About -

Dr Jas Powell

Who I Am

I’m Dr Jas Powell — Tech Co-Founder & CTO of SafeNav, hands-on engineer, and team builder based in Larnaca, Cyprus. I’ve worked mostly at startups, had two successful exits, and I’ve spent my career straddling the line between leadership and the terminal.

I started as an electronics apprentice at MBDA at sixteen, went on to study Electronic Engineering at the University of Sheffield — MEng with a thesis on genetic algorithms for automatic circuit design, then a PhD in nanostructure physics modelling III-V semiconductors. I’ve published in Physical Review B, Carbon, and the Journal of Applied Physics, among others.

Through my consultancy Andle Engineering, I’ve taken on remote CTO and Head of Engineering roles with startup teams across San Francisco, Milan, and Cyprus. Two CTO roles, two Head of Engineering roles, and plenty of times as an individual contributor — often all at once.

My current focus is SafeNav, where I’m Tech Co-Founder and CTO. We’re building maritime autonomy systems under the EU Horizon Europe programme — keeping vessels safe in complex waterways. Real-time, safety-critical, and genuinely fascinating work.

What I Do

I build engineering teams and I build software. Sometimes at the same time.

My technical depth runs through C/C++, Python, PostgreSQL, and AWS — from bare-metal embedded systems and cryptography to cloud-scale backends and network architecture. I’m equally comfortable in a C-suite strategy conversation and a two-hour debugging session at 11pm.

I also bring experience in cybersecurity, OS hardening, networking protocol design, and embedded OS customisation (Yocto, Debian, Raspberry Pi). The kind of work where you need to care about every byte.

I write here about the things I’m working on, the problems I’m solving, and the opinions I’ve formed along the way. Expect technical deep-dives, leadership takes, and the occasional tangent.

Based in Cyprus

I’ve been in Larnaca since 2009 — first running a university computer science department, then moving into financial software engineering, and eventually into the startup world full-time. I’m connected to the local tech community and involved, where time permits, in bi-communal and human rights work on the island.

Get in Touch

I’m available for remote CTO engagements and contract engineering work. If you’ve got an interesting problem, I’d like to hear about it.