Senior Full-Stack Engineer and Game Developer

Ricardo Zanardo Junior

I design, build, and scale distributed systems and cloud-native platforms. Over the last 15+ years I’ve led the modernization of legacy systems, built microservices and event-driven architectures, and, in recent years, have been equally focused on modern frontend engineering and game development with React, TypeScript, and my studio work at Zanardo Forge — delivering products end to end.

Strong foundations in backend architecture: Java/Kotlin, Spring Boot, Node.js, distributed systems.
Deep experience with React + TypeScript building internal tools, dashboards and workflow UIs.
Microservices, CQRS & event-driven systems.
Founder of Zanardo Forge Studio, building original game projects.
AWS & Azure, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD and observability.

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Snapshot

Location: Campinas, Brazil · Open to remote opportunities.

Focus: Full-stack engineering, backend architecture, modern frontend, and game development.

Recent roles: Backend Architect at Utility, Senior Engineer at X-Team / Riot Games, Ci&T.

Values: ownership, reliability, pragmatic architecture, mentorship.

Background

About me

I’m a Senior Full-Stack Engineer and game developer with over 15 years of experience building distributed systems, microservices, cloud-native platforms, and digital products.

My career started with a strong focus on backend architecture — Java/Kotlin, Spring Boot, Node.js, high-throughput pipelines and large-scale systems in production.

In the last years, I’ve also been deeply focused on modern frontend engineering and game development, building robust React + TypeScript applications, internal tools, dashboards, workflow UIs and complex client-facing features used daily by engineering, product and localization teams.

Today I work comfortably across the full stack, designing systems end-to-end, implementing backend and frontend with equal confidence, and ensuring reliability, usability and long-term maintainability. Alongside consulting and product engineering, I am also building games through Zanardo Forge Studio.

Key strengths

Designing and evolving microservice and event-driven architectures.
Bridging backend and frontend to deliver complete, user-facing solutions.
Moving legacy systems toward modern, cloud-native setups.
Owning observability, incident reduction and reliability.
Mentoring engineers and improving team practices and delivery.

Languages

Portuguese: Native
English: Advanced / Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate

Career

Experience

Backend Architect

Utility · Remote

Feb 2026 – Present

Designed the backend architecture for a fintech platform focused on creator contracts, onboarding, payouts, and social-media verification.
Led backend development across contract parsing, manual review, payout selection, invoice, and deliverable-verification flows with clear API contracts and operational visibility.
Integrated Plaid, Meta/Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LendAPI, Embarc, AWS, and internal payment workflows.
Worked closely with stakeholders, product management, and integration partners to translate business rules into reliable backend systems.
Improved reliability around third-party integrations, status transitions, validation rules, observability, and production debugging.

Tech: Backend architecture, API design, fintech workflows, Plaid, Meta/Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LendAPI, Embarc, AWS, payment integrations, observability

Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer

X-Team / Riot Games · Remote

Jan 2022 – Present

Designed and maintained localization microservices supporting all Riot titles, using Java 17/21, Spring Boot, Node.js and event-driven workflows (Kafka/SQS).
Reduced localization turnaround time by 30% and improved uptime during peak release cycles.
Architected AWS infrastructure (EKS, Lambda, API Gateway) with Terraform/Terragrunt, implementing blue/green deployments and zero-downtime rollouts.
Led observability initiatives with Datadog and SonarCloud, cutting incident detection time by 50% and reducing critical incidents by 40%.
Built React/TypeScript-based internal tools to streamline localization workflows for global teams.

Tech: Java, Spring Boot, Node.js, TypeScript, React, Kafka, AWS (EKS, Lambda, API GW), Terraform, Datadog, SonarCloud

Senior Full-Stack Engineer / Tech Lead

Ci&T · Brazil / Remote

Dec 2020 – Apr 2024

Led development of scalable microservices (Java 17, Spring Boot) backed by MongoDB and Redis.
Introduced Kafka/RabbitMQ to decouple workloads, reducing processing time for critical workflows by 25%.
Designed and optimized data-integration pipelines across multiple ERP providers, reducing sync errors by 40%.
Managed Azure DevOps pipelines and AKS blue/green deployments, cutting release lead time by 50%.
Built and maintained React/Next.js frontends for internal tools and client-facing dashboards.

Tech: Java, Spring Boot, React, Next.js, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Azure (AKS, API Management), Azure DevOps, New Relic

Senior Software Developer

Kaffa Mobile · Brazil

Aug 2017 – Dec 2020

Engineered microservices in Java/Kotlin to ingest and normalize GIS/Smallworld datasets (5–10M+ records nightly).
Built high-throughput ETL pipelines in Node.js/TypeScript, reducing sync errors by 25% and accelerating data refresh cycles by 40%.
Developed React dashboards for electrical network visualization, increasing user adoption by 20%.
Raised automated test coverage from ~50% to ~85% and revamped GitLab CI/CD pipelines.

Tech: Java, Kotlin, Node.js, TypeScript, React, Spring Boot, GIS/Smallworld, SAP, GitLab CI/CD, Redis

Software Development Specialist

Daitan Group · Brazil

Nov 2016 – Aug 2017

Improved internal operational and financial systems built with Java and Ruby on Rails.
Developed React components for internal dashboards, improving usability and reducing support tickets.
Integrated backend services with Microsiga and SAP to automate invoicing and planning workflows.

