Founder, PerunTeCH · AI Systems (ISO 26262)

Designing reliable systems and practical AI-powered assistants.

I'm Sattanaathan, an engineer with experience in automotive safety, embedded systems, and backend software. I enjoy taking complex, real-world problems and turning them into robust, testable systems and tools that people can rely on day to day.

Portrait of Sattanaathan Thayumanan
Based in the Seattle area · PERUNTECH
UF · NITT · Ex-Qualcomm · Ex-Alstom
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Years engineering
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Companies founded
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Sites & web apps live
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Mobile apps in build
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Creative channels live

About

I have worked across automotive systems, embedded software, and backend / web services. I'm comfortable moving between high-level architecture, detailed safety analysis, and hands-on implementation.

Background

I've worked as a System Architect / Automotive Safety Engineer at Qualcomm, and earlier as a Software Designer / Architect in rail transportation at Alstom, covering the full software development lifecycle.

I completed my M.S. in Electrical Computer Engineering at the University of Florida and my B.Tech in Electrical & Electronics Engineering at NIT Trichy.

Since May 2026 I have also represented myself — Pro Se — in my civil matters. I learned the courts the way I learn any system: read everything, document everything, verify every line.

What I'm focused on now

Right now I'm focused on independent research and prototyping — exploring AI-assisted tools and workflow automation that act as personal assistants for complex, multi-step tasks. A lot of this work is internal tooling and experiments, and my long-term motivation is building a better future for my son.

The documentation discipline from my Pro Se work became the Verified-Record Method, and elements of it now ship inside PerunTeCH's AI Engineering product — audit trails and traceability for AI-written work. If you're navigating something alone — start where I started: write everything down, with dates and times.

Experience

A quick snapshot of where I've been putting systems thinking to work.

Pro Se Civil Litigant

2026 · Independent · Washington Civil Courts · Self-Represented · May 2026 – Present · Greater Seattle Area, WA, USA

Representing myself in my civil legal matters — research, drafting, filings, discovery, declarations of service, and in-person hearings. That discipline — records first, verification always — became the Verified-Record Method, and elements of it now ship inside PerunTeCH's AI Engineering product: audit trails and traceability for AI-written work.

Founder – PerunTeCH Systems (OPC) Pvt. Ltd.

2026 · PerunTeCH · Sister company of PERUNTECH LLC · Incorporated 2026 · Tamil Nadu, India

India-based sister company of PERUNTECH LLC focused on software, systems engineering, and AI/automation services. Day-to-day operations and statutory compliance in India are managed by a resident director.

Founder – PERUNTECH LLC

2025 · PerunTeCH · Early-stage technology company focused on AI-driven systems and tools · Formed 2025 · Seattle, WA, USA

Exploring early-stage products and internal tooling in AI-driven systems, automation, and assistant-style workflows for complex, multi-step tasks. The company is manager-managed, with day-to-day operations led by its Manager.

Independent Systems & AI Engineer | Solopreneur

2024 · Independent · Personal projects & short pilots · 2024 – 2025 · Greater Seattle Area, WA, USA

Explored small, real-world pilots to understand logistics and service design better — including a home-sharing pilot on Airbnb (“Stevens Nook”) and a short period of part-time rideshare driving as a side hustle. The Airbnb pilot was closed when I moved, and these experiments are now paused.

Travel & Career Break

2023 · Independent · Planned travel and reflection · 2023 – 2024 · USA & India

Took a planned travel and reflection break between full-time roles, stepping back from day-to-day work to travel, rest, and reset. Used this period to focus on personal reflection, health, and long-term decisions about life, location, and future career direction.

System Architect – Automotive Safety Systems

2019 · Qualcomm · Qualcomm · 2019 – 2023 · San Diego, CA, USA

Worked on safety-critical automotive SoCs and SiPs, aligning hardware and software to meet ISO 26262 functional safety expectations.

  • System modelling and architecture for automotive use cases.
  • Qualitative and quantitative safety analysis (FMEDA, FMEA, DFA, FTA) in Ansys medini analyze, including hardware metrics (SPFM, LFM, PMHF).
  • Safety documentation, traceability, and audit support.
  • Automation scripts in Python to speed up analysis and reporting.

