THIAGO CHARÃO
Director of Architecture

Porto, Portugal
thiago@charao.dev | linkedin.com/in/charao | charao.dev

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SUMMARY
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Technology & Architecture leader with 20+ years across software engineering, consulting, and architecture leadership. I build scalable platform and identity foundations and drive measurable delivery efficiency through engineering standards and AI enablement. Recently led AI adoption across ~300 engineers, delivering a proven ~20% uplift in engineering throughput productivity, and supported enterprise identity at 60K+ MAU scale (Auth0).

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KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
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- 20+ years in software engineering and architecture leadership
- ~300 engineers AI-enabled with ~20% measured productivity uplift
- 60K+ MAU identity platform consolidation (Auth0)
- 50+ architecture reviews and domain team designs chaired per year
- ~5 high-stakes strategic programs supported per year
- 62 stakeholders provided feedback with 65% citing strong execution

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CORE SKILLS
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Architecture Leadership, Technology Strategy, Platform Engineering, AI Enablement, Engineering Productivity, Identity/SSO (Auth0), Cloud (AWS), Kubernetes (EKS), Event-driven Architecture, API Design, Operating Models, Governance, Stakeholder Alignment, Engineering Standards, Quality Assurance

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EXPERIENCE
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DIRECTOR OF ARCHITECTURE
Planet, Porto, Portugal
April 2025 - Present

- Own architecture direction across platform, identity, and cross-cutting capabilities, aligning technical strategy with business outcomes
- Led engineering AI enablement across ~300 users, driving a measured ~20% throughput uplift through training, guardrails, and repeatable workflows
- Supported enterprise identity adoption and governance at 60K+ MAU scale (Auth0), improving standardisation and reducing delivery risk
- Lead architecture team, established decision-making forums and standards to improve interoperability, reduce duplicated work, and accelerate execution across teams

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGER
Planet, Porto, Portugal
April 2024 - April 2025

- Led strategic architecture initiatives aligning platform evolution with growth goals (scalability, resilience, security, delivery speed)
- Set clearer technical roadmaps and improved execution across teams through pragmatic prioritisation and stakeholder alignment
- Mentored engineers and architects; raised quality standards and accountability for outcomes

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Planet, Porto, Portugal
May 2021 - April 2024

- Built and evolved high-throughput APIs and event-driven services on AWS using Java/Spring and .NET
- Improved reliability through stronger observability practices (monitoring/alerting) and more resilient designs
- Automated CI/CD and containerised workloads to accelerate delivery and reduce operational friction

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Basecone, Porto, Portugal
March 2020 - May 2021

- Improved document-processing workflows for an accounting platform, increasing reliability and throughput (OCR-heavy pipelines)
- Built serverless back-end services with .NET + AWS (Lambda/API Gateway), reducing operational overhead and speeding delivery
- Delivered Python APIs/automation to reduce manual steps and improve engineering efficiency

LEAD TECHNICAL CONSULTANT
Farfetch, Porto, Portugal
December 2018 - March 2020

- Delivered and supported mission-critical logistics/shipping services and APIs in .NET Core
- Worked with data-heavy systems/technologies (incl. graph and distributed data stores) to enable routing and operational insights
- Acted as a delivery/technical leader in a cross-functional environment, improving execution and predictability

SENIOR DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
ThoughtWorks, Porto Alegre, Brazil
July 2017 - November 2018

- Contributed to large-scale retail initiatives (credit card + loyalty programs) in a highly collaborative, agile setup
- Worked closely with client stakeholders, translating needs into scalable solutions and ensuring delivery quality

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Azion Technologies, Porto Alegre, Brazil
June 2016 - July 2017

- Built and evolved platform capabilities in an R&D environment; developed REST APIs from scratch
- Worked primarily with Python/Django and API-first design principles

CO-FOUNDER & TECHNICAL CONSULTANT
Independent, Brazil / Ireland
August 2014 - June 2016

- Delivered web and mobile solutions for multiple clients as a hands-on consultant across the stack
- Built apps using Xamarin/C#, plus web platforms with C#, HTML, JS, CSS, Bootstrap, and Azure services

SENIOR CONSULTANT / TECHNICAL LEAD
CWI Software, Porto Alegre, Brazil
December 2007 - July 2014

- Technical lead across multiple client projects; owned design, delivery quality, and mentoring of new engineers
- Supported project initiation and pre-sales by acting as a technical reference for project managers
- Broad delivery across .NET (C#), Java, SQL Server, Oracle, and mobile (Objective-C / Xamarin)

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Drogaria Mais Econômica, Canoas, Brazil
April 2007 - December 2007

- Built a work-order system for retail maintenance teams; added reporting to improve operational decision-making
- Supported on-site technical operations (POS troubleshooting, local networks/servers)

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Grupo Telecon Sistemas, Canoas, Brazil
July 2005 - February 2007

- Contributed to POS solutions and databases for small retailers; supported reporting and data reliability

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EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS
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Technology Leadership Certificate
Cornell University
Focus: leading technical teams, influencing stakeholders, operating models, strategy & execution

Applied Mathematics (coursework)
UFRGS (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul)
2009-2010

Computer Science (coursework)
Unilasalle (Centro Universitário La Salle)
2011-2012

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCPS)
Software Development

Cambridge English
English proficiency certification

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LANGUAGES
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Portuguese (Native), English (Fluent), Italian (Elementary)

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Full metrics methodology: charao.dev/proof-method