Giorgio Polvara

Software Engineer

Barcelona, Spain18 yrs 11 mos experience

Key Highlights

  • Led microfrontend migration for improved architecture.
  • Established frontend foundations at a now-unicorn startup.
  • Created a widely adopted npm package for testing.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS-focused Frontend Architect with extensive experience in scaling applications.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Frontend ArchitectureMicrofrontend ArchitectureFrontend DevelopmentFrontend Infrastructure

Other Skills

Engineering LeadershipProject EngineeringSoftware Complexity ManagementTechnical LeadershipReactAngularJSJavaScriptRuby on RailsNode.jsWeb DevelopmentWeb ApplicationsHTML 5CSSGitRuby

About

With nearly 20 years of coding experience, I specialize in designing and scaling frontend systems for high-growth companies. I set up the frontend foundations at TravelPerk (now Perk) when it was a 15-person startup—foundations that still power the company today as a unicorn. I’m also the original creator of @testing-library/user-event, a widely adopted npm package in the testing ecosystem. As a Staff Software Engineer, I’ve led a large-scale migration to a microfrontend architecture, established shared packages and API contracts, and introduced automated quality standards that improved team autonomy and delivery speed. My focus is on frontend architecture, scalability, and developer experience—building systems that reduce complexity and enable teams to move fast with confidence. --- If you are here because I'm going to interview you, here are some tips: * I want you to do well, and I'll try my best to help you succeed. * I know you're stressed. Unfortunately, interviews are stressful. I'll try not to make it worse. * If we interview online, try to get in a quiet space with a good Internet connection. That being said, if your cat jumps on the table or your kid starts screaming in the background, don't stress over it. We're all humans. * I never do trick questions. * If you don't know something, say so. I like it when a candidate doesn't know something because that's what work usually feels like. We'll figure it out together. * I value attitude MUCH more than technical knowledge. It's much easier to teach someone JavaScript than not to be an asshole. * If the job is about building websites, please know how to do that. I expect you to be able to make a fetch request and display its returned data in a reasonable amount of time, since this will be 80% of your day-to-day job. * If you propose using a technology, make sure it's something you've used before. "I want to use NoSQL because I read it scales well" doesn't make you look professional. "I read that NoSQL scales well, but I have no working experience with it, so I'll stick with SQL, which I know unless you have any objections" is MUCH better—not only in an interview but on the job, too. * Use boring technology that you know works. You will regret it when your code doesn't compile because you're using NextJS with a canary version of React—not only in an interview but on the job, too.

Experience

18 yrs 11 mos
Total Experience
2 yrs 5 mos
Average Tenure
2 yrs 4 mos
Current Experience

Perk

Staff Engineer

Dec 2023Present · 2 yrs 4 mos · Barcelona · Hybrid

  • Drive the migration to microfrontends to fix the limitations of our monolithic implementation and improve our architecture and developer experience (DX).
  • Influence the direction of the engineering department and company by raising awareness about software complexity challenges and proposing practical solutions.
  • Advocate for the proper application of company values, ensuring everyone is aligned on what they mean in practice.
  • Share knowledge with my peers and foster their growth through mentoring, talks, and reviews.
  • Interviewing candidates for technical positions, working on improving our hiring process, and defining hiring needs.
Engineering LeadershipProject EngineeringFrontend ArchitectureMicrofrontend Architecture

Wallapop

Technical Lead

Feb 2023Nov 2023 · 9 mos · Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain · Hybrid

  • Leading the transition from the Angular-based frontend application to a React-based version and establishing and sharing best practices to increase the reliability and maintainability of our web application.
Technical LeadershipFrontend Development

Amenitiz

Staff Engineer

Jan 2022Feb 2023 · 1 yr 1 mo

  • Leading various initiatives to improve the frontend infrastructure.
  • Architecting the new frontend as a React application.
  • Rebuilding the Website builder functionality to decrease server load and improve the overall experience for our users.
  • Creating tools for our salespeople to show prospective customers customized examples of websites for their properties.
  • Interviewing candidates for frontend positions.
Engineering LeadershipFrontend Infrastructure

Toptal

Engineering Manager

Nov 2020Dec 2021 · 1 yr 1 mo · Remote

  • I directly managed a team of nine developers with different backgrounds (BE, FE, and QA). I mentored each team member to make sure they could make the most out of their careers while making the team better. In addition, I collaborated with our product manager and all the other stakeholders (directors, managers, design, sales, etc.) to ensure our delivery plans were aligned with the company's requirements. I've also been active in the various phases of the interviewing process for new team members.