Graduate Research Assistant – Connected Vehicles

2018 · UF · University of Florida · 2018 – 2019 · Gainesville, FL, USA

Designed an ML-based detection and mitigation system to improve robustness of cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) under adversarial conditions.

Software Designer / System Architect – Rail Transportation

2015 · Alstom · Alstom · 2015 – 2018 · Bengaluru, KA, India

Worked across the software lifecycle for maintenance and monitoring systems in metro and main-line rail, including REST APIs, databases, and on-board embedded components.

HumaNITTy – Co-founder & Lead Volunteer

2014 · NITT · NIT Trichy · 2014 – 2018 · Tiruchirappalli, TN, India · PerunTeCH Foundations planned — in talks with the founding team

HumaNITTy is an umbrella organization of social responsibility clubs at NIT Trichy.

  • Helped grow a volunteer base from ~50 to 500+ students.
  • Organization received national-level recognition (FICCI and ASSOCHAM awards for social responsibility).

CYBER-TRONiX – Co-founder & Tutor

2013 · NITT · NIT Trichy · 2013 – 2016 · Tiruchirappalli, TN, India · planned restart with PerunTeCH

Platform to deliver technical workshops to lesser-privileged students.

  • Led workshops that reached ~1400+ students.
  • Focused on practical electronics, embedded systems, and basic programming.

Spider – R&D Club

2013 · NITT · NIT Trichy · 2013 – 2016 · Tiruchirappalli, TN, India

Member of Spider, the research & development club of NIT Trichy.

  • Conducted workshops spanning software and hardware — computer science, electronics, computer systems, embedded systems, and Android.
  • Second runner-up at Sangam Pragyan 2014 among 300+ participating teams — low-cost smartwatch prototype with embedded + Android integration.
  • Semi-finalist (top ~86 out of 1209 teams) in the Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge India Design Contest 2015 — robotic arm equipped solar powered hybrid electric wheelchair.

Founder – PERUNTECH LLC

Early-stage technology company focused on AI-driven systems and tools · Formed 2025 · Seattle, WA, USA

Exploring early-stage products and internal tooling in AI-driven systems, automation, and assistant-style workflows for complex, multi-step tasks. The company is manager-managed, with day-to-day operations led by its Manager.

Founder – PerunTeCH Systems (OPC) Pvt. Ltd.

Sister company of PERUNTECH LLC · Incorporated 2026 · Tamil Nadu, India

India-based sister company of PERUNTECH LLC focused on software, systems engineering, and AI/automation services. Day-to-day operations and statutory compliance in India are managed by a resident director.

A stack of 2 entries, newest on top. Click, swipe, scroll, or use the arrow keys to move through them. All 2 are readable in order whichever one is on top.

2025 · PerunTeCH on top

1 of 2

Selected Projects

A few examples of the kind of systems and tools I like to build.

Personal tools & experiments

2026 · PerunTeCH · Current focus

Internal tools to manage personal finances, planning, and recurring tasks — basically building the systems I wish I'd had earlier.

Python · Spreadsheets & scripts · Backend services

Custom Software Prototypes

2025 · PerunTeCH · Current focus

Small, opinionated tools and example apps built around real constraints: scheduling, planning, money, and everyday logistics.

React · FastAPI / Node · REST APIs

AI assistants & workflow tools

2025 · PerunTeCH · Current focus

Building LLM-powered assistants that help people move through long, multi-step workflows with less stress and fewer mistakes.

TypeScript · Node · PostgreSQL · LLM orchestration

Systems & Safety Experiments

2024 · Independent · Personal projects · Greater Seattle Area

A collection of experiments in embedded systems, tooling, and automation, exploring how to make complex systems easier to understand and verify.

Embedded C · Linux · Safety analysis

Safety Automation & Tool Qualification

2019 · Qualcomm · Qualcomm · 2019 – 2023 · San Diego, CA, USA

  • Developed a proof-of-concept web app in Java Spring Boot to support the tool qualification process under ISO 26262.
  • Built Python scripts to automate documentation, safety analysis, and traceability workflows for safety-critical automotive SoCs and SiPs.

