Open to opportunities

Rafael Almeida

@rhenriquea

Message

I build reliable AWS platforms with IaC and CI/CD, improving release safety end-to-end.

Brazil

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a team where I can own reliability end-to-end—IaC, CI/CD, and observability. I want modern AWS/Kubernetes environments, strong quality gates, and collaboration across squads to turn strategy into dependable delivery.

I’m a Senior DevOps engineer with 10+ years building, automating, and operating cloud infrastructure for large European enterprises (Essent, Volkswagen Pon, KLM, Jumbo). I’m known for owning reliability end-to-end—from IaC and pipelines to observability and incident response.

In my current role, I own AWS infrastructure-as-code using AWS CDK (TypeScript) and Terraform, automating provisioning and multi-environment deployments for reliable, repeatable releases. I built and maintain GitLab CI pipelines with dedicated lanes for security scanning, automated testing, reporting, build, and deploy, enforcing quality gates before every production release.

I also specialize in cross-account data and platform automation, including DynamoDB cross-account data migrations with IAM trust policies, cutover strategy, and data integrity validation. I integrate Sentry for error tracking and alerting, streamline developer workflows with Bash automation against the AWS SDK, and drive cross-squad testing standards through Definition of Done.

Earlier work strengthened my platform and delivery focus: operating Kubernetes production services with canary and blue/green deployments, managing edge delivery and caching via Akamai CDN, and mentoring teams through pair programming and code reviews. Across all roles, I translate business goals into architecture using Spec-Driven Development, event modeling practices, and SAFe/Scrum execution.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Senior Cloud / DevOps Engineer

Current

Essent

Jan 2025 - Present (1 year 4 months)

Owned AWS infrastructure-as-code using AWS CDK (TypeScript) and Terraform, automating provisioning and multi-environment deployments for reliable, repeatable production releases. Built GitLab CI pipelines with dedicated quality lanes and executed cross-account DynamoDB migrations, improving incident response and root-cause analysis via Sentry.

AWS CDK Terraform Gitlab CI DynamoDB IAM Trust Policies AWS Lambda AWS Parameter Store Sentry Incident Response

Current

Independent Platform Engineer

Current

WebCraft Innovations

Jan 2022 - Present (4 years 4 months)

Architected and operated We Are Friends on AWS (S3 + CloudFront, Lambda backend, Cognito authentication) as sole technical owner for the full delivery lifecycle, including releases, monitoring, and incident response. Designed Supabase PostgreSQL CMS schemas with row-level security, role-based access, and domain-specific SQL functions.

AWS S3 Cloudfront AWS Lambda Amazon Cognito Supabase CI CD Monitoring Incident Response

Senior Cloud Engineer

Volkswagen Pon Financial Services

Aug 2023 - Jan 2025 (1 year 5 months)

Owned Terraform and AWS CDK (TypeScript) infrastructure-as-code for multi-affiliate deployments and operated AppSync GraphQL services backed by Lambda, DynamoDB, and S3. Led cross-account DynamoDB data migrations with IAM configuration and validation, and added Jest-driven regression test suites into CI/CD for critical financial flows.

Terraform AWS CDK AWS AppSync AWS Lambda DynamoDB GraphQL S3 IAM Jest CI CD

Senior Software Engineer (Team Lead)

Formula.Monks

Jul 2022 - Jun 2024 (1 year 11 months)

Shipped an AI-powered customer chat feature using Vertex AI with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), grounded in the client’s knowledge base. Replaced a third-party vendor dependency via direct integration, eliminating roughly $10K/year in recurring costs, and mentored engineers through pair programming and code reviews.

Vertex AI Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)BigQuery Cloud Storage AutoML Cost Optimization Mentoring Code Review

Platform / Solutions Engineer

Jumbo Supermarkten

Oct 2019 - Jul 2022 (2 years 9 months)

Operated production Kubernetes services and rolled out changes safely using canary releases and blue/green deployments for high-traffic e-commerce flows. Managed edge delivery with Akamai CDN, migrated a legacy monolith to microservices with an SSR Nuxt frontend and GraphQL gateway, and led the Refund Project across multiple services and teams.

Kubernetes Canary Releases Blue Green Deployment Akamai CDN Datadog Microservices Technical Leadership

Senior Frontend Engineer

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Oct 2018 - Oct 2019 (1 year)

Developed an Angular + GraphQL application for the Sales team in a Scrum setup with six engineers, driving adoption of the internal Design System. Configured NGINX routing and reverse-proxying for frontend traffic and monitored stability through Grafana dashboards.