Hernani (Dr.) Costa
aiCTO & Co-Founder
Experience
aiCTO & Co-Founder
Ingenius
Collaborated with co-founders to define technical and business strategies, aligning product development with financial goals.
Built and mentored a high-performing technical team, overseeing recruitment, onboarding, and professional growth.
Designed a scalable, cost-effective microservices infrastructure on AWS, ensuring robust, secure, and high-performing platform capabilities while optimising operational costs.
Evaluated and implemented advanced AI tools to enhance platform capabilities, focusing on automation and intelligent agent incorporation.
Interfaced with investors and clients to refine product offerings and secure necessary resources.
Reduced course creation time from weeks to minutes through AI innovations and a robust, scalable, and cost-effective tech infrastructure.
Collaborated intensively with designers and educational specialists to deliver a feature-rich, user-centric platform, receiving positive feedback on its design and effectiveness.
Fostered a culture of adaptability and iterative progress, enabling the team to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-evolving technological landscape.
Chief Data and AI Architect Officer (CAIO) & Co-Founder
Tarucca
- Architecting Scalable Systems: Designed and deployed a robust microservices-based infrastructure on AWS, enabling secure and efficient data processing across multiple Smart Data Acquisition Systems (SDAS).
- Data Insights and Management: Built seamless data pipelines to collect, transmit, and analyse large datasets from photonic sensors, transforming raw data into actionable insights for decision-making.
- AI Innovations: Applied advanced AI models to automate processes, enhance analytics, and optimise wind energy operations through predictive maintenance.
- Team Building: Recruited and led a multidisciplinary team of engineers and data scientists, fostering collaboration and delivering on Tarucca’s mission.
- Streamlining Operations: Improved efficiency by automating workflows and integrating IoT systems with scalable cloud infrastructure.
- IoT Systems: Successfully deployed multiple SDAS units, enabling reliable and scalable data capture for wind turbine monitoring.
- R&D Projects: Contributed to pivotal projects like AIRTuB-ROMI, ReliaBlade2-NL, and the MIT R&D, advancing renewable energy through software innovation and AI-driven insights.
- Agile Culture: Established an agile team culture, enabling adaptability to technological demands and achieving key milestones in data analytics and predictive maintenance.
By bridging innovation and impact, Tarucca is shaping the future of renewable energy—empowering partners and customers to build a more sustainable world.
Chief Information Officer
Bondify.com
- Streamlined Product Development: Spearheaded the creation and refinement of the MVP for a contract automation platform, collaborating with cross-functional teams to implement iterative releases and gather valuable feedback from early adopters.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Led a team of designers, AI developers, and engineers, ensuring a collaborative environment that fostered agile methodologies, innovation, and problem-solving.
- Connecting Stakeholders: Actively engaged with early adopters to understand user needs and validate platform features while supporting investor conversations by articulating technical strategies and aligning them with business goals.
- Architecting Scalable Solutions: Designed and implemented a robust, microservices-based infrastructure on AWS, ensuring scalability, security, and integration readiness.
- Driving Operational Efficiency: Automated workflows and optimised system architecture, improving the platform’s flexibility and adaptability for future growth.
- Developed and launched the MVP of a next-generation contract automation platform, enabling iterative feature releases and facilitating adoption by early users.
- Built a secure, scalable IT framework that supported multiple iterations and feedback loops during the platform’s development.
- Fostered a team culture of collaboration, adaptability, and innovation, ensuring consistent progress and alignment with company goals.
My work at Bondify exemplified how technical excellence and strategic vision can empower teams, drive efficiency, and deliver solutions that truly matter.
CTO & Co-Founder
experdata
I built a scalable SaaS platform that connected massive datasets to actionable insights, empowering pharmaceutical experts to access critical information and make informed decisions.
I spearheaded the technical infrastructure from the ground up, designing and launching a robust, scalable data pipeline that allowed Pfizer experts to quickly access information, create targeted leads, and align the right people with critical projects. By bridging people and technology, I delivered a platform that simplified workflows, aligned with organisational goals and delivered insightful information.
Beyond the product, I built and led a cross-functional team of developers, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and empowerment. From hiring and coaching to aligning processes with business objectives, I ensured the team excelled while focused on delivering impactful results.
By advancing technology and engaging with key stakeholders, I shaped a product that met complex challenges and created a lasting impact. My work exemplifies how strategic vision, leadership with empathy, and technical excellence come together to drive innovation, optimise operations, and deliver results that truly matter.
Director of AI & Engineering
Lalaland.ai
- Delivered an industry-disrupting platform capable of generating human-like digital models for the fashion and apparel industry.
- Responsible for hiring, leading, coaching, managing and growing a multidisciplinary team of 10+ people in Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Cloud Software Engineering and QC.
- Accountable for the design, management, delivery, quality, availability, and performance of the company’s technology backbone, encompassing digital fashion, data pipelines, cloud infrastructure, R&D, rapid PoCs & MVPs, and Software Development.
Tech Team Lead
Kaios.ai
- Hired, coached and managed a multidisciplinary team of 10+ in Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Web Development and Cloud Software Engineers.
- Responsible for translating customers' requests into technical requirements and prioritising them accordingly to the business.
