Adilson M. Bacelar
Senior Software Engineer · London, UK
Selected Highlights
- •Designed and shipped an end-to-end data gifting platform (React Native + NestJS), establishing event-driven foundations (RudderStack to Braze) and production observability.
- •Reduced asynchronous task failure rates from 35% to 7% by replacing a complex Temporal setup with BullMQ and automated retries for imports and bespoke report generation.
- •Optimised UK-wide geospatial visualisation to millisecond response times and 3,000+ GeoJSON renders via SQL tuning and zoom-based Level of Detail strategies.
- •Led migration strategies (GraphQL to tRPC, Angular to React) improving type safety, maintainability, and delivery speed.
- •Built scalable, fully branded PDF/Word reporting with fine-grained dataset controls, while establishing engineering standards and mentoring frameworks across teams.
Experience
Software Engineer (Full-Stack)
September 2025 - PresentSlice Mobile, London, UK — UK based eSIM provider offering 5G data along with loyalty rewards such as cash back, and a focus on community features like data gifting and more
- –Designed and shipped the data gifting platform end-to-end across backend and mobile (NestJS, React Native), using it as a strategic proving ground for future group-based features requiring asynchronous background processing.
- –Introduced an event-driven architecture (RudderStack to downstream services including Braze) enabling structured event propagation for in-app messaging, push notifications, and future social/group features.
- –Built a recommendation service leveraging telecom and in-app behavioural data to power subscription-aware gifting and suggested contacts, with shared validation modules to support future expansion.
- –Refactored onboarding flows to increase user agency and clarity, resulting in a 22% increase in completed onboarding sessions within one month of release.
- –Reduced checkout instability through cart deduplication and reliability improvements.
- –Co-designed reusable NestJS shared modules to reduce microservice boilerplate, laying groundwork for a future monorepo and scalable service growth (3 to 6+ services).
- –Embedded observability (Sentry, Better Stack) and CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, schema publishing) to improve deployment confidence and production visibility.
Technical Lead
November 2024 - August 2025Searchland, London, UK — all-in-one UK property and planning data platform
- –Replaced a complex Temporal-based asynchronous setup with BullMQ-driven background processing, reducing task failure rates from 35% to 7%, with automated retries stabilising import and report workflows.
- –Led backend performance overhaul enabling large-scale geospatial visualisation, reducing response times from seconds to milliseconds and supporting 3,000+ GeoJSON map renders across the UK.
- –Implemented dynamic Level of Detail (LoD) strategies tied to map zoom levels to support high-density geospatial rendering.
- –Spearheaded migration from GraphQL to tRPC, improving type safety, simplifying developer workflows, and enabling fine-grained query-level authorisation.
- –Architected a custom reporting engine generating fully branded PDF and Word reports with fine-grained dataset controls (restrictions, demographics, amenities, historic sales data).
- –Enabled stored sourcing queries to dynamically hydrate reports, allowing users to centre complex spatial filters around specific land titles and include relevant comparable data.
- –Mentored engineers and set architectural standards across backend and frontend systems.
Lead React Native Engineer - Frontend
November 2023 - November 2024Aviva, London, UK — multinational insurance and pension provider
- –Established coding standards and best practices for React Native and TypeScript, ensuring team adherence to maintain clean, scalable code.
- –Led technical workshops and code reviews, providing mentorship to improve team proficiency.
- –Set technical direction and acted as key decision-maker for technical challenges, aligning solutions with business objectives.
- –Supported sprint planning and delivery, balancing short-term goals with long-term technical health.
- –Maintained application architecture focusing on scalability and performance.
- –Collaborated cross-functionally with API, designers, and technical teams to ensure smooth project delivery.
- –Facilitated onboarding of new engineers and communicated complex technical topics to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Principal Software Engineer - Frontend (Part-Time Consultant)
July 2022 - July 2025efitter, London, UK — digital shopping assistant aiming to reduce returns due to sizing
- –Led as the sole engineer in a startup, overseeing all aspects of product development.
- –Migrated the core product, a Chrome extension, from vanilla JavaScript (Manifest V2) to TypeScript (Manifest V3) using modern build tools, including Vite.
