Melkon Hovhannisyan is a Barcelona-based CTO and technical co-founder. He has spent 7+ years building production systems, most of them in fintech: core backend at Bridgewise, an AI financial intelligence platform that raised $45M, and finance automation at Datarails, the FinanceOS platform that raised $175M. He co-founded Direlli and grew it to 20+ engineers, and today he builds and operates AI-native businesses end to end. Former Forbes Technology Council member, WorldSkills Champion, AWS Certified Solutions Architect.
Melkon Hovhannisyan builds AI systems, backend architecture and technical teams. Most of his production work has been in fintech and finance automation, with cybersecurity, marketplaces and operations software around it.
He was a core backend engineer at Bridgewise, an AI financial intelligence platform that raised $45M, where he cut cloud infrastructure cost by 75%, and a senior backend and AI engineer at Datarails, the FinanceOS platform for finance teams that raised $175M. Earlier he built security infrastructure at Zerocopter and logistics automation at DHL.
As Co-founder & CTO of Direlli he grew the engineering team to 20+ and shipped the company's own staffing platform. He now applies the same approach to businesses run by AI agents, with a human approving anything that touches money; Plain Freight is the live example.
His AI work is practical: LLM integrations, agent workflows, retrieval and automation pipelines that run in production. Former Forbes Technology Council member and WorldSkills Champion.
Melkon is based in Barcelona, Spain. Melkon.Tech gives founders, teams, journalists, and event organizers a clear view of his work, writing, recognition, and contact paths.
He founded and operates Plain Freight, a small-freight agency run by AI agents, with a human approving anything that touches money.
Melkon partners with founders, operators and investors who want a technical co-founder who has built the company side as well as the code.
Equity partner on an AI-native product: fintech, finance operations, B2B SaaS, or an operations-heavy service that AI agents can run. He builds the product, runs the engineering and owns the cost and reliability numbers.
For a funded company that needs senior technical leadership without a full-time hire: architecture, AI integration, technical due diligence, hiring the first engineers.
For an existing business that wants a process turned into software or into an AI-operated workflow, delivered and maintained, not prototyped.
What you get: 7+ years inside funded fintech platforms, a company co-founded and scaled to 20+ engineers, and a live AI-operated business he runs himself.
Write to hello@melkon.tech with what you are building. Or connect on LinkedIn.
Melkon.Tech goes beyond a short bio. It explains what Melkon builds, where he has worked, and how he runs software projects. The pattern is simple: clear product thinking, reliable engineering, and AI only where it adds value.
Melkon helps teams turn AI experiments into workflows they can trust.
A good AI product still needs dependable systems underneath it.
Melkon works where product choices and engineering choices meet.
For founders, hiring teams, and investors, Melkon reviews what decides whether a plan ships.
Every field Melkon works in has its own hard requirement:
So the work starts with the business process, not the tech label. The system must fit the users, the data, the approvals, and the real cost.
Many projects stall between a good demo and a daily product. The real version needs auth, permissions, analytics, monitoring, error handling, and reliable deployment. That middle ground is where Melkon is strongest.
For AI projects, the useful questions are specific:
Those answers shape the system more than the model name does.
For backend work, the goal is reliability without extra process. Melkon can:
He can join as a senior builder, technical lead, CTO advisor, architecture reviewer, or automation partner. The goal is simple: working software, better decisions, and a system that is easier to run. Typical outcomes:
His background in WorldSkills, Forbes Technology Council, and startups helps visitors verify the context. The pattern is simple: learn the domain, reduce guesswork, choose a reliable design, and keep business impact visible.
Melkon Hovhannisyan has worked on AI, fintech, cybersecurity, e-commerce, logistics, and platform projects.
Core backend contributor at an AI-powered financial intelligence platform that raised $45M. Worked on infrastructure, reliability, and cost-conscious systems for high-volume financial workflows.
Backend and AI engineering for a finance automation platform that raised $175M. Contributed to platform components and AI-powered workflows used by finance teams.
Software engineering experience connected to one of the world's largest community platforms, with work around reliability, performance, and AI-driven product capabilities.
Built microservices, security infrastructure, and deployment workflows for Europe's first hacker-powered security marketplace.
Automated CRM and logistics workflows, improving internal operations through integrations, data flow, and process automation.
Developed e-commerce features, CMS integrations, and enterprise systems for global retail and software brands.
Melkon has 7+ years of experience, most of it in fintech and finance automation, with cybersecurity, logistics and e-commerce around it. He builds products where reliability, cost and business impact matter.
He is Co-founder & CTO of Direlli, a former Forbes Technology Council member, and a WorldSkills Web Technologies Champion.
His core tools include Python, FastAPI, Django, AWS, Kubernetes, LLMs, PostgreSQL, Docker, React, and TypeScript. His main focus is backend architecture, cloud infrastructure, and applied AI.
Melkon is a WorldSkills Web Technologies Champion. He represented Armenia in Web Technologies at WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition.
He later served as WorldSkills Champions Trust Representative for Asia (2023-2024).
He is a former Forbes Technology Council member. His articles cover cloud engineering, ML security, startup strategy, retail technology, local production, and project management.
As an AWS Certified Solutions Architect and Cisco Cybersecurity specialist, Melkon holds industry certifications that back his hands-on expertise in cloud infrastructure and security.
Melkon shares engineering notes, open-source work, startup updates, and ideas on AI and backend systems.
For background, open-source work, press links, or a project conversation, start below.
Practical articles by Melkon on AI, cloud cost, backend systems, developer workflows, and Forbes topics.
Notes from Melkon's WorldSkills Conference 2024 panel on TVET, skills competitions, apprenticeships, and industry partnerships.
Featured articles, press links, and recognition from WorldSkills, Forbes, and the tech community.
Use this form to get in touch, or connect on social media. I usually reply Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 20:00 Barcelona time.
