Branimir Antičević

About

I didn't start my career in software. After years in journalism, digital marketing, and customer-facing roles, I taught myself Python, agentic workflows, LLM systems, real-time integrations, and production AI development while working full-time. That journey led to Profesor Abelton — a commercially launched AI copilot for Ableton Live that I designed and built from scratch, combining a custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) with 35 schema-validated tools, a dual-LLM architecture (Claude + Groq), real-time session awareness, production security controls, licensing infrastructure, and automated onboarding. Today I build practical AI systems that solve real problems through agentic workflows, tool-calling, and software integration.

Career

  1. Jul 2025 — Present

    Independent AI & Automation Developer · Self-employed (Freelance)

    Design and ship production-grade AI products end to end — from concept and architecture to deployment, licensing, and onboarding.

    • Designed and commercially launched production AI products from concept to deployment.
    • Built agentic systems using LLM APIs, custom MCP architectures, tool-calling, and real-time integrations.
    • Developed complete licensing, deployment, onboarding, and security infrastructure for desktop AI apps.
    • Expanding MCP-based architectures into additional software and hardware domains.
    PythonClaude APIGroqMCPFastAPIWebSocketsPyInstaller

  2. Nov 2022 — Jul 2025

    Full-time Employment (self-directed AI transition) · McDonald's

    Taught myself Python, agentic systems, and production AI development while working a full-time customer-facing role.

    • Self-taught Python, LLM systems, and agentic workflows while working full-time.
    • Built first real AI products during this period, transitioning into software development.
    • Held a full-time customer-facing role; later designed an AI onboarding assistant concept grounded in that real operational experience.
    PythonSelf-directed learning

  3. Aug 2017 — May 2022

    Digital Marketing · Mikologika

    Planning and execution of digital marketing activities for a mushroom-cultivation business.

    • Owned digital marketing planning and execution.
    • Customer-facing and commercial experience that later informed product thinking.
    Digital marketingContent

  4. 2004 — 2016

    Journalist / Editor · Advance.hr, Vjesnik, Radio 101, net.hr, Z1, Javno.hr, Večernji list

    Long career in Croatian media as a journalist and editor across print, radio, TV, and online outlets.

    • Reported and edited across multiple major Croatian media organizations.
    • Strong communication, research, and storytelling foundation now applied to AI products.
    JournalismEditingResearch

Skills

AI & LLM Systems

Model Context Protocol (MCP)Tool / Function CallingAgentic WorkflowsRAG & EmbeddingsClaude APIGroq APIOpenAI APIxAI Grok APIStructured OutputsPrompt EngineeringSession State Management

Languages

PythonC#JavaScript / TypeScriptNode.jsRust

Software Engineering

Async PythonWebSocketsREST APIsFastAPIReal-Time IntegrationsNext.jsPyInstallerDesktop App Development

Security & Production

Fernet EncryptionCommand AllowlistingParameter ValidationLicense SystemsStatic Analysis (Bandit)Secure Local Deployments

Education

1998 — 2011

Master of Journalism

Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb

2022 — Present

Self-Directed Education — AI Engineering, Agentic Systems, Software Development

Independent study while working full-time

Taught myself Python, LLM systems, agentic workflows, and production AI development, culminating in a commercially launched product.

Languages

CroatianNative
EnglishC1 — Professional Working Proficiency
connect@branx.dev