IEEE ICAIBD 2023** on reinforcement learning for dialogue management in child–robot interaction, with three further papers on child–robot interaction and contactless measurement. [Research](/hasith-abayakoon/research/research.md)
* **Contributed to GitLab's open-source codebase**, including a fix to iteration-cadence creation with parameterised tests. [Open-source contributions](/hasith-abayakoon/selected-work/open-source-contributions.md)
* **Completed the Machine Learning Engineering for Production (MLOps) specialization**, alongside DevOps, data engineering, and PyTorch courses. [Certificates](/hasith-abayakoon/experience/certificates.md)

## Experience

| Period              | Role                                      | Organisation                                  |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| May 2024 – present  | Senior Software Engineer                  | Pearson                                       |
| May 2023 – May 2024 | Research Lead                             | EagleEye                                      |
| May 2023 – May 2024 | Research Engineer / Technology Consultant | BooleanLabs                                   |
| Feb 2022 – Apr 2023 | Research Assistant                        | Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology |
| Sep 2021 – Sep 2022 | Python Software Developer                 | Orange Electric                               |

[Full experience, education, and certificates](/hasith-abayakoon/experience/experience.md)

## Writing and research

* [Communication in reinforcement learning](/hasith-abayakoon/research/welcome-to-communication-in-reinforcement-learning-documentation.md): the concepts and algorithms behind the dialogue-management research.
* [Addressing the "Upcoming Iterations" bug in GitLab](/hasith-abayakoon/writing/blogs/gitlab-development-kit/addressing-the-upcoming-iterations-bug-in-gitlab-a-deep-dive.md): an open-source fix followed from issue to merged change.
* [The Twelve-Factor App](/hasith-abayakoon/writing/blogs/12-factor.md): a practical guide to building operable services.
* [Managing EC2-Support and IAM in a global environment](/hasith-abayakoon/writing/blogs/aws.md): notes on AWS identity and access management.

[All writing](/hasith-abayakoon/writing/blogs.md) · [Research](/hasith-abayakoon/research/research.md)

## Contact

* **Email:** <hasith.abayakoon@gmail.com>
* **LinkedIn:** [Hasith Abayakoon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hasith-abayakoon/)
* **GitHub:** [hasithz](https://github.com/hasithz)

[CV and full contact details](/hasith-abayakoon/contact/contact.md)