Rafael Polo
Senior Software Engineer — Platform, Data & AI
| First name: |
Rafael |
| Last name: |
Polo |
| Citizenship: |
Portuguese (EU) · Brazilian — no work permit required |
| Address: |
Basel, 4055, Switzerland |
| Email: |
rafael@extrapolo.com |
| Web: |
linkedin.com/in/rafaelpolo extrapolo.com |
Formal Education
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Postgraduate in Data Science for Finance – 2021
NOVA IMS Information Management School, Lisbon
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Master in Information Systems – 2010–2012
PPGI/UNIRIO — Knowledge Representation & Reasoning
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Bachelor in Computer Science – 2004–2009
Metodista Bennett, Rio de Janeiro
Relevant Professional Experience
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Swisscom – 2024–2025 – Zürich, Switzerland
DevOps Engineer developing platforms for Telecommunication Operations.
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EDGE Empower® – 2024–2025 – Baar, Switzerland
Senior Technical Lead managing projects and external UX & Dev Teams for a SaaS Product.
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ExtraPolo — Independent Consulting – 2010–2022 – Rio de Janeiro · Berlin · Athens · Lisbon
40+ projects across civic tech, data journalism, open-source platforms and interactive installations for public and private clients.
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Moedax Digital Services – 2018–2021 – Lisbon · Rio de Janeiro
Founder & CTO – Fintech startup connecting CBDC digital currency with KYC compliance automation.
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GFOSS.eu / Code + Create – 2017–2018 – Athens, Greece
Web Programming Teacher – taught HTML, CSS, jQuery to refugee and local youth.
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Tactical Tech Collective – 2014–2016 – Berlin, Germany
Full-Stack Web Architect – investigative data tools under Exposing the Invisible team.
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Trommsdorf + Drüner – 2013–2014 – Berlin, Germany
Full-Stack Engineer – Innovation Team developing Business Intelligence dashboards.
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Cortex Intelligence – 2007–2008 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Developer – Competitive Intelligence and Data Mining R&D team.
Certifications
- Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP)
- Gen AI Foundational Models — NLP & LLMs
- AI Agents using RAG and LangChain
Relevant Tech Skills
- Languages & Frameworks: Python · Ruby on Rails · TypeScript · React · Java
- DevOps & Infra: Docker · Kubernetes · CI/CD · AWS · Linux · Git
- Data & AI: SQL · ETL · Data Engineering · RAG · LangChain · LLM integrations
- Architecture: REST APIs · MVC · OOP · UML · System Design · Web Crawling
Natural Languages
- Native Brazilian Portuguese
- Full professional English
- Full professional Spanish
- German B1 – TELC certified · 3 yrs Berlin + 3 yrs Basel