Software Engineer → AI Engineer · Full-Stack + LLMs

I bring production rigor to AI systems.

Full-stack Senior Software Engineer with 6+ years building high-volume products with React, Next.js and Java/Spring — now applying that same rigor to AI. I design LLM-powered systems with explicit guardrails against hallucination, not just prompts wired to an API. Today I lead frontend for Red Ventures’ solar energy vertical (~30% conversion uplift in Q1) while building production AI systems on the side.

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JVJosé Vinícius
José Vinícius
Santos de Melo
Open to new opportunities
nowRed Ventures
experience6+ years
focusFull-stack → AI Engineering
stackReact · Java · Spring AI
/01
About

I’m José Vinícius — a full-stack Senior Software Engineer from Pernambuco, with 6+ years spanning the frontend of products that convert and the backend of systems that scale. Right now, I’m channeling that foundation into AI engineering.

I’ve led frontend for Red Ventures’ solar energy vertical and built, at Livelo, a points → PIX platform that became one of the company’s largest products. That product sense rests on years of backend work in high-throughput fintech (Java/Spring, Kafka, Kubernetes), giving me a genuine full-stack view on architectural decisions.

That move into AI isn’t theoretical. In Personal CFO, a full-stack app I designed and built end to end, I use Spring AI and the OpenAI API to generate financial insights — but the model never computes a number: a deterministic backend calculates every KPI, and a guardrail layer validates the AI’s narration against that data before it ships, flagging anything that drifts instead of publishing it. Same instinct that drove my fintech work: the model doesn’t get to be a black box near real numbers.

Reliability isn’t a detail. It’s the feature.
/02
Experience
2024 – Present · San Francisco, CA (Remote)

Senior Software Engineer

Red Ventures · BairesDev

Leading frontend engineering for the solar energy vertical — React/Next.js + TypeScript conversion experiences, in partnership with Vistra, driving ~30% conversion uplift in Q1 and ~60% cumulative growth. Built a Storybook + Tailwind design system consumed by multiple teams and a GraphQL layer that cut API latency by ~90%.

ReactNext.jsTypeScriptStorybookGraphQLTailwind
2022 – 2024 · Remote, BR

Senior Software Engineer

Livelo

Built the points-to-PIX conversion platform — within months, one of Livelo’s largest products, redeeming millions of points monthly: bank integrations, a complex settlement workflow, balance management and payment batches. I also developed the PIX module in Livelo’s React Native app.

JavaPIXReact NativeIntegrationsBatch
2021 – 2022 · São Paulo, BR

Senior Software Engineer

PagSeguro · PagBank

Designed the interchange fee estimation and billing system, processing ~3–4 million records daily, with event-driven pipelines (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Spring Cloud) on Kubernetes. Also delivered internal Angular and Next.js modules for offer configuration and fee management.

JavaSpring CloudKafkaAngularNext.jsKubernetes
2021 · concurrent · Remote

Technical Writer

Baeldung

Authored Spring Boot articles for a global developer audience, translating complex backend engineering concepts into actionable technical guidance.

Spring BootTechnical Writing
2021 · Brasília, BR

Senior Mobile Developer

Ília

Delivered React Native features inside Banco do Brasil’s Social Security app — serving ~2.5M users — working across mobile UI, API integration and release constraints in a high-visibility banking environment.

React NativeMobile UIBanco do Brasil
2019 – 2021 · Recife, BR

Software Developer → Senior Software Engineer

Flexpag

Built a payment checkout platform deployed across major Brazilian utilities (Celpe, Compesa, Cosern, Enel), enabling continuous billing during COVID-19. Promoted from Junior to Senior in under 2 years. Engineered a metrics platform that evolved from weekly manual reports to daily — and later real-time — reporting.

JavaPaymentsReporting
2016 – 2023 · Education

B.Sc. in Economics

UFPE — Federal University of Pernambuco

A quantitative grounding in economics, statistics and modeling — a different lens on financial-systems problems.