Java · Spring Boot · ISO 26262 · Python · FMEDA/DFMEA/DFA · JIRA/JAMA

Twitter Clone – Distributed Systems in Elixir & Phoenix

2019 · UF · Course project · University of Florida

Designed and implemented a working Twitter-style engine using Elixir and the Phoenix framework to explore distributed systems concepts.

Elixir · Phoenix · Distributed Systems

ML-Based Attack Detection for Automotive CACC

2018 · UF · M.S. research · University of Florida

M.S. research project focused on connected vehicles and cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC), exploring robustness against adversarial behavior.

Connected vehicles · CACC · Machine learning · MATLAB / Simulink

Real-Time Embedded System for Differently Abled and Seniors

2016 · NITT · B.Tech final project · NIT Trichy

B.Tech final project: a portable single-seater electric vehicle with an embedded system and Android UI.

MSP430 · Android · Bluetooth (HC-05) · Embedded Systems

Rail Systems — Operator-Console Platform & MSS Web App

2015 · Alstom · Alstom · 2015 – 2018 · Bengaluru, KA, India

  • Built a validation platform simulating the train operator's console for Indian metro rail, accelerating the project roadmap significantly.
  • Developed REST APIs for a Spring Boot / Maven web app that managed health data and maintenance requests.
  • Worked with PostgreSQL on RHEL for storing and querying health data.

ControlBuild · NI LabVIEW · PXI · Java · Spring Boot · PostgreSQL · Linux

Solar Hybrid Electric Wheelchair

2015 · NITT · Spider – R&D Club · TI Innovation Challenge India 2015

Semi-finalist (top ~86 out of 1209 teams) in the Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge India Design Contest 2015 — robotic arm equipped solar powered hybrid electric wheelchair.

Embedded · Robotics

Low-Cost Smartwatch Prototype

2014 · NITT · Spider – R&D Club · Sangam, Pragyan 2014

Second runner-up at Sangam Pragyan 2014 among 300+ participating teams — low-cost smartwatch prototype with embedded + Android integration.

Embedded · Android

Personal tools & experiments

Current focus

Internal tools to manage personal finances, planning, and recurring tasks — basically building the systems I wish I'd had earlier.

Python · Spreadsheets & scripts · Backend services

Custom Software Prototypes

Current focus

Small, opinionated tools and example apps built around real constraints: scheduling, planning, money, and everyday logistics.

React · FastAPI / Node · REST APIs

AI assistants & workflow tools

Current focus

Building LLM-powered assistants that help people move through long, multi-step workflows with less stress and fewer mistakes.

TypeScript · Node · PostgreSQL · LLM orchestration

A stack of 3 entries, newest on top. Click, swipe, scroll, or use the arrow keys to move through them. All 3 are readable in order whichever one is on top.

2026 · PerunTeCH on top

1 of 3

The Creative Side

Six channels of original work — visual art, quiet writing, puzzles, and reflection — produced and grown with PerunTeCH.

v1.0 — The static site

sattanaathan.github.io

One engineer, one page: the professional record, kept plainly.

v2.0 — sattanaathan.com

Nov 2025 · early AI-built systems

Where he started building with AI — the first act of establishing the systems PerunTeCH runs on. Still running, still growing.

v3.0 — Two sides

this renovation

v2.0's professional side, lightly renovated — plus the creative side on its own domain, sattan.blog: Caesar & Pepper, Pattern Play, Calm Verse, Quiet Travel, Still Notes, and AOM.

A stack of 3 cards, newest on top. Click, swipe, scroll, or use the arrow keys to move through them. All 3 are readable in order whichever one is on top.

v3.0 on top

Recommendations

From LinkedIn.

I had the opportunity to work with Sattanath on MSS software development, and he has consistently been an exceptional performer. He is highly agile, always ready to take up any challenge, and often surprised me with the quality and speed of his delivery. What I appreciate most is his strong solution-based approach—he focuses on understanding the problem deeply and comes back with practical, well-thought-out solutions every single time. His dedication, technical strength, and positive attitude make him a true asset to any organisation.

