Available for collaboration · Budapest / remote

João Antunes.

Chief Technology Officer & technologist-turned-entrepreneur. I bring business value to life with technology — and help teams thrive while doing it. These days, that means navigating the AI transition — as best one can.

CTO · Sounds Good Agency Advisor · LUZEDO Founder · Digital Know How
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01 — The short version

A bridger of worlds: business value, brought to life with technology.

I've shipped software across many stacks and architectures — from Google-funded open-source work at 21 to helping create and lead a 14-person post-merger eCommerce agency, and launching two SaaS MVPs along the way.

My focus isn't merely on results, but on human outcomes. I've learned that code matters — but context and people matter more.

What drives me is positive impact and growth — mine and yours. Let's create something remarkable together.

Currently focused on

  • Navigating the AI transition — adopting AI across the SDLC without losing the people.
  • Honest collaboration — amplifying impact with other agencies.
  • Sharing lessons on leadership from the trenches.
  • Tools & content on the Shopify ecosystem.
  • Promoting tech knowledge & a relationship-first culture.
Team growth
in 12 months
Attrition · first
post-merger year
Person agency
led & merged
Freelance rate
$20 → $80 / hr
02 — Experience

Seventeen years, from open-source to the C-suite.

2023 — NowOstrava, CZ
Chief Technology Officer
Sounds Good Agency · Shopsys
  • People focus: managed a merger with a 10× company while keeping 0% attrition in the first post-merger year.
  • Adaptability: integrated Agile practices and clearer team structures while scaling for greater demand — without sacrificing delivery.
  • Mentoring: built an onboarding process for inter-company transitions and new hires — mentorship calls, support slots, best practices.
LeadershipM&A integrationAgileMentoring
2025 — NowVienna, AT
Technology, Product & AI Delivery Advisor / CTO
LUZEDO

Aligning product strategy, engineering execution, and AI-enabled delivery.

  • Hands-on consulting, architecture guidance, delivery-process setup, and practical AI adoption across the development workflow.
  • Turning business priorities into reliable, maintainable execution — CTO perspective meets hands-on delivery.
AI deliveryArchitectureAdvisory
2022 — NowBrno, CZ
Chief Technology Officer / Partner
Sounds Good Agency · Shopify Experts
  • Grew the team 3 → 8+ people in 12 months (+167%); the backbone for teams through scaling pains.
  • Deployed a double-loop process to resolve 3 chronic issues; delivered multiple architectures and estimations.
  • Helped scale the client base — from maintenance mode to a relevant name in the Czech market.
ShopifyScalingTech vision
2018 — 2020Budapest, HU
Senior Software Engineer / Solopreneur
Digital Know How
  • Raised rate $20 → $80/hr with consistent 5-star Upwork feedback.
  • Robust payment-gateway integrations on Shopify; Python/Django apps; full Shopify ecosystem.
  • Long-term partnerships with two Shopify agencies — Liquify & Sounds Good (later becoming a partner).
ShopifyPythonDjangoPayments
2013 — 2019Remote
Lead Software Engineer
Survs · EnoughPepper
  • Owned maintenance & development of survs.com software and infrastructure; built morningreader.com.
  • PostgreSQL optimization (pg_stats, ANALYZE, denormalization); deep AWS — S3, EC2, SES + abuse prevention, SNS, ELB, CloudWatch.
  • WebObjects, Play Framework; Kanban & high-throughput delivery; contributed to business models.
PostgreSQLAWSPlaySysAdmin
2016 — 2018Lisbon, PT
Senior Developer
MagniFinance
  • Migrated functionality between OutSystems and a custom C# + Angular 1.x stack.
  • Tamed legacy code — Boy-Scout principle, SRP on a "God class", DRY, separation of concerns.
  • Learning agility: productive in a new stack within 30 days.
C#AngularOutSystemsLegacy
2011 — 2016Lisbon, PT
Entrepreneur
Photoquest · BizMetrics · Secureit
  • Built MVPs across markets — photo mobile apps, business analytics, a cyber-security tool.
  • Lean / PDCA; cross-functional T-shape blending dev + business; Steve Blank's Customer Development.
  • Hands-on with Akka, Play, Elasticsearch, self-hosted Kubernetes, Rancher.
AkkaElasticsearchKubernetesLean
2010 — 2013Lisbon, PT
Software Engineer
Instituto Superior Técnico · FenixEDU
  • Designed & developed solutions for the open-source FenixEDU and internal Bennu platforms.
  • Owned an employee-evaluation tool (Portuguese Government's SIADAP) end-to-end on Bennu.
JavaOpen sourceFull lifecycle
2010Remote
Software Engineer
Cisco · Virtual Office
  • Improved Cisco's Virtual Office via a Java Swing/SwingX app integrating an existing JS tool.
  • Created and maintained an internal forum for the team.
JavaSwing
2008Open source
Student Engineer — SIP Communicator
Google Summer of Code
  • Implemented & published an open-source, extensible MSRP stack in Java — filling a real gap.
  • Delivered working file send/receive in SIP-Communicator on top of it.
Open sourceJavaSIP / MSRP
03 — How I work

Strategy and engineering, kept on speaking terms.

01

Business Strategy

Turning priorities into roadmaps, estimates, and outcomes the business can feel.

02

Artificial Intelligence

Practical AI adoption across the SDLC — useful, not hype-driven.

03

SDLC

Architecture, delivery process, and quality — from estimation to ship.

04

Engineering Leadership

Growing teams, mentoring, and a relationship-first culture that scales.

Shopify Liquid Python Django React Vue.js PostgreSQL AWS Java Akka Kubernetes Rancher Elasticsearch Play Framework WebObjects OutSystems C# Angular Kanban Agile
04 — Selected work & open source

Building in the open, since before it was cool.

Open source
2008

MSRP Stack for SIP-Communicator

Google Summer of Code

Implemented and published a fully extensible MSRP protocol stack in Java — filling a gap where no open-source Java implementation existed — and used it to deliver file send/receive.

Platform
2010 — 2013

FenixEDU & Bennu

Instituto Superior Técnico

Built solutions on the open academic platform powering a major university, and shipped a Government SIADAP employee-evaluation tool end-to-end — requirements, dev, deployment, client comms.

Founder
2011 — 2016

Photoquest · BizMetrics · Secureit

Entrepreneur

Three MVPs across photo apps, business analytics, and cyber-security. Lean development, customer discovery, and a T-shaped blend of engineering and business.

Community
2002 — 2004

CoviLUG

Co-Founder · Covilhã Linux User Group

Co-founded a local Linux User Group, running local and national activities to spread the word about open source — a relationship-first habit that never left.

05 — Let's talk

Let's create something remarkable.

If you're building in the same space and this resonates — leadership, Shopify, AI delivery, or just good tech with good people — say hello.