Nuno Grilo

Nuno Grilo

Senior Software Developer · iOS & macOS · AI Engineering
Location: Fão, Portugal Email: [email protected] Phone: +351 934 568 268 Web: nunogrilo.com GitHub: github.com/nfgrilo LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nfgrilo Nationality: Portuguese Driving licence: B

Profile

Passionate Senior Software Developer with 25+ years in software, 15+ in the Apple ecosystem (iOS & macOS: Objective-C, Swift, SwiftUI), and AI engineering — building LLM-powered applications and agentic systems. I also build full-stack, edge-first products with Cloudflare Workers, Next.js and TypeScript, on top of a deep background in Java & web backends, frontends and systems.

Self-taught since exploring BASIC on a ZX Spectrum 48K at age 8, I graduated in Computer Science in 2001 and have since worked across software, telecommunications, electronics, higher education and healthcare — adapting quickly to new technologies, contexts and cultures. I have an entrepreneurial streak (co-founded two companies) and years of experience in distributed, remote teams (Sakai community, Paw). I always put my love in what I do — positive, open-minded and determined, and always looking for greater and bigger challenges.

Core Skills

AI & LLM ApplicationsLLM-powered apps and integrations on the Claude & OpenAI APIs; prompt engineering, tool use, shipping AI features to production.
Agentic AI SystemsAutonomous, multi-step agents; tool/function calling; orchestration; Model Context Protocol (MCP); LangChain, RAG/vector pipelines.
AI-Assisted Development & AutomationAgentic coding tools and AI-driven automation pipelines to build faster and automate workflows end to end.
iOS & macOS Development15+ years; Objective-C, Swift, SwiftUI, Swift Concurrency, Combine, SwiftData, UIKit/AppKit, Foundation, CoreData, MapKit, XPC Services.
Edge & Full-Stack WebCloudflare Workers, Hono, D1, R2; modern Next.js — fast, serverless, globally distributed.
Backends & APIsNode.js, Python, Hono; RESTful & GraphQL APIs; data modelling and authentication.
DevOps & InfrastructureDocker, CI/CD, serverless/Cloudflare infrastructure; automated builds, deployments and monitoring.
Frontend WebReact, Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, on solid HTML, CSS and JavaScript foundations.
Backends (earlier)LAMP (Apache, Nginx, PHP, Perl, MySQL, PostgreSQL); Java (Spring, Hibernate, Apache Wicket, JSF, SOAP, Ant, Maven).
Java DesktopAWT, Swing, SWT, Eclipse RCP.
Systems & DatabasesWindows & Linux networks, Active Directory; MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite.
Languages & toolingSwift, Objective-C, C, C#, Java, Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, SQL; Git, GitHub, Slack.

Work Experience

AI Engineer / Technical PartnerSCIT ConsultingFeb 2025 – Present
scitconsulting.eu · Europe (remote)
SCIT Consulting is a boutique AI consultancy helping companies across Europe transform with artificial intelligence — AI-native solutions built with Claude, GPT and Gemini.
  • Design and development of AI projects — LLM-powered applications, custom AI agents, AI automation and conversational AI.
  • Hands-on AI engineering and technical advisory, from strategy to execution.
  • Building agentic systems and AI-native solutions with Claude, GPT and open-source models (LangChain, RAG/vector pipelines, MCP).
Senior DeveloperIndie Developer / FreelancerMay 2017 – Present
Remote
Working on own products and as a freelancer across iOS/macOS, full-stack and AI projects.
  • Design, development and launch of Epic — Surf Forecast (iOS surf-forecast app); featured in Apple's “Surf's Up” collection.
  • Full-stack and edge web work with Cloudflare Workers, Hono, D1/R2 and Next.js; AI/LLM and agentic features.
Senior iOS DeveloperSherpanySep 2018 – Jul 2021
sherpany.com · 100% remote
Sherpany is the next-generation software for successful executive and board meetings.
  • Development of the Sherpany iOS application.
  • Agile & collaborative environment; fully remote position.
Senior macOS DeveloperPaw SASOct 2015 – Apr 2017
paw.cloud · 100% remote · Software Development
Paw builds beautifully designed apps that make interaction with REST services delightful.
  • Development of the Paw app — a full-featured macOS HTTP client for API testing, documentation and team work.
  • Collaboration on the Paw Documentation site; user support.
  • Stack: Swift, Objective-C, C, Cocoa, Foundation, CoreData, JavaScriptCore, AFNetworking, PromiseKit, ThemeKit.
  • Collaborative environment using Slack and GitHub.
  • Paw was later acquired by RapidAPI, and more recently by Nokia.
CTO, Co-Founder, Senior Software DeveloperInteracto Labs Inc.Jan 2008 – Jul 2016
flavours.interacto.net · Software Development
Software company building products for Mac with great user experience.
  • Development of Flavours 2 and Flavours Classic — Mac theming apps (local + online theme store, Photoshop-like editor, background agents, helper tools, dynamic code injection for runtime theming).
  • OS X reverse-engineering of system drawing procedures; application model, logic, presentation and supporting tools/agents/libraries.
  • Server-side application with RESTful API backing the online Flavours Store (PHP, MySQL); in-house tooling (PHP, Objective-C).
  • Company incorporation, IT/dev workflow, strategic direction; server setup and administration (FreeBSD); user support.
IT Director, Software DeveloperSanta Casa da Misericórdia de FãoNov 2010 – Feb 2012
Fão, Portugal · Healthcare & social work
Healthcare group with hospital, day nursery, elderly day-care and retirement-home facilities.
  • Responsible for all company IT assets; full replacement of the legacy hospital management system, incl. migration planning and data migration.
  • Server virtualization (Hyper-V); network design and administration (Active Directory); MSSQL maintenance and optimisation.
  • C# desktop apps for internal use; automation scripts (C#, PowerShell); zero-client rollout (NComputing); QA, suppliers and user support.
Analyst / Software DeveloperUniversidade Fernando PessoaDec 2005 – Oct 2010
ufp.pt · Porto, Portugal · E-Learning
Higher-education organisation. Led the local Learning Management System (Sakai) implementation and contributed widely to the Sakai project. Appointed Sakai Fellow (2008).
  • Implementation of the local LMS with Sakai: setup, configuration and maintenance of dev/production servers (CentOS); QA and deployment of every major/minor upgrade; monitoring; JVM load balancing; MySQL maintenance and optimisation.
  • Development of internal/proprietary Sakai tools — roster interoperability, single sign-on, enterprise integration, thesis/dissertation supervision tool.
  • Tight collaboration with the Sakai community: tools, bug fixes and features for the main code and 3rd-party contributions; participation in Sakai QA.
  • Research on large RDF datastores for event tracking; speaker at international Sakai conferences; maintained local DSpace (B-Digital) and project wiki documentation.
Software Developer, IT Director, Co-FounderBlueSpan, Lda.Sep 2003 – Nov 2005
Águeda, Portugal · Electronics & Telecommunications
Startup delivering intelligent electronics and telecommunications solutions.
  • Development of a multi-device management platform; specification and implementation of custom communication protocols.
  • Java and LabVIEW development; Java desktop apps for internal use.
  • Responsible for all company IT assets; network design and administration (Linux); QA, suppliers and management tasks.
Software Developer, System AdministratorMultiwave Photonics, S.A.Dec 2001 – Jun 2003
Maia, Portugal · Fiber-optic technologies
Startup offering next-generation pulsed fiber lasers and fiber-optic optical sources.
  • Device management/configuration software in Java; Java and LabVIEW instrumentation software; internal stock-management application.
  • Responsible for all company IT assets; network design and administration (Active Directory).