- –Established a CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions for automated testing and deployment to the Chrome Web Store.
- –Developed bespoke internal tools, eliminating the need for costly third-party subscriptions.
- –Currently building B2B offerings using Golang and Docker, powering backends for client-facing dashboards.
- –Implemented logging and analytics systems for performance monitoring using the ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana).
Senior Software Engineer - Frontend
October 2022 - October 2023Wellcome Trust, London, UK — museum and library centred on medicine research
- –Developed developer-focused tools to enhance workflows within Yarn workspace monorepos.
- –Improved collection discoverability by implementing global search and restructuring the search hub to increase user affordance.
- –Managed and enhanced a mission-critical backend API, optimising Elasticsearch to ensure reliability and performance.
- –Implemented AI-powered media transcription with speaker identification, enhancing search precision and user experience for research purposes.
Senior Software Engineer - Frontend
June 2022 - August 2022Adarga, London, UK — AI powered Research and Analysis SaaS company
- –Containerised and integrated React and TypeScript micro-UI components into a robust CI/CD pipeline using Docker and GCP, ensuring efficient testing and continuous deployment of web applications using micro-frontend architecture.
- –Implemented optimised GraphQL endpoints for data retrieval in the second version of the application.
- –Implemented a user interface that allowed for the handling of large and ever moving datasets, with a focus on performance and scalability.
- –Implemented a user interface that properly emphasised the powers of natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) and graph databases to provide a more accurate and relevant search experience.
Senior Full-Stack Developer
July 2018 - June 2022TELUS Health (Formerly LifeWorks), London, UK — HR services and technology SaaS company
- –Led a global team in migrating multiple applications from Angular to ReactJS, ensuring adherence to coding best practices.
- –Contributed to all stages of the SDLC in an agile environment, from design to deployment.
- –Implemented AAA WCAG accessibility standards across client-facing platforms, enhancing usability for individuals with disabilities.
- –Developed a responsive email framework compatible with over 50 languages, increasing international user engagement across all used email clients.
- –Created custom Cookie compliance/GDPR modules to ensure global legal compliance and build customer trust.
Full-Stack Web Developer
August 2017 - July 2018Commercial People, London — Residential and Commercial real estate challenger property portal
- –Developed user-friendly and responsive front-end interfaces for mobile and web applications using React and React Native, targeting multiple platforms, including web, iOS, and Android.
- –Created a server-side rendered web app platform with SEO techniques, enhancing the visibility and reach of our products.
- –Engineered a flexible PDF generator in Node.js, enabling efficient creation of lead-generating PDFs with customisable layouts.
- –Led the development and integration of backend services to expand our platform's capabilities, connecting with property providers worldwide for up-to-date property listings.
Full-Stack Web Developer
May 2011 - August 2017RIE Studios, London — indie game development studio
- –Founding member of a games company, releasing a game on the Google Play Store.
- –Drove design decisions and meticulously orchestrated player experience in a dynamic, cross-functional team.
- –Coded gameplay mechanics in the Unity game engine using C#, ensuring precise execution.
- –Contributed to a versatile team where adaptability and cross-functional collaboration were paramount.
Projects
Built a digital language-preservation platform for Kimbundu by transforming a historical scanned Kimbundu–Portuguese dictionary into a structured, auditable lexical corpus. Designed a multi-stage pipeline covering PDF page extraction, column segmentation, OCR capture, deterministic parsing, corpus reconstruction, conservative LLM auditing, and editorial merge workflows. Produced a final merged corpus of 10,679 entries with provenance and review tracking, then published a website-ready public dataset powering kimbundu.org.
- –Built a multi-stage OCR → corpus reconstruction pipeline for a historical dictionary spanning hundreds of scanned pages
- –Produced a final merged editorial corpus of 10,679 entries with provenance, cleanup metadata, and review workflows
- –Published a public dictionary dataset and website experience to support Kimbundu language preservation
Languages
Libraries & Frameworks
Developer Tools
Platforms & Databases
Disciplines & Methodologies
Education
BA Games Design
London College of Communication, London
September 2011 - June 2013
ABC 3D Modelling and Animation
London College of Communication, London
September 2010 - June 2011