Full history on LinkedIn
/03

Featured projects

FeaturedPersonal Project

Personal CFO — AI Financial Advisor

A full-stack app that turns a Google Sheets budget into KPIs, wealth tracking and AI-generated monthly insights. The AI (Spring AI + OpenAI) never computes numbers — a deterministic backend does — and every AI-generated insight passes through a guardrail that cross-checks its claims against the real data before publishing, flagging mismatches for review instead of shipping a hallucination.

Spring AIOpenAIJavaGuardrailed AI
FeaturedRed Ventures · Customer Acquisition

Solar Energy Acquisition Flow

Grid/Cart — the React/Next.js acquisition flow that connects customers to major solar energy operators. Built around conversion, performance and a design system, driving a ~30% conversion uplift in Q1.

Next.jsReactTypeScriptCRO
FeaturedLivelo

Points → PIX

A platform that converts Livelo points into PIX — within months, one of Livelo’s largest products, redeeming millions of points monthly. I architected bank integrations, a complex settlement workflow, balance management and payment batches. I also worked on the PIX module in Livelo’s React Native app.

JavaPIXReact NativeBatch
Monthly redemption
Millions of points
PagSeguro · PagBank~3–4M/dia

Real-time Interchange+ Calculator

Real-time calculation of card-brand interchange fees (Mastercard, Visa, Elo), built on event pipelines processing ~3–4 million records daily.

JavaSpring CloudKafka
Dcifre

Open Finance Accounting Platform

An Open Finance platform for Dcifre (accounting), centralizing and controlling its clients’ many bank accounts.

Open FinanceAPIsBackend
Dcifre · Bacen

Bacen Resolution 4.966 compliance

Adapting accounting criteria to the new rules of Bacen Resolution 4.966/2021, adjusting the treatment and classification of financial instruments in the platform.

Accounting criteriaComplianceBackend
Flexpag · Celpe2020

Payment Totems & Online Checkout

Co-led Celpe’s payment totems and Flexpag’s online payment rollout during the pandemic, keeping billing alive for utility companies.

JavaPaymentsUtilities
Flexpag · CERC

Receivables · Resolution 264 (CERC)

Architecture of a system that calculated the receivables of the companies served (Flexpag was a sub-acquirer for Celpe, Cosern, Elektro and others), plus generating and sending the batches to CERC (the receivables registry), following financial-market infrastructure standards.

JavaReceivablesCERC
More on GitHub
/04

Skills

From the frontend that converts to the backend that scales — and now, the AI layer built with the same rigor.

AI & LLM Engineering
  • Spring AI
  • OpenAI API
  • Prompt Engineering
  • Hallucination Guardrails
  • Structured Output Parsing
Frontend & Mobile
  • React · Next.js
  • React Native
  • TypeScript
  • Storybook
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Angular
Backend & APIs
  • Spring Boot
  • Spring Cloud
  • NestJS
  • GraphQL
  • REST · Express
Languages
  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript
  • Java
  • Python
  • Go
Data & Messaging
  • Apache Kafka
  • RabbitMQ
  • PostgreSQL
  • Oracle DB
  • Cassandra
Cloud & DevOps
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • GitHub Actions
  • Jenkins
/05

Writing

Technical notes and essays, published on Medium.

Building a PIX Settlement Simulator with Java Virtual Threads

Modeling concurrency and payment settlement at scale on the JVM.

Jun 2026

Por que pássaros conseguem voar e humanos não?

An essay on freedom, limits and Brazilian neoliberalism.

Mar 2020
Read everything on Medium
/06 · Contact

Let’s build something.

Open to freelance, projects and new opportunities. Drop me a line — I reply fast.

[email protected]
LinkedInGitHubMediumWhatsApp
© 2026 José Vinícius Santos de MeloCrafted with care · Pernambuco, BR