Strategy is the lore. Code is the canon. I keep them in one universe.
I work on platforms everyone uses, where the goals are clear but execution has stalled, and I help turn them into delivery-focused roadmaps. I spent more than twenty years as a developer, and the last ten leading products, so I'm equally at home in a technical discussion and in a business-metrics review, and I like being the bridge between the two. On the AI front, the teams I coordinate already have agents in production, and I build my own for the way I work. If you're building an AI or platform product from scratch, or one that needs turning around, I'd love to hear about it!
The stories behind the numbers
Call centers, auctions, tax forms. I fall for the problems nobody writes songs about.
01Avalara · 2024 – now
Retiring the legacy catalog behind every Returns product
Every Avalara Returns product runs on the same execution layer: the tax forms the platform fills and files. That layer lived in an aging monolith, the Tax Form Catalog, that spread form management across 15+ separate products, exposed no shared API, and blocked new work on top of it (from AI features to testing tools). It could not be switched off, because every product depended on it.
I directed the program that replaced it. I drove the spec and the gap analysis against the old system, sequenced a quarter-by-quarter parity roadmap, and moved the verticals across one persona at a time. Engineering re-platformed the monolith onto microservices (a REST form-definition service behind a GraphQL layer), while the authoring interface was rebuilt in React on the new abstraction.
A single production cutover in June 2025 moved 15+ dependent systems onto the new services with no downstream disruption. The platform now holds 18,000+ forms across 17 tax domains, and the legacy catalog is on track to retire by the end of 2026.
02Superbid · 2021 – 2023
Standardizing customer support tooling across LatAm
Every month, around 60 support tickets spilled past the first line with nowhere structured to go. Five departments touched them and none owned them.
I coordinated the customer-found-defects initiative that pulled Legal, Sales, Operations, Engineering, and Product onto a single system, and drove standardized help-desk tooling across Brazil and the rest of LatAm.
Overflow dropped by roughly 54%.
03Superbid · 2021 – 2023
Opening vehicle auctions to remote buyers
Vehicle auctions only drew local buyers. Whoever won had to go and pick the car up, so anyone far away simply didn’t bid.
I spotted the gap and brought in a third-party shipping partner that quotes delivery at bid time, so remote buyers could bid knowing the full cost.
Over the first three events, auctions with shipping closed roughly 27% higher, adjusted for inflation and vehicle pricing. About 80% of buyers who asked for a quote hired the service, and shipping fees returned a ~7% commission to the platform.
04Round Pegs / Superbid · 2020 – 2021
Removing manual data-onboarding drag
The biggest clients created the worst spikes: every large onboarding arrived as heterogeneous files someone processed by hand, in bursts.
I led a small multifunctional squad that replaced the manual step with standardized file-input formats and scripts feeding client source files straight into the system, moving us off legacy tooling and onto distributed microservices.
Cycle time improved by roughly 21%; the work led directly to a Head of Product role.
Freelance track record
45 projects, 100% client success
Alongside every product role, I kept freelancing: software shipped for clients in many industries and countries.
Every engagement was tracked and scored by the freelance platform, not self-reported.
What clients and colleagues say
“He’s the best Product Manager I’ve worked with so far. Fernando brings a huge amount of experience, is kind, responsive, and consistently professional. I can’t recommend him enough.”
Mykhail Heraskin, AmberEnhance
“Over two years, Fernando managed several teams, including LATAM, across both delivery and product discovery. His engineering and product knowledge made build-versus-deliver decisions simple and sound, and together we moved the business needle.”
Head of Product & Engineering, LATAM
Pedro Antunes, Superbid
Translated from the original Portuguese
“We couldn’t be where we are today without his knowledge, mentorship and refined soft skills. He helped me as a founder build upon an idea and turn it into an industry recognised product.”
Product Manager & Mentor
Adri Leite, Cliffside Cybersecurity
“Amazing organization managing the projects. His communication was top-notch, and he met all deadlines.”
Product Owner & Team Lead
Gabriela De Luca, RoundPegs
“Engaged Fernando for a CMS build, he was very proficient at handling the project. Timely, easy to work with, excellent comms and all round good guy. Will be working with him again.”
Multi-country Website Build
Enrolmy
“A gifted developer, knowledgeable about so many aspects of development, from code quality through dev-ops, deployment, git hygiene, project management, and much more.”
Project Lead & Development
Scott Yewell, Purpose Built Software
“He takes the time to document, research, back up, explain, and implement. We understand the fix, and the codebase is stable and reliable.”
Web Development
Jon Haller, PTC
“Probably the best developer we have found so far. Very professional, and takes great care communicating, providing reports, and suggesting solutions and improvements.”
ISP Infrastructure
Peter Saunier, WebAgency