Hitesh Mangla · Product Development Manager at Alstom · managed Sattanaathan directly via LinkedIn, Dec 2025

I had the privilege of working with Sattanaathan when he joined ALSTOM as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) in July 2016. From day one, he stood out as an exceptional professional—intelligent, hardworking, and always eager to take on challenges. His ability to learn quickly and translate concepts into practical applications is truly impressive. One of the most notable examples of his commitment was during a critical, time-sensitive project involving the upgrade of deployment scripts from an older Red Hat version on legacy hardware to a new platform with an upgraded Red Hat version. This was a complex and high-stakes task, and Sattanaathan took complete ownership, delivering a successful outcome that ensured smooth operations. His adaptability and problem-solving skills were key to the project's success.

Rakesh Kumar · V&V Lead Architect at ALSTOM TRANSPORT · senior to Sattanaathan, did not manage directly via LinkedIn, Jan 2026

I had the pleasure of working with Sattan for around two years at Alstom. Throughout our time together, he consistently demonstrated strong software and system engineering fundamentals, sharp analytical skills, and a positive, solution-oriented attitude while working on the MSS system. He showed a solid understanding of end-to-end software systems, effectively working across development, integration, and delivery aspects, while maintaining a strong focus on quality and reliability. One outstanding example of Sattan's capability was during a critical project when we had to implement an additional patch fix just before a major delivery milestone. He took ownership of reorganizing the work plan, coordinated closely with cross-functional stakeholders, and resolved complex system integration issues. Thanks to his calm demeanor and technical expertise under pressure, we were able to deliver the solution on time and with high quality, earning praise from both internal leadership and the customer. What sets Sattan apart is his ability to stay composed under pressure, proactively anticipate challenges, and consistently drive results - even in the most demanding situations.

Mohamed Yusuf · Senior Software Engineer, Java Application Development · senior to Sattanaathan, did not manage directly via LinkedIn, Dec 2025

I have worked with Sattanaathan on functional safety projects at Qualcomm, where he was mentoring me for my new job, Sattanaathan is highly skilled in FMEA and FTA analysis, got to learn a lot about FUSA process and how to deliver FUSA work products efficiently with a 360deg review. He was very detailed oriented and knowledgeable in systems architecture for SoC that helped me get a lot of momentum in project execution.

Veeraja Sohoni · Functional Safety and Security at Qualcomm · worked with Sattanaathan on the same team via LinkedIn, Feb 2026

I had the pleasure of working with Sattanaathan at Alstom for over two years, where he quickly became one of the most reliable systems engineers on our team. From the beginning, he stood out for his structured thinking, strong ownership, and ability to break down complex problems into clear, actionable steps. In our projects together, Sattan consistently took responsibility end-to-end, from requirements and design discussions to validation and cross-team coordination. He was thorough in his technical work, but equally strong in communication: he could explain trade-offs to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders, which kept our projects moving smoothly. What I appreciated most was his collaborative mindset. It's no surprise to me that he has gone on to build PERUNTECH LLC and focus on AI-driven systems and software.

Chinmay Sahu, PhD · Senior Research Scientist at Thales · senior to Sattanaathan, did not manage directly via LinkedIn, Dec 2025

I worked closely with Sattanaathan during our time together at Alstom, where he served as a Systems Engineer and I was part of the Verification & Validation team. Our roles intersected constantly, and I had a front-row view of how he approached engineering problems with clarity, rigor, and strong ownership. One thing that consistently stood out was his ability to translate system-level requirements into designs that were not only technically sound but also testable and traceable — something every V&V engineer appreciates. He anticipated edge cases early, collaborated actively during test planning, and was always responsive when requirements or interfaces needed refinement. His attention to detail significantly reduced rework and helped keep our validation cycles smooth. His communication style created a productive bridge between design engineering and V&V.

Monah Pradeep I. · Advanced Lead Engineer, Controls Engineering at Wabtec · worked with Sattanaathan on different teams via LinkedIn, Dec 2025

A stack of 6 recommendations from LinkedIn. Click, swipe, scroll, or use the arrow keys to move through them. All 6 are readable in order whichever one is on top.

Hitesh Mangla on top

Contact

The best way to reach me is via LinkedIn.