Engineering Manager · Santiago, Chile

Jorge
Valencia

Software Architect & Engineering Leader

20+ years building high-performing teams and critical systems at scale. From writing code to defining roadmaps — I operate fluently at every level.

Santiago, Chile +56 9 9299 7671 jorge@jvalencia.tech Spanish · English · Portuguese
Santiago, Chile +56 9 9299 7671 jorge@jvalencia.tech Español · Inglés · Portugués
Santiago, Chile +56 9 9299 7671 jorge@jvalencia.tech Espanhol · Inglês · Português
Scroll

About me

I'm a software engineer and tech leader who has spent the last 15 years building products and the teams that ship them. My experience spans startup chaos, enterprise-scale migrations, and everything in between.

At LATAM Airlines I led a 3-year migration of the company's Global Distribution System from Amadeus to Sabre, managing 5 distributed teams across 4 countries. At Octodots I built an IT department from scratch. Today I work at a global Ad Tech company, tackling distributed systems challenges at scale.

I believe great engineering is inseparable from great culture: clear processes, honest feedback, and teams that can iterate fast without accumulating debt.

Soy un ingeniero de software y líder técnico que lleva 15 años construyendo productos y los equipos que los entregan. Mi experiencia abarca el caos de las startups, las migraciones a escala empresarial y todo lo que hay entre medio.

En LATAM Airlines lideré una migración de 3 años del Sistema de Distribución Global de la compañía de Amadeus a Sabre, gestionando 5 equipos distribuidos en 4 países. En Octodots construí un departamento IT desde cero. Hoy trabajo en una empresa global de Ad Tech, abordando desafíos de sistemas distribuidos a escala.

Creo que la gran ingeniería es inseparable de la gran cultura: procesos claros, feedback honesto y equipos que pueden iterar rápido sin acumular deuda.

Sou um engenheiro de software e lider tecnico que passou os ultimos 15 anos construindo produtos e as equipes que os entregam. Minha experiencia abrange o caos das startups, migracoes em escala empresarial e tudo no meio.

Na LATAM Airlines liderei uma migracao de 3 anos do Sistema de Distribuicao Global da empresa de Amadeus para Sabre, gerenciando 5 equipes distribuidas em 4 paises. Na Octodots construi um departamento de TI do zero. Hoje trabalho em uma empresa global de Ad Tech, enfrentando desafios de sistemas distribuidos em escala.

Acredito que a grande engenharia e inseparavel da grande cultura: processos claros, feedback honesto e equipes que podem iterar rapidamente sem acumular divida tecnica.

20+
Years of experience
4
Countries managed simultaneously
12
Engineers led at peak
3
Languages spoken

Core skills

01
Team Leadership
Hiring, mentoring, career development, and managing distributed international teams. Building cultures of trust and accountability.
Hiring Mentoring Remote teams Feedback
02
Delivery & Process
Kanban, Scrum, CI/CD pipeline automation, Continuous Delivery, and technical roadmap definition aligned to business goals.
Kanban CI/CD Scrum TDD
03
Architecture
Microservices, SOA/WOA, cloud-native AWS, Infrastructure as Code, active-active multisite, and event-driven messaging systems.
Microservices AWS Kafka IaC DDD
04
Tech Stack
Full-stack hands-on experience across backend, frontend, infrastructure, and data pipelines. Still writing code alongside managing.
Go Kotlin TypeScript Java Kubernetes Snowflake ArgoCD

AI & Tooling

01
Agentic Workflow
Uses Cursor as primary IDE running multiple parallel tasks in human-in-the-loop mode: agent-driven code implementation with detailed plan iteration, and RFC/PRD generation with continuous context sharing.
Cursor Claude Human-in-the-loop
02
MCP & Integrations
Built a custom MCP server integrating AI agents with observability and logging systems (OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana/Loki). Develops and maintains custom skills for Cursor and Claude.
MCP OpenTelemetry Prometheus Grafana
03
Agent Optimization
Works on token usage optimization via proxies, indexing strategies, and agent specialization for specific domains. Focuses on giving agents maximum autonomy with minimum overhead.
Token optimization Agent specialization RAG
04
Vision
AI is here to stay in engineering — but the real challenge is distinguishing stable, proven practices from immature ones amid constant noise. Organizations and individuals must adapt faster than ever, with the judgment to identify what knowledge is durable.
Leadership Strategy

