Working Hard

Paulo Ortolan Senior Software Engineer & Architect

20+ years building distributed systems, microservices, and cloud infrastructure. Currently engineering large-scale backend solutions at Mercadona, with deep roots in automotive, finance, and government sectors.

20+ years_exp
4 companies
3 countries
2× certified
paulo.profile.json
// $ cat paulo.profile.json
{
  "name": "Paulo Ortolan",
  "location": "Vila Nova de Gaia, PT",
  "current": "Mercadona",
  "role": "Software Developer",
  "experience": 20,
  "languages": [
    "Java", "Dart", "TypeScript"
  ],
  "domains": [
    "Distributed Systems",
    "Cloud Architecture",
    "AI Integration",
    "Autonomous Driving"
  ],
  "open_to_work": maybe
}
$

Who I Am

Brazilian engineer based in Portugal, building systems at scale.

I'm a software engineer with over two decades of experience across government, automotive, financial, and retail sectors. My craft is designing and building robust distributed systems — from batch processing pipelines to real-time event-driven architectures with Kafka and Kubernetes.

At Critical Techworks, I worked on safety-critical systems for BMW's autonomous driving programme, building infrastructure to detect and predict road hazards using geospatial algorithms. At SERPRO — Brazil's largest federal IT company — I led teams, architected integration frameworks, and delivered software for the Brazilian government for 8 years.

Today at Mercadona, I design microservices in Java 21 with Kafka and Kubernetes to distribute critical operational data across Spain's largest supermarket chain in real time.

Outside of code, I gave a conference talk at TDC 2017 titled "Learning Java 8 Lambdas with Star Wars", attended JNation 2025 in Coimbra, and am actively exploring AI-guided development with Spring AI and emerging blockchain technologies.

whoami.sh
$ whoami --verbose

# Languages spoken
native: Portuguese
fluent: English (C1)
basic: Spanish (A2)

# Roles held
dev: Senior Engineer
arch: Software Architect
lead: Tech Team Leader
scrum: SCRUM Master
devops: AWS + Terraform

# Visa status
work_permit: Portugal ✓ 2029
$

Skills & Technologies

Grouped by domain — not an icon wall.

Backend
Java 21+ Spring Boot Spring Batch Spring AI Quarkus REST APIs GraphQL
Frontend & Mobile
Angular Flutter Dart TypeScript RxJS HTML5/CSS3
Cloud & Infra
AWS Kubernetes Kafka Docker Terraform Ansible Jenkins CI
Databases
PostgreSQL Oracle DynamoDB AWS RDS PL/SQL
Testing & QA
JUnit Mockito Cucumber Gherkin Gatling Jest TDD/BDD
Architecture
Microservices Event-Driven Domain-Driven UML SCRUM Team Leadership

Career Timeline

20+ years across supermarket, automotive, finance, and government.

Oct 2024 → Present
Mercadona
Software Developer
// Supermarket · Porto, Portugal

Designing distributed microservices that deliver real-time information to stores, cashiers, and opening management systems across Spain's largest supermarket chain.

  • Event-driven architecture with Apache Kafka for high-throughput store data distribution
  • Java 21 microservices with Spring Boot deployed on Kubernetes
  • Batch processing pipelines using Spring Batch for store operational data
  • Active roles as Analyst, Architect, and Senior Programmer
Java 21 Spring Boot Spring Batch Kafka Kubernetes PostgreSQL
Nov 2019 → Aug 2024
Critical Techworks
Rockstar Developer
// Automotive (BMW) · Porto, Portugal

Full-stack and DevOps engineer on BMW's autonomous driving and connected-vehicles platform — from geospatial hazard detection to real-time map delivery and cloud infrastructure.

