nando.

Hello, I'm Nando.

I'm a Full-Stack Developer and Platform Engineer with deep expertise across frontend, backend, and DevOps. Throughout my career, I've designed and delivered highly scalable production systems that improve reliability, reduce cloud costs, and dramatically accelerate product delivery.

My true passion lies in developer experience and treating the platform as a product. Currently at AWS building internal platforms for regional infrastructure teams, I've spent my career — from proptech startups to Foxtel's streaming platform — crafting intuitive tools, standardizing architectures, and creating paved paths that empower engineering teams to do their best work.

Key Focus Areas

  • Full-Stack Engineering: Crafting fast, modern, and beautiful user interfaces (React, Next.js, Vue) backed by robust distributed services.
  • Platform Architecture & Microservices: Designing production-grade Java/Spring Boot microservices, Kubernetes-based infrastructure, and unified API layers that scale with the business.
  • DevOps & Cloud: Architecting cost-effective AWS/Kubernetes infrastructure, designing GitOps pipelines, and introducing canary deployments.
  • Developer Experience (DX): Embedding developer portals (like Backstage) and feature flagging frameworks (like LaunchDarkly) for safer, faster releases.
  • AI & LLMs: Integrating large language models into internal platforms and workflows to improve developer productivity and business operations.

Professional Experience

Systems Development Engineer

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

February 2026 - Present

  • Building and operating internal platforms that enable AWS regional infrastructure teams to deploy, validate, and manage change at scale with reduced manual toil.
  • Driving platform-as-a-product thinking by gathering team feedback, identifying friction points, and improving self-service tooling that standardizes maintenance and reporting across internal customers.
  • Contributing to operability platform capabilities — health monitoring, diagnostics, repair workflows, and automation — that improve fleet consistency and accelerate operational velocity.
  • Participating in requirements and design for reliability-focused platform features, including patterns for production acceptance testing and infrastructure rollout validation.

Technical Architect

Foxtel

October 2022 - January 2026

  • Built a GraphQL Gateway as a Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) layer, enabling product teams across web, mobile, and TV to define their own types and optimise API calls — reducing over-fetching and accelerating feature delivery.
  • Established standards and golden paths across development teams, enabling new projects to start with proven patterns, observability, and CI/CD built in.
  • Embedded feature experimentation with LaunchDarkly, enabling safer deployments and faster product validation.
  • Improved developer experience by implementing a Backstage developer portal with integrated metrics, documentation, and service catalog — reducing onboarding time from weeks to days.
  • Improved observability and operational readiness through monitoring, automation, and system health checks.
  • Contributed to an internal AI assistant prototype leveraging large language models to support employees in different areas of the business.

Chief Technology Officer

ibenta

November 2020 - October 2022

  • Built the engineering team and the proptech platform from MVP to production, establishing a stable foundation for future growth.
  • Designed and implemented a cost-efficient AWS stack (EKS, RDS, DocumentDB, S3, SES) with Spring Boot microservices.
  • Delivered Vue.js micro-frontends (Single SPA) and a Flutter mobile app, broadening product reach across devices.
  • Established CI/CD pipelines with GitOps, reducing release errors and accelerating delivery.
  • Introduced observability with Elastic Stack, providing real-time monitoring and performance insights.
  • Launched CRM, campaign / task management, and sales-pipeline features, improving agent efficiency.

Senior Java Developer

Kayo Sports / Streamotion

February 2019 - October 2022

  • Designed an asynchronous billing platform with optimistic entitlement and eventual consistency — enabling instant subscriber access while eliminating rate-limiting bottlenecks during high-volume periods.
  • Built commerce and identity microservices integrating Auth0, Adobe Experience Platform, and Zuora for authentication, onboarding, and subscription billing.
  • Improved developer experience through local development tooling (Tilt, Kind, mirrord) and Jenkins X preview environments with automated PR workflows, accelerating feedback cycles and reducing production defects.
  • Contributed to the migration from EC2 to Kubernetes, standardizing deployment patterns and enabling faster, more reliable releases.
  • Introduced canary releases and feature flagging, improving release safety and accelerating experimentation.
  • Enhanced observability by integrating monitoring and alerting tools, improving incident response and system reliability.

Developer

UnderwriteMe Australia

June 2016 - February 2019

  • Developed microservices for UK and Australian insurance comparison platforms using Spring Boot and Groovy.
  • Built React and Angular frontends integrated with a custom rules engine, enabling dynamic, no-code rule creation for underwriting workflows.
  • Led initiative to modernize and stabilize flaky browser testing, improving reliability and establishing automated testing practices that accelerated delivery confidence.
  • Developed integrations using RabbitMQ and REST APIs, establishing reusable communication standards across services.
  • Delivered microservices running on AWS with automation and monitoring powered by Puppet, Rundeck, and Logstash.

Software Developer

ADTEC Communications

December 2013 - May 2016

  • Enhanced a real-time communication platform (ComCent) using Java, PHP, and JavaScript — introducing WebSockets for real-time messaging capabilities.
  • Developed NICUCAM, a healthcare video-streaming solution enabling remote neonatal monitoring and winning iAwards ACT Merit: Health.
  • Built and extended mobile applications (QOCCA, IM-Notify), broadening adoption and customer reach.
  • Contributed to modernization efforts, improving performance and maintainability across multiple services.

Developer Associate

WiseTech Global

October 2012 - March 2014

  • Improved CargoWise logistics platform with messaging systems, CI/CD, and TDD.

Web Developer

Lead Creation

December 2011 - September 2012

  • Delivered client websites (WordPress / Magento) and server / network support.

Applications Developer

Amdatex Las Piñas

January 2010 - September 2010

  • Built internal apps (Java, C#, PHP) and improved system stability.

Education & Qualifications

B.Sc. Information Technology

University of Technology Sydney

2011 - 2013

Diploma of IT (Accelerated)

UTS Insearch

2010 - 2011

B.Sc. Computer Science

De La Salle University, Philippines

2004 - 2009

Certifications & Awards

  • Sun Certified Programmer — Java SE 6
  • UTS Insearch Prize — Achievement in IT
  • iAwards ACT Merit: Health — NICUCAM Innovation
Nando Dela Cruz

Nando Dela Cruz

Full-Stack DeveloperPlatform Engineer
Sydney, Australia
Core Expertise
Platform-as-a-ProductDeveloper ExperienceFull-Stack EngineeringCloud & DevOps
GitHubLinkedInEmail
Skills & Tech Stack
Languages
TypeScriptJavaScriptJavaKotlinPythonGroovy
Frontend & Mobile
ReactNext.jsVue.jsAngularSingle SPAFlutterAndroidTailwind CSS
Backend
Spring BootGrailsNode.jsGraphQLREST
Cloud & Infrastructure
AWSKubernetesDockerTerraformCloudFormationCDK
CI/CD & GitOps
GitHub ActionsJenkinsJenkins XGitOpsCanary DeploymentsBlue/Green Deployments
Data & Messaging
PostgreSQLMySQLMongoDBDynamoDBRedisKafkaSQS
Observability & DX
BackstageLaunchDarklyNew RelicPrometheusGrafanaElastic StackTilt