> frontend_tech_lead / senior_frontend_engineer_
Hi, I'm Joana.
Software engineer with 10+ years building sustainable, scalable frontend products, from fast-moving startups to mentoring 10+ engineers as a tech lead. Early adopter of AI-assisted development: I ship faster without cutting quality.
available now · full-time · remote from Madeira, Portugal (WET/WEST)
> about_
Technology serves the team, not the other way around
Working in fast-paced, dynamic startups taught me to make impactful product decisions and embrace the rapid evolution of technology. I'm an empathetic leader, and my goal is an environment where every team member feels valued and empowered.
With a deep understanding of coding and system design, I balance the technical demands of development with the human side of leading teams. As an early adopter of AI-assisted development, I ship faster and prototype quicker without compromising quality.
> how i work_
The engineer you'd be hiring
Ten years in, what carries over between products isn't the stack. It's how I approach the work.
Architecture that stays simple as it grows
I design frontend architecture the team can still move fast in two years from now. Simpler structure, less redundant code, fewer surprises: the kind of foundation that keeps a product cheap to change as it grows. That includes modernizing legacy applications: framework upgrades and refactors planned so the product keeps shipping while the ground moves underneath it.
I lead by growing the people around me
Mentoring is the part of the job I care most about. Guidance and honest feedback over gatekeeping. My aim is a team where people feel valued, empowered, and safe enough to do their best work, and leave stronger engineers than they arrived.
Product decisions, not just tickets
I sit in refinement, not just at the end of it. I bridge product vision with technical feasibility, push back early when something will cost more than it's worth, and explain the trade-offs in language non-technical stakeholders can act on.
Quality is a habit, not a phase
Maintainable code, careful reviews, and risky migrations planned so nothing breaks underneath users. Shipping on schedule and shipping well aren't a trade-off you have to make. In my experience they're the same discipline.
AI-augmented, quality unchanged
An early adopter of AI-assisted development: I use Claude and Cursor daily to build features, prototype, refactor, and debug faster. I coach my team on the day-to-day craft of it: planning a task properly before prompting, giving the model the right context instead of all of it, and knowing when to hand the work back to yourself. Speed comes from working better, never from lowering the bar.
Design translated faithfully
I love design, and I build pixel-perfect. Beautiful UI is what makes a product feel considered, and the experience of using it is the product. Accessibility, responsiveness, SEO, and Core Web Vitals belong in the system design from day one, never as a pass at the end.
Frontend Tech Lead / Senior Frontend EngineerBeatStars
Full Stack EngineerTravelCentral24
Co-Founder · Engineer · Designer · Product OwnerBlueWheels
Studying and building in this field since 2003.
Master's Degree, Computer ScienceUniversity of Madeira (UMa)
★ Best Student AwardBachelor's Degree, Computer Software EngineeringUniversity of Madeira (UMa)
Course in Computer TechnologyJaime Moniz School
> skills_
Technical skills
> recommendations_
What it's like to work with me
Unedited LinkedIn recommendations, from people I've led, reported to, and shipped alongside.
Joana is one of the strongest technical people I have ever worked with. Her technical depth across the stack is world-class. She designs clean, well-thought-out architectures and scopes work exceptionally well.
What truly sets Joana apart is her deep care for quality. She reviews pull requests rigorously and ensures a consistently high standard across the codebase, regardless of who wrote the code. She stays on top of the latest tools and technologies, constantly reading, researching, and keeping everything up to date.
On top of all that, she is always available, responsive, and ready to help whenever you need her. Her enthusiasm for technology is contagious. Any engineering team would be fortunate to have Joana on board.
I've worked with a lot of developers over 10+ years in design, and Joana is genuinely one of the best I've had the chance to collaborate with.
What sets her apart isn't just technical skill. It's how seriously she takes understanding the full picture. She doesn't just execute what's in front of her. She asks why. She puts herself in the user's shoes, thinks about who's going to interact with the product, and thinks about whoever is going to work with her code next.
She also cares about design in a way that's rare. Everyone says developers are more design-aware these days, and maybe that's true. But caring about visual quality and user experience at the level she does is still hard to find. She brings both.
I'd recommend her to any team without hesitation. One of the best professionals I've worked with.
Joana was my tech lead at BeatStars for three years. She worked on the core of the product: the Angular upgrades, the shared primitives, the architecture our frontend still runs on today. Long, heavy projects, and she saw them all the way through.
She has real judgment about the decisions that only pay off later: where module boundaries go, how the folder structure should look, what belongs together and what stays apart. She also moves quickly with AI tools while staying in full command of the result. She can explain every line she shipped and why it looks the way it does.
I would work with her again any time.
> work_
Selected work
> you're looking at it_
juka.tech
This site, designed and built from scratch. A token-based design system, light and dark themes, and accessible, responsive components throughout. Built with AI-assisted development end to end, which makes it the clearest demo I have of that workflow: every decision here is one I can explain.
> project_
MPSeguros
The MPSeguros website serves as a professional digital front door for an insurance mediator, improving customer engagement, generating leads, and enhancing brand authority online. Visitors can easily understand the services offered and take actionable steps.
> open to full-time_
open to workHiring a frontend tech lead / senior frontend engineer?
I'm open to full-time positions, remote only, from Madeira Island, Portugal. 10+ years shipping frontend products, plus tech lead experience mentoring 10+ engineers. Five things up front and I'll tell you honestly whether it's a fit.
send me the role_