  • Built a pothole detection & prediction system using GeoHash + HERE Maps for BMW's autonomous soft-stop feature
  • Backend services for real-time map updates pushed continuously to the BMW fleet
  • Cross-platform Flutter application (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS)
  • AWS infrastructure with Terraform — VPC, EC2, ECS, Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway
  • Angular stakeholder portal to enable and manage autonomous driving features
Java Quarkus Angular Flutter AWS Terraform k8s
Jan 2019 → May 2019
eProseed
Senior Consultant
// Financial · Porto, Portugal

Worked on the FSIP project for Portuguese banking system supervision — building a Universal Storage component as a generic XML data layer bridging heterogeneous BPM implementations.

  • Universal Storage component — generic XML bridge between diverse BPM systems
  • Oracle WebLogic 12c configuration, management, and application deployment
  • Defined standards and code examples for the Centre of Competence
Java 8 Oracle DB WebLogic 12c BDD/Gherkin
Nov 2010 → Dec 2018
SERPRO
Software Analyst
// Brazilian Federal Government · São Paulo, Brazil

8 years at Brazil's largest federal IT company. Wore many hats — developer, architect, team leader, SCRUM master, and configuration manager on large-scale public-sector systems.

  • Led a 5-person multidisciplinary team as Tech Lead (2017–2018) in a SCRUM environment
  • Architected a custom batch-processing framework built on top of Spring Batch
  • 5 years as Software Configuration Manager (CVS, ALM, Maven, Git)
  • SCRUM Master on medium-scale government projects
  • Delivered web, batch, web-service, and backend use cases in JSF, Spring, and Angular
Java 6–8 Spring Boot Angular Oracle Docker Jenkins CI

Notable Work

Projects that required creative engineering under real-world constraints.

🚗
BMW Pothole Prediction System

Real-time geospatial hazard detection for BMW's autonomous driving soft-stop feature. Combined GeoHash indexing with HERE Maps API to predict road hazards ahead of time, allowing vehicles to prepare before impact.

Java GeoHash HERE Maps API AWS Lambda
🗺️
Real-Time Map Update Service

High-availability backend services delivering continuous live map updates to connected BMW vehicles. Event-driven architecture processing geospatial data streams and pushing updates to the entire BMW fleet with low latency.

Quarkus AWS Kafka DynamoDB
🏪
Mercadona Store Distribution System

Distributed microservices delivering operational store data (cashier systems, opening info) to all Mercadona locations across Spain. Engineered for reliability, low-latency delivery, and continuous operation at supermarket scale.

Java 21 Kafka Kubernetes PostgreSQL
🏦
FSIP Universal Storage

Generic XML data layer for the Portuguese Banking Supervision System (FSIP). Acted as a universal bridge between heterogeneous BPM implementations, enabling seamless structured data exchange across the financial supervision platform.

Java EE Oracle WebLogic XML/SOAP
📱
Cross-Platform BMW Fleet App

Multi-platform Flutter application targeting Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS simultaneously. Part of BMW's connected vehicle ecosystem, enabling stakeholders to monitor vehicle data and manage autonomous driving feature flags.

Flutter Dart AWS Cross-Platform
Star Lambda Wars (Talk + OSS)

Conference lecture at TDC 2017 teaching Java 8 Lambda expressions through Star Wars examples. Open-source on GitHub — combines functional programming education with pop culture for a memorable, approachable learning experience.

Java 8 Lambdas Open Source TDC 2017

Education & Certs

Formal training and professional qualifications.

2012 – 2013
Specialist in Software Architecture
SENAC Campus Santo Amaro · São Paulo, Brazil
Software Architecture Agile Methods SOA
2000 – 2004
Bachelor in System Analysis
FATEC Americana · São Paulo, Brazil
OOP Databases Software Engineering
Sun Certified Java Programmer
Sun Microsystems · SCJP 1.4 · September 2005
⛓️
Certified Solidity Developer
Blockchain Council · April 2025
🎤
Speaker — The Developers Conference
TDC 2016 · TDC 2017 · TDC 2018 · Java Track
JNation 2025 Attendee
Java Conference · Coimbra, Portugal

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Open to senior engineering roles, architecture consulting, and challenging distributed systems problems.

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