Career break

Gap year

May 2020Nov 2020 · 6 mos

Travelperk

3 roles

Engineering Manager

Dec 2019May 2020 · 5 mos

  • As an Engineering Manager, my main goal was to support my reports with their professional growth and career advancement, helping them thrive and perform at their best.

Squad Leader

Apr 2019May 2020 · 1 yr 1 mo

  • As a Squad Leader, I guided my team in finding the best technical solution to achieve our OKRs. At the same time, I communicated with Product Owners, Managers, other Squad Leaders and various stakeholders to make sure everyone was aligned. During this period, I also started interviewing candidates for various technical positions.

Senior Full Stack Developer

Aug 2016May 2020 · 3 yrs 9 mos

  • I joined TravelPerk when there were only 15 employees and left when there were almost 500. During my time at TravelPerk, my role changed and grew with the company. I was able to set up and coordinate the whole frontend infrastructure, making it ready to scale to serve hundreds of users per day. I documented the best practices and shared them with the rest of the team even by organizing internal workshops and overseeing the onboarding of new team members. An area where I was able to have a significant impact was the automated test infrastructure. I wrote several custom ESLint rules that helped keep the code up to our standards. I became a core contributor to React-Testing-Library and wrote a companion tool that now has more than one million weekly downloads.

Migracode barcelona

Volunteer Instructor

Sep 2019Sep 2022 · 3 yrs · Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

  • Teaching refugees and migrants how to code and help them prepare for the job market so they can better integrate into our society.

Barcelonajs

Organizzatore di eventi

Jan 2017Jan 2019 · 2 yrs · Barcelona

Fundbase inc.

3 roles

Senior Fullstack Developer and Frontend Team Coordinator

Apr 2014Jul 2016 · 2 yrs 3 mos

  • Coordination of the frontend team in the development of our React and AngularJS applications
  • Establishing best practices
  • Choosing architecture design
  • Evaluating third-party libraries
  • Evaluating and improving UX
  • Achieve almost perfect code coverage
  • Screening potential candidates for front-end positions
  • Creation of the company blog
  • Writing technical and financial articles for the company blog

Fullstack Developer

Promoted

Aug 2013Apr 2014 · 8 mos

  • I implemented an SPA written in AngularJS that gives fund investors updated information about their funds. I also created the JSON APIs needed to interact with the backend.

Ruby on Rails Developer

Jun 2013Aug 2013 · 2 mos

  • During my first three months at Fundbase I helped build an administration interface used to manage a database of more than 10.000 hedge funds.
  • I learned many agile methodologies such as Scrum and TDD while working in a distributed and international environment.

Trizero s.r.l.

3 roles

Technical Advisor

Jul 2013Jan 2016 · 2 yrs 6 mos

  • As Technical Advisor I help the team at Trizero to choose new technologies (e.g. languages, frameworks, ...) and adopt them. I also provide consulting for planning particularly complicated architectures.

Research & Development

Promoted

Aug 2009Jun 2013 · 3 yrs 10 mos

  • This role helped me a lot in the beginning of my career. I was asked to research and experiment with new technologies and apply them to live websites. As a result I got the opportunity to learn various languages and platforms.
  • I also had to share new discoveries with my colleagues, via presentations or by writing tutorials. This increased my communications skills and made me realize how much I like to help other developers.

Junior Developer

Dec 2006Jul 2009 · 2 yrs 7 mos

  • My role consisted in writing PHP scripts or creating small jQuery plugins and integrating them with existing applications.
  • I also wrote a Python command line utility to enhance the capabilities of an XML based eBook reader.

Education

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Bachelor's degree — Informatics

Jan 2009Jan 2012

I.T.I.S. S.Ten.Vasc. A. Badoni

High School Diploma — Informatic Specialization

Jan 2004Jan 2008

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