Open to opportunities

Leslie Bell

@jarednala

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AI and cloud technology professional transitioning from aviation to technical roles.

South Africa

Message

What I'm looking for

I seek a hands-on AI/Cloud role building enterprise LLMOps and scalable ML solutions in a collaborative, growth-oriented company that values measurable impact and cross-cloud expertise.

I am an AI and Cloud Technology professional with 12+ years of operational excellence and hands-on experience in Generative AI, machine learning, and automated system development. I am Oracle Cloud Infrastructure certified and have delivered production deployments, predictive models, RAG-based conversational systems, and threat-intelligence solutions that improved accuracy and reduced costs.

Previously a Senior Cabin Crew Member and Learning & Development Specialist, I led safety operations for large passenger volumes, trained staff, and managed crisis communications while transitioning into AI/Cloud roles. I seek to apply cross-platform cloud and LLMOps expertise to build resilient, enterprise-scale AI solutions with measurable business impact.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Senior Cabin Crew Member

South African Airways

Jul 2008 - Aug 2020 (12 years 1 month)

Managed passenger safety and service operations for 150+ passengers per flight over a 12-year career, maintaining a 100% safety record and achieving 95% customer satisfaction across 18,000+ annual interactions.

Customer Service Crisis Management Training Development Incident Management

Learning and Development Specialist

South African Airways

Aug 2018 - Nov 2019 (1 year 3 months)

Designed and delivered training programs for 15+ staff that improved compliance scores and led cross-departmental crisis management during outages, maintaining stakeholder satisfaction above 90%.

Training Development Crisis Management Performance Coaching Process Optimization

AI/Cloud Technology Specialist

Independent Projects

Developed and deployed AI/cloud projects including a threat intelligence system (85% classification accuracy, 40% reduced detection time), telecom churn model (85% accuracy, $2M+ savings), and a RAG-based conversational assistant that automated 90% of queries.

Python Machine Learning RAG Vector Databases Model Fine Tuning

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

Rosebank College

Certificate, Technical Skills Enhancement

2003 - 2004

Activities and societies: Advanced Python Programming for Enterprise AI Applications; PyTorch and Scikit-Learn; Machine Learning Pipelines; Cross-Platform AI Agent Development

Completed a technical skills enhancement program focused on advanced Python programming and enterprise AI applications between February 2003 and November 2004.