Education & Training

Licenciatura — Ciências de Computadores (Computer Science)1996 – 2001
Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto (FCUP) · Final classification: 14/20
Programming, fundamentals, information systems, systems & network administration, web technologies; building computer applications with appropriate choice of algorithms, languages, libraries and user interfaces.
Certified LabVIEW Developer (CLD)
National Instruments · Feb–Mar 2002
ILOG JTGO & JViews Training
IBM ILOG · Oct–Nov 2001
Professional Training Placement (19/20)
Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicações (EFACEC Group) · 2001

Languages

LanguageUnderstandingSpeakingWriting
ListeningReadingSpoken interactionSpoken production
PortugueseMother tongue
EnglishC1C1C1C1C2

Levels: A1/A2 Basic · B1/B2 Independent · C1/C2 Proficient (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

Additional Skills

Organisational / managerial

High adaptabilityCreative problem-solver Team spiritSelf-organised & disciplined Focused & dedicatedEntrepreneurial Work with passion

Communication

Gained as an active Sakai contributor — periodic video-conference meetings, speaking at international Sakai conferences, and daily community communication via mail/chat.

Digital skills: Proficient user — information processing, communication, content creation, safety and problem solving. Other: passionate surfer, meditation, tech-savvy, continuous self-improvement.

Honours & Awards

Sakai Fellow2008
Awarded at the 9th Sakai Conference (Paris, June 2008) — a distinction recognising innovative and quality contributions to the Sakai (now Apereo) community, fostering leadership and active contribution to the open-source project.

Conference Presentations

Selected Projects

Epic — Surf Forecast
iOS app · featured in Apple's “Surf's Up” collection
Paw
macOS HTTP client / API tool
ThemeKit
macOS theming framework (open source)
Flavours 2 / Flavours Classic
macOS theming apps + online store

Testimonials

“It is also fair to highlight the work carried out by the team responsible for preparing the launch of the Virtual University (UFP-UV) in 2008–09, specifically the operational component with Nuno Fernandes, who the Sakai consortium (MIT; Harvard; Stanford and Michigan) has just appointed Sakai Fellow for his contribution, at UFP, to improving the operationalisation of the e-learning platform we use.” Prof. Doutor Salvato Trigo — Rector, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP News #09, 2008)
“Nuno has been the main technical lead for the UFP's Virtual University project until his departure in Oct 2010. During his time on the project, Nuno showed unrivalled technical, groupwork and personal skills from which not only UFP but the whole Sakai project benefited. It was a pleasure to work with him.” Feliz Gouveia — Associate Professor, University Fernando Pessoa
“Nuno is an excellent professional and good character. He served as principal programmer and produced several tools assisting the UFP Virtual University (UFP-UV) initiative — now part of the Sakai software worldwide. He gained recognition from the Sakai Foundation with the Sakai Fellow in 2008, and consistently proves he has the technical skills and qualities to excel in complex technical projects.” Luís Borges Gouveia — Associate Professor (with aggregation), University Fernando Pessoa
“Nuno is a highly skilled software developer with very good analysis capacity and problem-solving techniques.” David Roldán Martínez — Information Architect & Open Source Project Contributor

Annex

Licenciatura (Computer Science) degree certificate — Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto (concluded 2001-07-20, final classification 14/20). Available on request.