Tiago Leão
Technical Leader | AI/ML Engineer
Building the future with AI, one fine-tuned model at a time
Jupiter, Florida, USA
The Journey
From the Amazon to the Land of the Free
Born in the Amazon
Born in the Amazonian Region, northern Brazil
BrazilMoved to the United Kingdom
Embarked on a new chapter at age 18, pursuing education and opportunities
United KingdomUniversity of Greenwich
Graduated with First Class Honours in Software Engineering
London, UKTech Leadership Journey
Rose from Developer to Technical Leader across E-commerce, Retail, Gaming, and Investment Banking
London, UKBritish Royal Navy Reserve
Served with honor in the Royal Navy Reserve
United KingdomHSBC Global Headquarters
Led high-profile technology projects at one of the world's largest banking institutions
London, UKJupiter, Florida
Relocated to the USA after 20 years in the UK, pioneering AI innovation and LLM fine-tuning
USAProfessional Experience
Developer → Technical Leader
HSBC
Technical Leader
Global Headquarters, London
Led high-profile technology projects at one of the world's largest banks
E-commerce
UK Retail
Betting & Gaming
Investment Banking
Education
Academic qualifications from UK universities
BEng Software Engineering
First Class Honours
University of Greenwich
2009
Advanced Diploma in Music/Guitar
Goldsmiths, University of London
2009/2010
MSc Psychology
(Unfinished)
University of East London
2018/2019
The AI Revolution
A Perspective from Experience
With years of expertise across E-commerce, UK Retail, Betting & Gaming, and Investment Banking — leading teams and delivering value through knowledge and hands-on experience — I've witnessed many technology shifts. But none as transformative as this.
The world as we know it has changed drastically. We need to adapt our ways of doing things, especially in tech. We simply cannot ignore the automation that AI has brought.
If you're in software engineering or the tech industry — whether hands-on or in a leadership role — and you haven't started working with or training large language models yet, that's a serious sign it's time to level up.
Either:
- Your role is at risk of being automated
- Your organization is stuck in the past and operating in a bubble
Today's engineers and IT leaders should be spending their time building, fine-tuning, and integrating AI systems — not doubling down on legacy software delivery models that are rapidly becoming obsolete. Leaders and engineers must use their time improving and training LLMs so they can work more effectively and deliver results more in line with the world we live in today.
I practice what I preach: running local fine-tuning keeps my projects private and secure, without risking sensitive details by sending code to third-party APIs.
"The industry has fundamentally changed. Adapt to the LLM-driven world — or be gradually replaced by it."
Languages
AI/ML
Frameworks
Infrastructure
Portfolio
Products and Platforms
LLM Coding Assistant
ACTIVEAI-powered coding helper with local fine-tuning
Django AI
ACTIVESelf-hosted AI platform with Telegram and Web interfaces
Marketplace
ACTIVEE-commerce platform with vendor management
Financial Market Intelligence
ACTIVEMulti-strategy algorithmic trading platform
These are the projects I'm actively working on. More projects available on GitHub:
View GitHub ProfileOther Ventures
Beyond Software Engineering
Property Investor
Building wealth through real estate
Financial Advisor
Investment strategies and wealth management
Crypto Advocate
XRP is the future
A world with no reliance on private or government banks scrutiny and fast transactions with no third party fees.
What People Say
LinkedIn Recommendations
"Tiago led a critical multi-million pound security upgrade across our banking platform with exceptional skill. His ability to coordinate multiple teams while maintaining business confidence was impressive."
Engineering Director
Global Technology
HSBC
"During the monolith to microservices migration, Tiago demonstrated outstanding technical leadership. He built Jenkins pipelines from scratch and mentored the team through the entire transformation."
VP of Engineering
E-Commerce Platform
Wowcher
"Tiago took ownership of our CI/CD strategy and transformed how we deliver software. His focus on SOLID principles and team upskilling made a lasting impact on engineering culture."
Head of Technology
Digital Transformation
Kingfisher
"An exceptional consultant who delivered a streaming data platform capable of handling millions of transactions. His expertise in AWS, Java, and Python was instrumental to our cloud transformation."
Programme Director
Cloud Services
Contino
"Tiago led our transition from EC2 to ECS and helped deliver a next-generation betting platform. His expertise in high-performance Java and event-driven architecture was invaluable."
Technical Architect
Platform Engineering
Ladbrokes Coral
"A rare combination of hands-on technical excellence and leadership ability. Tiago coached our teams while consistently delivering high-quality code. Highly recommended."
CTO
Technology
FinTech Startup
Beyond the Code
The Person Behind the Engineer
🛻 American Trucks
🎸 Electric Guitar
⚽ Soccer
🏍️ Motorcycles
💻 Homelab
Running 60+ self-hosted services across 5 servers at home. From AI/ML workloads and algorithmic trading to media servers and smart home automation—all managed through Docker, Prometheus, and a custom CI/CD pipeline.
⚓ Royal Naval Reserve
Proud to have served in the Royal Naval Reserve, bringing military discipline, leadership, and teamwork to my professional career. This experience shaped my approach to high-pressure situations and mission-critical systems.
Life Moments
Christian
Gym
Soccer
Swimming
Computers
Cat Dad
Phrases
Thoughts and Reflections
"We're all subject to surprises in life. Some of the undesired surprises happen to prevent tragic things from breaking loose—things we'd never thought of or anticipated."
"Motivation is essential. Whatever you do and intend to do, you MUST find the ingredient that motivates you to do it. Motivation, discipline, and maturity lead to inspiration, and inspiration can be the difference between success and failure."
"Most people live their whole lives in their own little bubble, forgetting how massive the world actually is."
"Everything in its time. The Creator, in His omniscience and omnipotence, keeps all things in balance and in their proper places according to what was already ordained before the creation of the world. Nothing happens by chance; there is a reason and meaning in everything, even though we perceive events as random in our daily lives. What we see and understand does not compare to what exists and happens in secret, far beyond human comprehension."
"Science is no better than religion. Both are man-made concepts, both are subject to man's limitations and man's own myths. Now, what is beyond man is not and never will be subject to man's understanding or man's acceptance for existence."
"Knowledge, discipline, and motivation—the world belongs to the wise. Use your intelligence; life is but a breath."
"I simply don't follow the masses... and never will."
"Society will try to stop you from the moment you no longer fit the usual pattern."
"Prosperity is not directly linked to hard work but mostly to intelligence, motivation, creativeness, courage, and taking risks."
"Is your knowledge transferable? Make sure the core values of whatever you are doing for a living can be transferred elsewhere, otherwise you're likely to struggle to escape the little bubble you're part of today. The world is much bigger than the little bubble that we often find ourselves in."
"There are times when the technicalities, the granular details, no longer matter. It is when your time is better spent seeing the bigger picture. This is what a Leader should focus on—targeting the bigger picture, how everything plugs together."