Ricardo Basto
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Berlin, Germany
Toptal member since May 7, 2019
Ricardo has been coding for over 20 years, having worked on projects in more than 10 programming languages. He has co-founded companies, worked in a few successful startups as CTO, and managed distributed teams of developers and product designers. Ricardo's recent work has ranged from data science and machine learning to high-performing web and mobile applications, including Web3 and crypto.
Portfolio
Experience
- SQL - 20 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 8 years
- Node.js - 6 years
- TypeScript - 5 years
- React - 5 years
- GraphQL - 4 years
- MongoDB - 3 years
- PostgreSQL - 3 years
Preferred Environment
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Git, Linux, Serverless Framework, Next.js, Node.js, React, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), TypeScript
The most amazing...
...side project I've done myself was a gaming website that ended up with more than 100,000 users before I sold it.
Work Experience
Senior Software Engineer
Hallway
- Delivered an AI agent platform with 40+ tools, real-time workspaces, React 19 UI, Node.js back end, and Supabase/PostgreSQL persistence.
- Implemented secure auth with OAuth, magic links, API keys, JWTs, BetterAuth sessions, and RLS-enforced Supabase access.
- Owned deployment architecture across development, beta, and production using Cloudflare Workers, Fly.io, Daytona, R2, Prisma, and Doppler.
CTO
Nexteam.ai
- Built the platform that offered virtual AI agents that answer phone calls or call customers and interact with them to perform customer service functions. The goal was to appear as human as possible.
- Integrated with telephony providers and BPOs through SIP channels.
- Integrated AI agents with 3rd-party CRM applications.
- Used main providers like OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Deepgram, and Vapi. Built a failover with Claude, Google Vertex, and Whisper.
CTO
Nabu
- Chose the tech stack as a co-founder and set up the project from scratch. Built the MVP and continued to grow the product until we had paid customers.
- Created the whole DevOps infrastructure with fully automated integration from Git/GitHub Actions, the Serverless Framework, Jest unit tests, AWS back-end deployment, and Vercel front-end deployment.
- Took responsibility for the data architecture, from ingesting real-time blockchain data into PostgreSQL databases for subsequent processing by ML models in Python.
Senior Software Engineer
Fabric
- Was the first hire of the startup. I was responsible for choosing the tech stack and setting up the initial project.
- Created the prototype and then an MVP of the product. It is a remote operating system where users can start their work session and invite other users to share the screen, including passing the control of the mouse, keyboard, and clipboard.
- Integrated the front end with Twilio for a full video-conferencing experience, including a chat, presence indicator, access controls, etc.
CTO
Whoosh
- Managed a team of remote freelance software developers to create the product from scratch, producing over 40,000 lines of TypeScript code in three months.
- Led the team in the development of the back end for the AWS Lambda/API Gateway using the Serverless Framework for infrastructure as code. Created a DevOps process to integrate Git workflow for completely automated deployment of staging environments.
- Integrated the solution with 3rd-party services, like Adyen, for payment processing and six restaurant POS systems for order retrieval and settlement.
Full-stack Developer
Copper Fox Antiques LLC
- Developed a mobile web app that could work fully offline, including taking pictures and storing all data locally for subsequent synchronization with the server.
- Built the back-office portal for employees to manage store items, generate orders, and issue invoices.
- Developed an integration with MLS (a real estate listing service) for daily data synchronization.
CTO
TriRated
- Created the front end in React for desktop and mobile. It received many compliments for the fluidity and responsiveness of the UI.
- Built the back end in Node.js as an AWS Lambda microservice, saving the startup from spending on upfront costs related to hosting.
- Created the data model and implemented it on MySQL (AWS RDS) using a denormalized design, improving querying performance sixfold.
- Created reusable components based on Semantic UI React for a consistent UX.
- Implemented social log-in with Google and Amazon (based on JWT authentication).
Web Developer
Zap2Go
- Created the front end of the landing page in React within a tight deadline.
- Implemented Node.js scripts for the automation of API calls.
- Set up Firebase hosting for the client and created scripts for automated publishing of the app.
- Designed and implemented a NoSQL database in the Firebase Realtime Database.
CTO
ViaHome
- Supervised an offshore team in the creation of the app, being responsible for defining requirements, assessing code quality, testing the final product, and approving invoices.
