Daraka joined QCIF in 2024 as a Software Developer, bringing over seven years of experience in full-stack development and digital research infrastructure. Before joining QCIF, he worked as a Senior Software Engineer and Technical Lead at leading technology companies, where he delivered secure, large-scale applications and introduced innovative software architectures that significantly improved performance, scalability, and reliability.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Daraka has deep expertise in Java, Go, Python, and JavaScript, alongside frameworks such as React and Angular. He is highly skilled in building microservices-based APIs, containerised applications, and deploying applications on cloud platforms. His experience extends to designing resilient databases and developing CI/CD pipelines to automate testing and deployment.

At QCIF, Daraka is the lead developer behind the Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs), creating cloud-based platforms for storing, processing, and analysing wildlife camera-trap data. He is passionate about using technology to support biodiversity research, with a particular focus on developing secure, user-friendly tools, maintaining infrastructure capable of handling millions of images, and applying AI/ML methods to ecological data analysis.

Outside of work, Daraka enjoys photography and spending time on the cricket field.