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Jason Mashinchi

About

I’ve been building software for as long as I can remember. Today I help businesses use it to achieve more than they thought possible.

Jason Mashinchi

Most of that happens at Cambridge Kinetics, the company I founded in 2021. Every business I meet already has a way of working that gets the job done, usually spread across spreadsheets, whiteboards and a few people’s heads. Nearly all of them have more good ideas than time to act on them, and the right tools can win some of that time back.

So I start with the work and the people doing it. Sometimes a simpler process, or a tool they already have, is enough. Often it’s Kinabase, the platform we build, which brings jobs, data and workflows into one place, so the effort can go into the parts that give each business its edge.

AI has made all of this more exciting, and more urgent. It’s only as useful as the information behind it, so that comes first. Get it right, and AI can take repetitive work off people’s plates and leave them more time for what matters.

Beyond Cambridge Kinetics, I speak and join panels at business, chamber and industry events on where operations, software, cyber security and AI meet.

Board

Since April 2025 I’ve been on the board of Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, where I champion innovation and help the region’s businesses make practical use of technology and AI.

Views on this site are my own. I speak for the Chamber only when that’s explicitly stated.

He’s a highly respected figure in the tech industry, bringing both energy and a fresh perspective to everything he takes on. Jason represents the next generation of leadership in our region.

Faye HollandChair, Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce

How I got here

Starting early

My first real project came at 14, when I came up with and built the software for the Routes into Languages Foreign Language Spelling Bee, a national competition for 11 and 12-year-olds. It became the backbone of the competition: pupils practised on the website and apps, and teachers and organisers managed every school’s entries through its administration platform. By 2012, more than 26,000 pupils were using it.

Summer jobs followed: software for National Health Service (NHS) hospitals at L2S2, then five summers at Cambridge Software, developing business systems and helping launch its RealtimeCRM product.

Engineering and manufacturing

I took a first-class BSc/BEng in computer science at the University of York. My dissertation looked at making the trade-offs between software designs visible, and taught me how to present complex ideas and data in a simple, understandable form, drawing on software, data analysis, user experience and communication together. That work became a published paper with my supervisor Javier Cámara, which won the Best Tool Demo Award at the European Conference on Software Architecture in 2020.

After a software engineering placement at Philips Research, building healthcare apps, I joined Cambridge Design Partnership as a software engineer, working on embedded systems and medical devices. In 2018 I wrote an article on how machine learning could turn wearable sensor data into coaching insights, years before AI became an everyday business topic. I also saw how much time went into planning people and projects, so I built resource planning and operations software to help. It became part of how the company ran day to day, used by more than 150 colleagues.

Jason working at a laptop in the Jerwood Library at Trinity Hall, with King’s College Chapel in the distance
The Jerwood Library at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 2020–21.

A Cambridge Trust Scholarship took me to the Institute for Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge for a master’s degree, which I finished with distinction. Consulting projects took me onto the shop floor with manufacturers including Dufaylite, Prima Electronics and Swytch Bike. I also researched augmented reality for quality inspection with the Cyber-Human Lab.

Founding Cambridge Kinetics

In 2021 I founded Cambridge Kinetics to help businesses get a clearer view of their operations. We started out building bespoke software for clients, but project after project, the same operational problems sat underneath: jobs, data and workflows spread across spreadsheets and systems that didn’t talk to each other. Kinabase grew out of that, and it’s now the foundation of our work with clients.

Recognition

Awards to Cambridge Kinetics

Career

Education

  • 2020–2021Institute for Manufacturing, University of CambridgeMaster’s degree (MPhil) in Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management, distinctionTrinity Hall. Cambridge Trust Scholar.
  • 2015–2019University of YorkBSc/BEng in Computer Science, first-class honours

Roles

  • 2025–Cambridgeshire Chamber of CommerceBoard DirectorChampioning innovation and helping the region’s businesses make practical use of technology and AI.
  • 2021–Cambridge KineticsFounder & Managing DirectorImproving day-to-day work for businesses with Kinabase, using AI where it helps.
  • 2020–2021Institute for Manufacturing, University of CambridgeConsulting projects and augmented reality researchConsulting projects with Dufaylite, Prima Electronics, Swytch Bike and VetCollab; research into augmented reality for quality inspection with the Cyber-Human Lab.
  • 2017–2020Cambridge Design PartnershipSoftware EngineerEmbedded systems, medical device and factory-floor test software. Also built the resource planning and operations software used across the company by 150+ colleagues.
  • 2017Philips ResearchSoftware Engineer (placement)Built apps for people with mild cognitive impairment on the EU-funded ProACT project.

Where it started

  • Built and ran the Foreign Language Spelling Bee’s practice website, mobile apps and administration platform while still at school
  • Built software for NHS hospitals at L2S2, after work experience at 15
  • A summer at Cambridge Support, building software for managing IT infrastructure and cyber security, automated reporting and internal operations
  • Spent five summers at Cambridge Software, helping develop its business systems and launch its RealtimeCRM product