- Created Docker containers to run the app in isolation, allowing for quick spawning of environments needed by different clients.
- Hosted the app on AWS using an Express service on EC2 instances.
- Implemented an Ethereum smart contract in Solidity to interact with the app, giving transparency to auditors to review the code and transactions processed.
- Organized the code from several developers from different shops into a single Git repository.
CTO
Interest Radar
- Created R scripts to process financial data and output charts with high visual appeal using Cairo rendering library, Bezier curves, and custom fonts.
- Integrated the app to PayPal for subscription (recurring) payment collections, including complex subscription options with variable trial periods.
- Implemented several Perl scripts to scrap screen, which required complex authentication handling and advanced regular expressions.
- Integrated with LendingClub's API (order posting, portfolio download, etc.) with robust error handling and exponential backoff delays and retries.
- Created MySQL scripts for data mining and risk scoring of hundreds of millions of rows of financial data—from credit information to payment transactions.
Data Strategy Director
Credigy Solutions Inc
- Created a data strategy office to implement enterprise-wide data governance and data management.
- Served as the last resource engineer for performance tuning of SQL queries, both for transactional systems and data analysis databases.
- Led the change management program that modernized how the business units explored and used the available data.
- Collaborated closely with business units to gather requirements and implement complex BI dashboards.
Experience
AI Book Illustrator
Medical Real Estate Startup (Confidential Client)
• Back end: Node.js, MySQL, Koa, Stripe, Amazon S3, SendGrid
• Front end: React, Ant Design, Contentful
Stock Trading Startup (Confidential Client)
Language Practice App
The app was made with React and hosted in a serverless setup on AWS. Translations come from Azure Cognitive Services, and text-to-speech features are powered by the Google API.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Business Computer Engineering
Universidade Paulista - São Paulo, Brazil
Certifications
IT Leadership
ESMT
Finance for the Non-Financial Manager
Emory University
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, Node.js, REST APIs, HTML5 APIs, OpenAI API, Claude API, Stripe, Sharp, PyMongo, SQLAlchemy, Twilio API, React Query, AWS Amplify, Pandas, Stripe Connect, Stripe API, Coinbase API, Binance API, X (formerly Twitter) API, Recharts, Shopify API, Shopify Storefront API
Tools
Git, MongoDB Atlas, MongoDB Shell, AWS SDK, GitHub, Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), Jira, Trello, AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), Drizzle ORM, ChatGPT, AI Prompts, Claude, Claude Code, AWS CloudFormation, AWS AppSync, Google AI Platform, Prisma, Adyen Payments, Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Languages
JavaScript, TypeScript, Perl, SQL, CSS, GraphQL, HTML5, HTML, TypeScript 5, Sass, C#, Python 3, Go, Python
Frameworks
Serverless Framework, Yarn, Express.js, Vanilla JS, tRPC, Next.js, Jest, SST, i18next, .NET, Svelte, Koa, Tailwind CSS
Paradigms
RESTful Development, REST, Unit Testing, ETL, Testing
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda, Linux, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Blockchain, Vercel, Vertex AI, Azure, Ethereum, Firebase, Twilio, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Shopify
Storage
MongoDB, NoSQL, MySQL, Database Modeling, PostgreSQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Amazon DynamoDB, Databases, Database Architecture, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure Storage, Google Cloud
Industry Expertise
Project Management
Other
Serverless, APIs, Shell Scripting, Network Protocols, Data Governance, Requirements & Specifications, Front-end Development, Back-end, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), Financial Services, Front-end, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Web Development, Data Architecture, Data Warehousing, Data Warehouse Design, Leadership, Team Leadership, Remote Team Leadership, OpenAI, OpenAI GPT-4 API, Monorepos, Axios, ElevenLabs Solutions, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), OpenAI GPT-3 API, ChatGPT API, ChatGPT Prompts, Prompt Engineering, Technical Leadership, AI Agents, AI Voice Agents, Agentic AI, Amazon API Gateway, IT Project Management, Web Project Management, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), SIP, Text to Image AI, Multimodal GenAI, Architecture, Code Review, Source Code Review, Lending, Streaming, Message Queues, Cost Accounting, OpenAI SDK, Pulumi, Turborepo, Bun, Cloudflare, Cloudflare Durable Objects
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