Tech: Java, Ruby on Rails, React, REST APIs, SAP, Microsiga

Java EE Developer

Vector Informática · Brazil

Jun 2014 – Nov 2016

Maintained Java-based hospital management system, optimizing SQL routines to improve performance by over 30%.
Built RESTful services and integration frameworks reducing sync failures by 40%.
Integrated PayPal REST API for secure online billing, increasing online payment adoption.

Tech: Java EE, Hibernate, REST, Oracle, SQL optimization, PayPal REST API

Delphi Developer & Junior Systems Analyst

Earlier roles · Brazil

2011 – 2014

Developed and maintained Delphi-based systems with Oracle, Firebird, Informix and SQL Server backends.
Implemented integrations and internal tools that reduced manual processes and improved data accuracy.

Tech: Delphi, Oracle, Firebird, SQL Server, DataSnap, HTML reporting

Stack

Skills & technologies

Backend & Languages

Java (7–21), Kotlin
Spring Boot, Quarkus, Micronaut
Node.js, TypeScript, Express
Python (Django, Flask)

Frontend

React, Next.js
TypeScript, modern React patterns
UI for internal tools & dashboards
Form handling, state management, basic performance tuning

Architecture & Patterns

Microservices, distributed systems
CQRS, event-driven architectures
Domain modeling, API design
C4/UML, system decomposition

Cloud, DevOps & Observability

AWS: EKS, Lambda, RDS, API Gateway, S3, CloudWatch
Azure: AKS, API Management, Functions, Front Door
Docker, Kubernetes, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins
PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, RabbitMQ
Datadog, New Relic, SonarCloud

New venture

Zanardo Forge Studio

zanardoforge.studio

I now also operate as a game developer through Zanardo Forge Studio.

This studio gives a clearer home to the game side of my work: designing, building, and shipping original interactive projects with the same engineering rigor I apply to backend and full-stack systems.

Visit zanardoforge.studio

What it is

An independent studio brand for my game development work, experiments, and future releases.

What I bring

Product thinking, systems design, full-stack execution, and a pragmatic approach to turning ideas into playable experiences.

Why it matters here

It expands my profile beyond software consulting: I am not only a senior engineer, but also someone building original products as a founder and game developer.

Validation

Certifications

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Amazon Web Services — Certified

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

Amazon Web Services — In progress

Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 17 Developer (1Z0-830)

Oracle — In progress

Mindset

Engineering principles

Design for reliability, not complexity

Systems should be boring in production. I favor simple architectures, explicit trade-offs, strong observability, and predictable failure modes over clever or over-engineered solutions.

Own the full lifecycle

Writing code is only part of the job. I take responsibility for design, implementation, testing, deployment, monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement.

Architecture is about trade-offs

There’s no perfect architecture — only context-aware decisions. I focus on understanding constraints, team maturity, scale, and long-term cost before choosing patterns or tools.

Backend depth + frontend clarity

Strong backend foundations matter, but great products also require clear, usable interfaces. I aim to bridge backend architecture and frontend UX to deliver complete, end-to-end solutions.

Measure before optimizing

I rely on metrics, logs, traces and real usage data to guide decisions. Performance, scalability and reliability improvements should be driven by evidence, not assumptions.

Practice

Selected case studies

Localization at scale — Riot Games

Context: Riot Games operates multiple live game titles with frequent releases across many regions.

The problem: Localization workflows were tightly coupled and hard to scale during peak releases.

Key decision: We adopted an event-driven model to decouple services and absorb traffic spikes.

What I owned: Service boundaries, event contracts, observability standards, and internal tooling.

Outcome: ~30% faster turnaround and ~40% fewer production incidents.

ERP integrations — Ci&T

Context: Enterprise clients relied on multiple ERP systems with complex integrations.

The problem: Synchronous workflows caused bottlenecks and amplified failures.

Key decision: Introduced asynchronous, event-driven processing.

What I owned: Architectural redesign, migration strategy, and observability.

Outcome: ~25% faster processing and ~40% fewer integration errors.

High-volume ETL pipelines — Kaffa Mobile

Context: Utility data pipelines processed millions of records nightly.

The problem: Pipelines were fragile and difficult to debug.

Key decision: Redesigned pipelines with smaller, resilient processing stages.

What I owned: Pipeline design, validation strategies, and monitoring dashboards.

Outcome: ~40% faster refresh cycles and ~25% fewer sync errors.

Impact

Selected highlights

Riot Games

Localization at scale

Redesigned localization services and internal tools used by multiple game teams, cutting turnaround time by 30% and reducing critical incidents by 40%.

Ci&T

Microservices & ERP integrations

Led the migration of core workflows to microservices backed by Kafka/RabbitMQ, reducing processing time by 25% and integration errors by 40%.

Kaffa Mobile

High-volume ETL for utilities

Built ETL pipelines handling 5–10M+ records per run for electrical grid data, improving data freshness and adoption of analytics dashboards.

Next step

Let’s work together

I’m open to remote positions where I can help design and build backend-heavy systems, evolve architectures, and deliver full-stack features that teams can rely on.

If you think my experience could be a good fit for your team, feel free to reach out using the form below.

LocationCampinas, São Paulo · Brazil

Emailricardo.zanardo@gmail.com

LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/ricardo-zanardo-545a2781

Phone+55 (19) 98290-7079