- Managed and led 10+ intelligent imagery solutions (e.g. video, mobile mapping, satellite imagery, LiDAR and drone imagery).
NLP Data Scientist
Elsevier
Led and developed a large scale NLP Recommender System.
Worked on:
- Software requirements
- System architecture
- Infrastructure maintenance
- Development
- Testing
- Evaluation
- Deployment
- Serverless Applications
Used:
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Information Extraction (IE)
- Information Retrieval (IR)
- Text & Data Mining
Developed in:
- Python
- DynamoDB
- Lambdas
- API Gateway
- SQS
- AWS stack...
Tech Advisor
CalendHer Technologies Corp
Tech Advisor at CalendHer Technologies Corp
Data Engineer
GeoPhy
Setting up low-maintenance, high-quality and efficient data pipelines.
Collecting and preparing datasets for ingestion and gold standards for accessing systems performance.
Worked on:
- development
- testing
- optimization
Developed in:
- Python
NLP/ ML Data Scientist
StartMonday
Leading a large scale NLP system that recommends products to relevant users.
Worked on:
- customer journey
- software requirements
- product design
- development
- testing
- deployment
- optimization
Used:
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Information Extraction (IE)
- Information Retrieval (IR)
- Text & Data Mining
- Machine Learning (ML)
Developed in:
- Python
- Java
Researcher (Secondment)
Translated s.r.l.
Visiting Translated s.r.l. on a secondment via the European funded project EXPERT.
Researcher (Secondment)
University of Wolverhampton
Visiting the University of Wolverhampton on a secondment via the European funded project EXPERT.
Early Stage Researcher
Universidad de Málaga
Researching and development of various modules to collect and prepare multilingual data for both translators and machine translation systems.
Worked on:
- research
- software requirements
- software design
- development
- testing
- deployment
- optimization
- scientific publications
Deployed Software (publicly available):
- iCompileCorpora: a web application to create multilingual web corpora.
- PreProcessor: processes and annotates raw textual data.
- STSModule: computes the semantic similarity between sentences and documents.
- DSMModule: measures and ranks both sentences and documents based on their internal degree of similarity.
Used:
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Information Extraction (IE)
- Information Retrieval (IR)
- Statistics
- Machine Learning (ML)
- Machine Translation (MT)
Developed in:
- Java
- R
- Python
Secondments/ Internships:
- Translated s.r.l.: Oct 2015 – Dec 2015 (Rome, Italy)
- Visiting Translated s.r.l. on a secondment via the European funded project EXPERT.
- University of Wolverhampton - Sep 2014 – Dec 2014 (Wolverhampton, UK)
- Visiting the University of Wolverhampton on a secondment via the European funded project EXPERT.
Researcher
FCCN - Linguateca
Linguateca is a distributed language resource center for Portuguese, which was launched as a result of the project Computational Processing of Portuguese and inherited its mission while enlarging its aims.
Teacher
Coimbra Institute of Engineering
- Programming and Algorithms
Teacher
Escola Profissional da Lousã
- Operating Systems, Communication Networks and Computers Architecture
Researcher
Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra
Summary
With over two decades of experience at the intersection of technology, people, and processes, I thrive on designing solutions that create meaningful impact. My passion for AI, education, and product development fuels my mission to empower organisations and individuals to harness technology for real-world success.
Building Products: Designed and launched dozens of tools that simplify work, align with organisational goals, and deliver seamless customer experiences.
Developing Teams and Coaching Individuals: Led cross-functional teams to success by bridging skill gaps, fostering collaboration, and empowering individuals to excel.
Aligning Processes: Transformed fragmented operations into cohesive systems that connect people, processes, and business objectives.
Advancing Technology: Spearheaded digital innovation by identifying, implementing, and scaling cutting-edge tools to address complex challenges and create lasting impact.
Engaging Stakeholders: Partnered with stakeholders across all levels to ensure strategic alignment, clarity, and successful project outcomes.
Empowering Informed Decisions: I provide clear frameworks and actionable insights to help people and organisations make confident, well-informed choices.
Bridging People and Technology: I see technology as a bridge to connect creativity, strategy, and results, enabling businesses to unlock new possibilities.
Delivering Results: Whether launching AI-driven initiatives or mentoring the next wave of talent, my work focuses on tangible outcomes and real-world impact.
Leadership with Empathy: As a Sailor, Mentor, and Builder of Bridges, I navigate challenges with adaptability, guide others with care, and connect ideas with solutions to drive transformation.
I’m building a vibrant AI community for learners, experts, and innovators—a space to collaborate, share ideas, and tackle real-world challenges. Together, we’ll foster mentorship, innovation, and business growth in the AI landscape.
Whether you’re navigating digital transformation, exploring AI’s potential, or building scalable solutions, I’m here to help. Let’s create a smarter, more connected future—one step at a time.
Languages
Education
Universidad de Málaga
PhD · Computational Linguistics · Málaga, Spain
University of Coimbra
MSc, Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Coimbra, Portugal
Universidad de Vigo
Computer Science · Vigo, Spain
Certifications & licenses
Communicating in the Language of Leadership
How to Make Strategic Thinking a Habit
Interpersonal Communication
Interview Master Class
Strategic Thinking
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