Gustavo Saiani, Developer in Rio de Janeiro - State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Gustavo is available for hire
Hire Gustavo

Gustavo Saiani

Verified Expert  in Engineering

CTO Developer

Location
Rio de Janeiro - State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Toptal Member Since
February 24, 2016

Gustavo has 13 years of experience as a front-end developer and a strong background in design, having created ambitious startups and projects for clients of all sizes, as well as leading teams at Toptal's Core. While he has lately been interested in JavaScript (ES6/7) and React, he has broad interests in and out of software development, which allows him to communicate well and work efficiently with teams of varied sizes and characteristics.

Portfolio

Circuit
JavaScript, CSS, Serverless, User Interface (UI), Vue SSR, Styled-components...
Toptal, LLC
JavaScript, CSS, User Interface (UI), PostgreSQL, Styled-components, React
EmCasa.com
JavaScript, CSS, User Interface (UI), React Native, Elixir, Next.js, React

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Slack, GitHub, Vi, MacOS

The most amazing...

...thing I've built, as co-founder and CTO, is EmCasa.com, a real estate platform, raising USD $1 million in seed money and now serving thousands of users.

Work Experience

Senior Front-end Engineer

2020 - PRESENT
Circuit
  • Wrote a new application for recipients of parcels to track upwards of 100 million deliveries per year.
  • Rewrote an application for route calculation in React and Next.js.
  • Implemented automated tests and revamped the Google Cloud serverless back-end handing millions of documents and processing multiple entries per second.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, Serverless, User Interface (UI), Vue SSR, Styled-components, React

Team Lead

2018 - 2020
Toptal, LLC
  • Led the team creating Toptal's new talent activation experience.
  • Recruited front-end and back-end engineers.
  • Mentored senior engineers in Toptal's core team.
  • Worked in the growth department to start a new team serving Toptal talent.
  • Oversaw the rewriting of large applications in React and GraphQL.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, User Interface (UI), PostgreSQL, Styled-components, React

CTO and Co-founder

2017 - 2018
EmCasa.com
  • Created the entire MVP in Elixir and React along with brand and product designs.
  • Created and expanded the API in Elixir serving web and native clients with microsecond response times.
  • Created and expanded the web client with Next.js (a React framework) to include a live dashboard, among other things.
  • Assembled and managed the remote product and tech team of five people, using Scrum and Agile methodologies.
  • Raised USD $1 million in the seed round from respected VCs in Silicon Valley and Brazil.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, User Interface (UI), React Native, Elixir, Next.js, React

Owner

2013 - 2017
Poema
  • Built a modern API web client in React for a peer-to-peer organic food startup.
  • Built the front-end in Ruby on Rails for a gourmet coffee subscription startup.
  • Built and managed a 14-person team to develop an ambitious startup for large-scale events.
  • Successfully built and deployed entire websites with high spikes of traffic such as BetteMidler.com.
  • Built a tool where investors can look up public companies’ P/E values averaged over trailing 10 years, with continuous, live updating of real data.
Technologies: jQuery, JavaScript, CSS, User Interface (UI), Styled-components, Sass, Next.js, React Native, Elixir, React

Owner

2006 - 2012
Niramekko
  • Created visual identity and websites for a major recruiting and human resources company with a revenue of over $100 million at the time.
  • Created JavaScript applications used by millions of people for a large internet company.
  • Helped large telecoms improve and explain their internal processes using the web.
  • Developed highly interactive training materials for Renault technicians and sales personnel.
  • Built an ambitious social network for collaboration, in continuous use to this day.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, User Interface (UI), CakePHP, WordPress, Sass, PHP

EmCasa.com

http://www.emcasa.com
At EmCasa.com, I was co-founder and CTO. As such, I initially did everything from designing the logo to the MVP screens and implementing both the back-end (in Elixir/Phoenix) and the front-end (in React/Next.js).

Gradually, the team grew, and I moved toward managing the team, including the native app in React Native, and coded mostly on the front-end day to day.

The company was accelerated by the Harvard Business School and raised USD $1 million in seed money. Now it's serving tens of thousands of customers per month in the real estate space in Brazil.

Brokermate

In the front-end for Brokermate, a marketplace for securities brokerage firms, I worked with Ember.js. With it, we were able to develop an emcompassing application, both for mobile and desktop devices, with endpoints in the internal database and also exchanges and banks, all in real-time.

Spacer Australia

http://www.spacer.com.au
Rewrote the front-end infrastructure for further development by Spacer’s internal development team.

Technologies: Ruby, Liquid Markup, Stylus CSS, JavaScript

Lets Events

http://www.lets.events
As CTO at Lets.events, I initially implemented the application in Ruby on Rails, leveraging Sass, Haml, and JavaScript on the front-end.

As the company took form, we grew to a product/dev team of 14 people among programmers and designers. I was able to be part of most technical sides of the project, focusing mostly on the front-end.

Look in Tens | Web Application

https://github.com/gusaiani/look-in-tens
A web application that allows users to instantaneously look up public companies' price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios over the last ten years. I built the front end with webpack, React, Redux, and Slim, and the back end with Elixir and the Phoenix framework.

Moccato

Built the entire front-end for this startup that delivers Brazilian coffee of the highest quality to customers’ doors every month.

Bette Midler

http://www.bettemidler.com
Developed the website for the renowned singer-actor, with a focus on seamlessly handling heavy spikes of traffic such as during her performance in the Oscars.

Grid Real Estate

Developed a property search tool for the New Jersey real estate firm.

PNM Lawyers

Created the visual identity, designed, and developed a bilingual website for an important Brazilian law firm.

Via Mia eCommerce

http://www.viamia.com.br
Developed the front end for an online store for a women’s shoe and accessories chain. Built and managed the store’s dev team for over three years, helping make it one of the largest sellers in their category.

Languages

CSS3, CSS, Elixir, ECMAScript (ES6), HTML5, JavaScript, Sass, HTML, PHP, GraphQL

Frameworks

YARN, Next.js, Phoenix, Redux, CakePHP, Vue SSR, React Native, Slim

Libraries/APIs

Styled-jsx, jQuery, React, Google Maps API

Tools

NPM, ITerm, GitHub, Git, Zsh, Oh My Zsh, Stylus, Slack, Webpack

Paradigms

Scrum, REST, Functional Programming, Test-driven Development (TDD), Serverless Architecture, Agile

Storage

Cloud Firestore, PostgreSQL, MySQL

Other

Serverless, User Interface (UI), Scrum Master, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Styled-components, CTO, Vi, Investment Banking

Industry Expertise

Banking & Finance

Platforms

MacOS, WordPress

2001 - 2002

B.F.A. Degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music

New School University - New York City

1996 - 2000

B.F.A. Degree in Graphic Design

PUC Rio de Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro

Collaboration That Works

How to Work with Toptal

Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.

1

Share your needs

Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2

Choose your talent

Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3

Start your risk-free talent trial

Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.

Top talent is in high demand.

Start hiring