Experience

08/2025 — Present
Global Ad Tech Company
Senior Software Engineer
  • Feature development on a global Retail Media / Ad Tech platform, with teams distributed across Chile, Brazil, USA, Australia, and Turkey.
  • Desarrollo de features en una plataforma global de Retail Media / Ad Tech, con equipos distribuidos en Chile, Brasil, EE.UU., Australia y Turquía.
  • Desenvolvimento de features em uma plataforma global de Retail Media / Ad Tech, com equipes distribuidas no Chile, Brasil, EUA, Australia e Turquia.
  • Kafka Streams redesign: eliminated week-long time-windowed joins consuming 3 TB / 48 GB RAM pods. New design: <100 MB storage, 1 CPU / 1 GB per pod, fewer pods, lower failure rate.
  • Rediseño de Kafka Streams: eliminación de joins temporales de 1 semana que consumían 3 TB / pods de 48 GB. Nuevo diseño: <100 MB de almacenamiento, 1 CPU / 1 GB por pod, menos pods y menor tasa de fallos.
  • Redesenho do Kafka Streams: eliminacao de joins temporais de 1 semana que consumiam 3 TB / pods de 48 GB. Novo design: <100 MB de armazenamento, 1 CPU / 1 GB por pod, menos pods e menor taxa de falhas.
  • Stack: Go · Kotlin · TypeScript · Kafka Streams · Kubernetes · Snowflake · ArgoCD
11/2022 — 08/2025
Octodots Analytics SpA
Tech Lead / IT Manager
  • Built the IT department from scratch: roles, hiring, and managing a team of 3 engineers for a Mining Tech startup.
  • Construcción del área IT desde cero: roles, contratación y gestión de un equipo de 3 ingenieros para una startup de tecnología minera.
  • Construcao do departamento de TI do zero: papeis, contratacao e gestao de uma equipe de 3 engenheiros para uma startup de tecnologia para mineracao.
  • Architected and shipped the first 3 products: Frontend, Backend, BFF, Streams, Queues. CI/CD on AWS with Terraform.
  • Diseñé y entregué los primeros 3 productos: Frontend, Backend, BFF, Streams, Queues. CI/CD en AWS con Terraform.
  • Projetei e entreguei os primeiros 3 produtos: Frontend, Backend, BFF, Streams, Queues. CI/CD na AWS com Terraform.
10/2017 — 11/2022
RebelSouls SpA
Consultant & Co-founder
Consultor y Co-fundador
Consultor e Co-fundador
  • Software architecture consultancy for mining, transport, and construction sectors. Agile transformations and cloud migrations.
  • Consultoría en arquitectura de software para sectores de minería, transporte y construcción. Transformaciones ágiles y migraciones cloud.
  • Consultoria em arquitetura de software para os setores de mineracao, transporte e construcao. Transformacoes ageis e migracoes para nuvem.
05/2010 — 05/2017
LATAM Airlines Group
Lead Architect → API Product Owner → Agile Manager
Arquitecto Senior → API Product Owner → Agile Manager
Arquiteto Senior → API Product Owner → Agile Manager
  • Led the 3-year GDS/PSS migration from Amadeus to Sabre, managing 5 distributed teams across Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and the USA.
  • Lideré la migración de 3 años del GDS/PSS de Amadeus a Sabre, gestionando 5 equipos distribuidos en Chile, Brasil, Argentina y EE.UU.
  • Liderei a migracao de 3 anos do GDS/PSS de Amadeus para Sabre, gerenciando 5 equipes distribuidas no Chile, Brasil, Argentina e EUA.
  • Led a team of 12 architects. Introduced TDD, DDD, CI, and microservices to the entire web factory.
  • Lideré un equipo de 12 arquitectos. Introduje TDD, DDD, CI y microservicios en toda la fábrica web.
  • Liderei uma equipe de 12 arquitetos. Introduzi TDD, DDD, CI e microsservicos em toda a fabrica web.
  • Active-active multisite deployment across 5 global datacenters. Perl → Java platform migration.
  • Despliegue multisite activo-activo en 5 datacenters globales. Migración de plataforma Perl → Java.
  • Implantacao multisite ativo-ativo em 5 datacenters globais. Migracao da plataforma Perl para Java.
02/2008 — 05/2010
Entermedia Software Inc.
Software Developer
  • 100% remote work for a US company. Digital Asset Management system (Java Enterprise / Spring). Clients: StateFarm, WWE, Pindar.
  • Trabajo 100% remoto para empresa estadounidense. Sistema de gestión de activos digitales (Java Enterprise / Spring). Clientes: StateFarm, WWE, Pindar.
  • Trabalho 100% remoto para empresa norte-americana. Sistema de Digital Asset Management (Java Enterprise / Spring). Clientes: StateFarm, WWE, Pindar.

Education

2001 — 2006
Computing Engineering
Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María · Santiago, Chile
Continuing education
Leadership & Architecture
Leadership 2.0 · Software Architecture & Design · Lean & Agile Practices

Let's work together

jorge@jvalencia.tech