Summary
Overview
Work history
Education
Skills
Languages
Timeline
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Sara Figueiredo

Sara Figueiredo

London

Summary

I am a Senior Software Engineer with nearly 10 years of experience across diverse industries, currently specialising in frontend-focused full-stack development. I bring a strong foundation in React, TypeScript, Java, Ruby on Rails, and cloud-based microservices, combined with a deep interest in healthcare innovation. I’m passionate about continuous learning, and I’ve recently expanded my knowledge in Node.js, enabling the transition of legacy systems into modern, scalable full-stack applications.


My career is driven by a belief in technology as a force for improving human well-being. I’ve worked on healthcare applications that support real patients, building intuitive user experiences that make complex systems feel simple.


Beyond the technical, I am a strong communicator and natural collaborator. My parallel journey as an actress has sharpened my ability to connect with people, explain complex ideas, and foster empathy - skills I bring into every team and project I work on.

Overview

11
11
years of professional experience

Work history

Senior Software Engineer

Nuffield Health
London
10.2023 - Current
  • Leading the transition of a legacy healthcare application by rewriting backend services from Ruby to Node.js and frontend components from Angular to React, enhancing maintainability and performance.
  • Developing and maintaining a React-based microsite for online Health Assessment bookings, integrating complex patient health APIs to improve user experience.
  • Collaborating closely with designers and stakeholders to build intuitive, accessible UI/UX for patients.
  • Acting as a liaison between technical and non-technical teams, ensuring clear communication of requirements and expectations, supported by my acting and public speaking background.
  • Mentoring junior engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning, and effective onboarding.
  • Documenting standard development procedures and training new team members to ensure consistent practices.
  • Promoting observability best practices as a New Relic Observability Champion, advocating for better monitoring and performance visibility.

Senior Software Engineer

Lilium Aviation
London, UK
01.2021 - 07.2023
  • Adapted quickly to a fast-paced, innovative environment, making sound technical decisions - even in areas outside my existing tech stack.
  • Contributed to the design and development of the Digital Airline Platform, focused on passenger journeys, bookings, and vertiport operations - built using .NET, React, and Cassandra, running in Kubernetes on AWS with infrastructure managed via Terraform.
  • Gained hands-on Big Data experience using Palantir to generate insights into aircraft production and supply chain health, leveraging ETL pipelines, PySpark, and AWS.
  • Led an algorithm-intensive project to enable visualization and querying of the engineering bill of materials (EBOM) - a deeply nested, tree-structured data model (implemented in PySpark).
  • Supervised the development of a flight test visualization and analytics tool, mentoring an intern through data processing in PySpark and front-end visualization in Unity 3D.
  • Initiated and facilitated regular mental well-being meetings, supporting a healthy and growth-focused engineering culture.
  • Conducted technical and values-based interviews and mentored interns to integrate effectively and grow professionally within the team.

Software Engineer

Collinson Group
London, UK
10.2018 - 01.2021
  • Joined a rapidly scaling team of Java engineers tasked with replacing a legacy ColdFusion application by designing and developing Spring Boot microservices.
  • Gained significant experience in microservices architecture, AWS cloud infrastructure, and building automated CI/CD pipelines -transitioning from previous monolithic deployment environments (WebLogic/WebSphere).
  • Developed and maintained multiple backend services, ensuring clean architecture, performance, and scalability using Spring Boot and Spring Data.
  • Took initiative in shaping Agile practices, including organizing and facilitating Sprint Retrospectives, partially fulfilling Scrum Master responsibilities.
  • Designed and implemented secure authentication mechanisms using Spring Security, including a reusable configuration library supporting Basic Auth, OAuth, and role-based access control via annotations.
  • Actively participated in the interview process, conducting both technical and core values assessments for engineering candidates.
  • Contributed to data modeling across microservices to ensure efficient, scalable, and domain-aligned database design.
  • Practiced Test-Driven Development (TDD) to ensure maintainable and robust code.

Contractor - Software Engineer / JAVA Developer

FIS / ImpactZero
Watford, UK
08.2014 - 04.2018
  • Designed, developed, and maintained complex features for core banking applications used by bank branches across multiple countries.
  • Played a key role in several major modules:
    Frontend Module: Built and maintained UI tools for bank staff to manage card, customer, and account information using Apache Struts and Apache Wicket.
    Web Services Layer: Developed and supported Java-based SOAP services for critical operations like customer lookup and card activation.
    Batch Credit Module: Implemented batch processes using Spring Batch for end-of-day operations such as statement generation and payment calculations.
  • Created and optimized database triggers and stored procedures to automate card assignment logic based on type and usage rules.
  • Supported remote installation and configuration of applications on WebLogic and WebSphere servers across client environments.
  • Followed Agile methodologies, contributing to daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives.

Education

Masters - Computer and Telematics Engineering

University of Aveiro
Aveiro
2014

Skills

  • Frontend (React, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, Responsive Design, REST APIs)
    Backend (JAVA, Python, NET/C#, Nodejs, Ruby on Rails, Spring Boot)
  • Database-related programming/monitoring (SQL, NoSQL, Oracle, Hibernate, Spring Data JPA)
  • DevOps & Infrastructure (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Terraform, Apache Kafka)
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • BDD (Cucumber)
  • Broad experience with agile methodologies
  • Other: Speech Recognition, Text-To-Speech Synthesis, Spring Batch, Hibernate, Maven, GitHub, GitLab, TestNG/JUnit, SOAP/REST, Windows, Linux, WordPress, Joomla
  • Great communication and presentation skills
  • Fluent in English and Portuguese Good level of Spanish and French

Languages

English
Fluent
Portuguese
Native
French
Intermediate
Spanish
Intermediate

Timeline

Senior Software Engineer

Nuffield Health
10.2023 - Current

Senior Software Engineer

Lilium Aviation
01.2021 - 07.2023

Software Engineer

Collinson Group
10.2018 - 01.2021

Contractor - Software Engineer / JAVA Developer

FIS / ImpactZero
08.2014 - 04.2018

Masters - Computer and Telematics Engineering

University of Aveiro

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Sara Figueiredo