
José Carlos Paiva
Verified Expert in Engineering
Node.js Developer
Porto, Portugal
Toptal member since November 1, 2021
José is a full-stack developer with 10+ years of R&D experience. He earned a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Porto (2025), focusing on improving feedback in automated programming assessment by leveraging students’ past solutions. His work spans e-learning, gamification, recommendation systems, graphs, ML, and mental health. José has led teams in academia and industry, delivering robust, modern solutions with state-of-the-art technologies.
Portfolio
Experience
- Node.js - 8 years
- Java - 7 years
- PostgreSQL - 6 years
- React - 6 years
- Vue - 6 years
- Docker - 5 years
- MongoDB - 5 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 4 years
Preferred Environment
Linux, Git, Amazon Web Services (AWS), API Integration, Nuxt 3, Next.js, Shell, NestJS, React Native, Docker
The most amazing...
...thing I've worked on is an automated assessment system used worldwide in academic institutions to help programming teachers deliver real-time feedback.
Work Experience
Full-stack Engineer | AI Specialist
Centro de Inovação Pedagógica do P. Porto
- Architected and deployed scalable full-stack solutions using Docker, PostgreSQL, and cloud infrastructure, supporting 1000+ concurrent users.
- Developed and integrated LLM-based components into learning platforms, increasing student engagement and interaction rates.
- Led the design and development of AI-powered educational systems, improving automated feedback quality and reducing grading time.
- Developed and maintained APIs connecting Moodle, Directus, and external services, reducing integration latency.
- Coordinated cross-functional junior teams of 3+ developers, delivering projects on schedule and within scope.
- Designed and optimized data pipelines and database schemas, improving system performance and query efficiency.
- Established DevOps practices (CI/CD, containerization).
- Mentored students and junior developers, improving code quality and onboarding efficiency across projects.
Full-stack Developer
INESC TEC's
- Designed and developed an ecosystem composed of several web-based tools for gamifying and supporting programming education.
- Managed a team of five junior web developers, working on three different apps of the same ecosystem.
- Containerized the complete ecosystem for development and production using Docker.
- Developed unit and end-to-end tests using Jest and Cypress.
- Deployed secure application web servers using Nginx reverse proxy with SSL/TLS termination.
AWS Solutions Engineer | Architect
Aplynk
- Designed and developed several cloud connectors to synchronize customer data among multiple eCommerce, CRM, accounting, and ERP software.
- Deployed and designed an AWS serverless infrastructure to run the data integrations for multiple customers around the globe.
- Trained and coordinated developers to deliver cloud connectors running on AWS.
Senior Full-stack Developer
Apora
- Developed a quote application for estimating energy costs and created ready-to-sign contracts including electricity and gas. I did the integration with Google Maps API, Zoho CRM, webservices.nl, Nexant API, among other web services.
- Built a web platform to purchase domains, hosting in AWS, integration with applications in the cloud, with a back office for customers to manage and purchase those same services.
- Created WordPress themes, landing pages, and online stores for customers around the globe.
Full-stack Developer
INESC TEC's
- Developed a web-based system for managing programming contests on the web, including features such as automatic judging of submitted programs.
- Built unit tests in JUnit to test the various system components as well as automated performance and stress tests using Selenium to simulate massive interactions from users.
- Created an e-learning web application for formative assessment in massive open online courses (MOOCs) and hybrid courses; the main task integrates all the others, including a gamification REST API; a REST API for sequencing and recommending educational resources.
Junior Software Developer
Ifthen, Lda
- Developed several plugins to auto-generate payment references for Joomla, WooCommerce, Drupal, VirtueMart, and Magento eCommerce websites.
- Built a C# application for geolocation of contacts in Google Maps.
- Designed and implemented the data model for distinct production planning and control software.
Experience
HandSpy
https://youtu.be/3ei51YNT3PcMooshak 2
Mooshak supports different kinds of contests, especially those based on ICPC rules. It also supports IOI and "shortest program" contests and can be easily extended for new types of contests. The system was initially intended for contests, but it is increasingly being used in programming courses: giving instant feedback on practical classes, receiving and validating assignments submissions, and marking assignments.
Lisbon Taxation and Trade
Education
Ph.D. Degree in Computer Science
University of Porto - Porto
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto - Porto, Portugal
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto - Porto, Portugal
Certifications
Certified Zoho Creator Developer
Zoho
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Vue, React, Node.js, Zoho API, vLLM, D3.js
Tools
IDEA IDE, WebStorm, Git, Zoho Creator, Zoho One, Shell, Keycloak, SonarQube, AWS Step Functions
Languages
Bash, JavaScript, GraphQL, Java, HTML5, CSS, R, Python, PHP, TypeScript, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), HTML, Zoho Deluge, SQL, Kotlin, Go, Bash Script
Frameworks
NestJS, Swagger, Jest, React Native, Nuxt.js, Spring, Angular, JUnit, GWT, Nuxt 3, Cypress, Next.js, Selenium
Paradigms
REST, Microservices, DevOps
Platforms
Linux, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Docker, WordPress, Android, Zoho CRM, Shopify, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache Kafka, Magento, WooCommerce, AWS Lambda
Storage
PostgreSQL, MongoDB, JSON/XML Schemas, Redis, MySQL, JSON, Neo4j, Graph Databases, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Data Integration, PostGIS
Other
eCommerce, API Integration, APIs, Front-end, Artificial Intelligence (AI), LangChain, Qdrant, Vector Databases, Semantic Search, AI Agents, Large Language Models (LLMs), FastAPI, Full-stack, Zoho, Data Mining, Gatsby, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), CI/CD Pipelines, Cloud Infrastructure, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT)
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring