AI · Data · Graph

Sydney, Australia — Solutions Engineering Leader

Emil
Pastor

I help enterprises move from AI experimentation to systems that hold up in production. Across AI, data, and graph, I bridge deep technical architecture with commercial rigour — building platforms designed to last, not just to demo.

AI Systems Data Architecture Graph Intelligence Scalable AI + Data Systems Value Engineering Enterprise and Public Sector
Emil Pastor
Emil Pastor
Applied AI and Data

At a Glance

15+
Years Enterprise Tech
ANZ
SE Leader, Neo4j
AI
Agentic + GenAI Systems
VE
AI + Data: Value Engineered

01 — About

Who I Am

Enterprise AI and data architecture leader based in Sydney. I architect production AI and data systems where reasoning, data, and decisions are traceable by design, enabling organisations to deploy AI with confidence and measurable commercial impact.

My career spans Teradata, EY, McKinsey/QuantumBlack, and Microsoft Azure, each chapter deepening a conviction that the right architecture changes everything. I currently lead Solutions Engineering at Neo4j ANZ, working with some of Australia's most complex data environments.

I focus on helping enterprises build AI systems, data platforms, and graph intelligence capabilities that are production-ready across financial services, government, and resource sectors — not just architecturally sound in theory, but operationally resilient in practice.

I write under the banner AI + Data: Value Engineered, exploring how rigorous value thinking should shape every AI and data architecture decision.

Core Expertise
Agentic AI GraphRAG LLM Systems Model Context Protocol Neo4j Knowledge Graphs Data Architecture Cloud Data Platforms Azure AWS GCP Solutions Architecture Snowflake Databricks Python Spark Value Engineering

02 — Ideas and Work

Built, Written, Spoken

Case Study

LoanGuard AI

A multi-agent GraphRAG compliance platform built on Neo4j and Claude. Graph-native audit trails, APRA regulatory data, and what vanilla RAG misses in production.

LoanGuard AI preview
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→ Case Study

Entity Risk AI

Agents don't break governance. They prove it was never there. A reference architecture for enforcing what AI can actually do at execution — not just what policy says it should.

Entity Risk AI preview
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→ Podcast

Degree vs AI Skills: A Filipino Tech Leader's Path From Manila to Australia

On navigating systems as an outsider, the value of curiosity over credentials, and what the Filipino tech diaspora can teach the industry about resilience.

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How to Stay Relevant When AI Can Do Your Job

What separates practitioners who thrive from those who get displaced — and why the answer isn't learning more tools.

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Graph Databases and AI: What Most Companies Still Don't Understand

Why graph is not a niche technology, what vanilla RAG misses, and how the right data model changes what AI can actually reason over.

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→ Medium

Part 1: How Solutions Engineering Changed the Way I Think About Customers, Tech, and Commercial Impact

What shifts when you stop being a builder and start being a bridge. How the SE role rewired my mental model of what good looks like in enterprise technology.

Part 1 thumbnail
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Part 2: From Demo to Deal — Turning Discovery Into Strategic Impact Through Value Engineering

Why the best SEs don't just run demos — they engineer the narrative. A practical framework for turning customer discovery into commercial momentum.

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Conference Talk
Connected Data Lakehouse: Neo4j and Databricks Reference Data Architecture

NODES2022 (APAC). A reference architecture demonstrating how Neo4j and Databricks combine connected data and big data to ingest, transform, and analyse a supply chain dataset, predicting delays and modelling the network as a graph. Co-presented with Ajmal Aziz.

↳ View slides (PDF)
NODES2022 talk preview
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03 — Experience

Career

2021 — Present

Solutions Engineering Leader, ANZ

Neo4j

Leading a regional SE team across enterprise, public sector, and commercial segments, translating AI, data, and graph capability into production-grade architecture for Australia and New Zealand's most complex data challenges.

2020 — 2021

Cloud Solutions Architect, Data and AI

Microsoft

Pre-sales architecture across Azure Data and AI for enterprise and public sector customers throughout APAC, acting as Territory CTO and CDO advisor.

2017 — 2020

Principal (Jr) Consultant

McKinsey and Company / QuantumBlack

Advanced analytics and data strategy for global clients in mining, telco, and media, delivering production ML systems with measurable commercial impact.

2016 — 2017

Senior Consultant

Ernst and Young

Enterprise data integration and entity resolution for financial services M&A programs, advising on governance-driven architecture and regulatory readiness.

2011 — 2016

Professional Services Consultant

Teradata

Enterprise data modelling and analytics platform delivery across banking, telco, transport, and retail clients throughout APAC.

04 — Speaking and Advisory

Talks, Lectures and Community

Conference Speaking
  • Gartner Data and Analytics Summit
  • NODES (Neo4j Online Developer Expo and Summit)
  • Graph Summit ANZ
  • ANZ Data Engineering Meetups
  • Open Data Science Conference
  • Digital Banking Asia
  • Azure Community Events
Guest Lectures
  • University of Sydney
  • Macquarie University
  • University of New South Wales
  • Asian Institute of Management
Community
  • Organiser, ANZ Graph Database Meetups
Advisory
  • Technology Advisor, Cherry Recommends

05 — Contact

Get in Touch

Let's build something real.

If you're working on an AI, data, or graph problem in financial services, government, telco, digital native or any enterprise environment, I'd like to hear from you.

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/emillaurencepastor GitHub github.com/emillaurence Medium medium.com/@emilpastor Substack AI + Data: Value Engineered