Rafael Pires

Experience

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  Clickon

  Aug 2010 - Dec 2014

  Senior Linux System Administrator

  Situation: The company’s infrastructure was monolithic, manually operated, and under pressure to scale due to increasing traffic on its e-commerce platform.Task: Modernize infrastructure operations to improve application performance, ensure high availability, and reduce operational overhead.Action: I led the migration of core services to AWS, implemented automation for deployment processes, introduced performance optimizations (including caching and load balancing), and improved system monitoring. I also collaborated with development teams to align DevOps practices across the organization.Result: Improved system availability, significantly reduced application response times, lowered infrastructure costs, and laid the foundation for modern DevOps practices in the company. Show less

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  Concrete Solutions

  Apr 2015 - Sept 2018

  Situation: The company needed to accelerate delivery cycles and modernize its development and deployment workflows to support client growth.Task: Support multiple teams by implementing automation, improving infrastructure consistency, and enabling faster software delivery.Action: I developed and maintained CI/CD pipelines, introduced infrastructure as code (IaC), and collaborated on designing cloud-native, microservices-based solutions across projects.Result: Helped reduce deployment times, improved platform reliability, and contributed to a more predictable and scalable delivery model for strategic clients. Show less Situation: The DevOps discipline was expanding quickly, but lacked cohesion and a shared culture across teams and projects.Task: Lead the technical direction of the DevOps chapter, mentor engineers, and create consistency in practices and onboarding.Action: I mentored junior and mid-level engineers, supported onboarding processes, organized internal technical talks and events, and helped refine the recruitment process to attract stronger technical talent.Result: Increased chapter cohesion, improved technical alignment across teams, reduced ramp-up time for new hires, and fostered a more collaborative and knowledge-driven culture. Show less Situation: The company needed to accelerate delivery cycles and modernize its development and deployment workflows to support client growth.Task: Support multiple teams by implementing automation, improving infrastructure consistency, and enabling faster software delivery.Action: I developed and maintained CI/CD pipelines, introduced infrastructure as code (IaC), and collaborated on designing cloud-native, microservices-based solutions across projects.Result: Helped reduce deployment times, improved platform reliability, and contributed to a more predictable and scalable delivery model for strategic clients. Show less

  • DevOps Manager

    Mar 2017 - Sept 2018

  • DevOps Chapter Lead

    Apr 2016 - Feb 2017

  • DevOps Engineer

    Apr 2015 - Mar 2016
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  Guiabolso

  Oct 2018 - Jun 2020

  Situation: The platform was held back by a monolithic architecture and lacked operational scalability, which impacted delivery speed and infrastructure efficiency.Task: After driving tactical improvements as Tech Lead, I transitioned into a broader management role to lead the modernization of architecture and engineering practices.Action: I led the shift to a microservices-based architecture, implemented DevOps and SRE practices, introduced CI/CD automation at scale, and established FinOps and security governance across environments. I also worked closely with cross-functional teams to align delivery, infrastructure, and compliance goals.Result: Enabled greater platform scalability and reliability, reduced operational costs, accelerated time-to-delivery, and established a more resilient and efficient engineering organization. Show less Situation: With DevOps practices maturing, the team required stronger technical leadership to consolidate standards and foster collaboration between engineering and operations.Task: Lead the DevOps team, mentor engineers, and provide technical direction to align DevOps with business and product priorities.Action: I guided engineers technically, improved automation workflows, promoted reusable practices, and facilitated better alignment with software development teams through shared metrics and rituals.Result: Increased team autonomy, improved delivery stability, and strengthened the engineering culture with shared ownership and accountability. Show less Situation: The engineering organization was growing, and the delivery process relied heavily on manual tasks, leading to inefficiencies and instability in production.Task: As a DevOps Specialist, I was responsible for increasing system reliability and deployment consistency by improving automation and environment management.Action: I developed and managed CI/CD pipelines, automated recurring infrastructure tasks, introduced proactive monitoring, and standardized environment configurations.Result: Reduced deployment friction, improved platform stability, and established a more predictable and efficient delivery cycle. Show less

  • Tech Manager

    Mar 2019 - Jun 2020

  • DevOps Technical Lead

    Jan 2019 - Mar 2019

  • DevOps Specialist

    Oct 2018 - Jan 2019
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  Zé Delivery

  Jun 2020 - Jun 2023

  Situation: The platform was experiencing rapid growth and needed to mature its operational foundations, security posture, and infrastructure efficiency to scale reliably.Task: Lead the engineering areas responsible for platform reliability, cloud infrastructure, and information security.Action: I established structured SRE practices, implemented a comprehensive security strategy, introduced FinOps governance, and guided the evolution of the platform architecture to support high demand.Result: Improved platform stability and resilience, decreased incident resolution times, reduced infrastructure costs, and ensured security compliance across systems and operations. Show less Situation: As the company scaled, there was a critical need to build technical teams and capabilities from scratch to ensure platform reliability and operational excellence.Task: Create and lead the initial SRE, Security, and Data Engineering teams, and define the practices required to support business growth.Action: I hired and onboarded specialized engineers, implemented service-level indicators (SLIs), structured incident response workflows, introduced observability, and fostered a collaborative, data-driven engineering culture.Result: Strengthened reliability, increased visibility and control over infrastructure health, improved incident response, and laid the technical foundation for sustainable scale. Show less

  • Head of Platform & Security

    Mar 2021 - Jun 2023

  • Tech Manager

    Jun 2020 - Mar 2021
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  AB InBev

  Jan 2023 - now

  Global Technology Director

  Situation: The DTC technology platforms (Zé Delivery and TaDa) operated independently, with increasing demand for technical maturity, development consistency, and efficiency across multiple countries.Task: Lead the Architecture function globally, with responsibility over Quality Engineering, Developer Experience, and the enablement of Artificial Intelligence within the software development lifecycle (SDLC).Action: I introduced reusable architectural patterns, standardized shift-left quality practices and quality gates, evolved internal Developer Experience platforms to reduce friction, and led the enablement of AI in engineering via copilots, smart automation, and intelligent engineering workflows.Result: Increased system reliability, reduced time-to-fix and production defects, enhanced developer productivity, and enabled safe and sustainable AI adoption within engineering operations — all while maintaining consistency across distinct platform contexts. Show less