Pedro Faria da Costa

Principal Solutions Architect | AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional | Based in Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Summary

Principal Solutions Architect with 25+ years in software engineering, the last 6+ specializing in cloud-native platform engineering and microservices architecture on AWS and Kubernetes. Currently defining the reference architecture for a greenfield multi-tenant sportsbook platform, building on earlier sports betting experience at William Hill. Expert in designing scalable, event-driven systems serving 200K+ customers managing 100M+ devices. Proven track record leading large-scale platform migrations, establishing architecture governance, and providing technical leadership to 25-40 engineers. Hands-on experience with Go, Java, Python, TypeScript, and modern DevOps practices.

Key Achievements

Author and owner of the reference architecture for a greenfield multi-tenant B2B sportsbook platform - 10+ bounded contexts, 100+ Architecture Decision Records, C4 models and platform patterns - guiding ~40 engineers across 4 delivery teams
Designed an event-driven core (Kafka, transactional outbox, CloudEvents, schema registry governance, CQRS read projections) with SLO targets of 80ms p95 reads and 200ms p95 writes
Led platform refactoring consolidating 7+ monolithic products into unified microservices platform serving 200K+ customers managing 100M+ devices
Introduced service mesh (Istio) to microservices platform for improved security and observability
Designed and implemented Zanzibar-based IAM system supporting multi-tenancy at scale
Established architecture governance framework with C4 model, Structurizr, and Backstage adopted across 20+ product teams
Provided technical leadership to 3-4 engineering teams (25-40 engineers) while mentoring junior architects

Technical Skills

Cloud Platforms: AWS (EKS, Lambda, DynamoDB, Aurora, S3, SQS, ECR), Kubernetes
Languages: Go, Java, Python, TypeScript, .NET, Ruby
Architecture: Microservices, Event-Driven Architecture, CQRS, Domain-Driven Design, Cloud Native, Service Mesh (Istio), Multi-tenant SaaS, API Design (REST, gRPC, GraphQL, HTTP/2, tRPC, OpenAPI)
Architecture & Documentation: C4 Model, Structurizr, Backstage, Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
DevOps & IaC: Terraform, Docker, GitOps (ArgoCD, Argo Rollouts), Helm, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Skaffold, CI/CD Pipelines
Data & Messaging: Kafka (Strimzi), CloudEvents, Schema Registry (Apicurio), PostgreSQL (RLS, CloudNativePG), TimescaleDB, DynamoDB, Aurora, Redis/Valkey, OpenSearch
Observability: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, Tempo, VictoriaMetrics, Splunk, SigNoz, CloudWatch
Security & Identity: IAM, SpiceDB (Google Zanzibar-based ReBAC), OIDC/OAuth2, Zitadel, mTLS/SPIFFE, RBAC, Multi-tenancy, PCI DSS, GDPR

Experience

theunit (Feb 2026 - Present)
Principal Solutions Architect

Architecture owner for a greenfield, multi-tenant B2B sportsbook platform built from scratch, currently in active development toward an initial MVP release. Authored and maintain the reference architecture covering 10+ bounded contexts, 100+ Architecture Decision Records, platform patterns, and C4 models in Structurizr - the north star for design and implementation decisions across every delivery team.
Provide technical guidance to a ~40-engineer organisation across 4 teams, running the ADR process, design reviews, and the architecture governance that keeps autonomous service teams aligned to a common target state.
Designed the event-driven core: Kafka (Strimzi on EKS) with transactional outbox, CloudEvents envelopes, a schema registry with per-topic compatibility gates enforced in CI, and CQRS read projections for the read-heavy customer paths. No synchronous cross-domain calls; a saga orchestrator coordinates bet checkout.
Defined the security and compliance model: SpiceDB (Zanzibar ReBAC) as the central policy decision point with enforcement in the BFF layer, Istio mTLS STRICT with SPIFFE workload identity, PCI DSS namespace isolation with tokenization, GDPR pseudonymisation boundaries, and pooled multitenancy on PostgreSQL row-level security.
Defined the runtime and delivery platform on EKS - GitOps with ArgoCD and Argo Rollouts, Terraform stack organisation, Karpenter, Kyverno admission policy, in-cluster Postgres and Kafka operators, OpenTelemetry-based observability - plus golden-path service templates for Java and .NET services.
Set the frontend architecture: a server-side-rendered, multi-brand customer web application and a backoffice SPA over a dedicated BFF, with Core Web Vitals and API latency SLOs (80ms p95 reads, 200ms p95 writes) as design targets.

N-Able (Dec 2019 - Feb 2026)
Principal Solutions Architect (Jan 2025 - Feb 2026) | Senior Solutions Architect (Dec 2019 - Dec 2024)

Member of 10-person architecture team supporting 20+ product teams with cloud native, microservices architectures using Kubernetes (EKS) and AWS (Lambda, DynamoDB, Aurora), managing infrastructure serving 200,000+ customers across multiple SaaS products.
Provided technical leadership to 3-4 engineering teams (6-10 engineers each) while mentoring 3-4 junior architects on cloud-native design patterns and best practices.
Key architect in refactoring 7+ different monolithic historical products into a unified cloud-based platform using microservices and event-driven architecture with Kafka, supporting 200,000+ customers managing 100M+ devices.
Designed and architected new IAM services in Go including user management and central authorization services using SpiceDB (Google Zanzibar implementation), refactoring core N-Able platform identity and access management to support multi-tenancy at scale.
Established and led architecture review meetings and governance processes across engineering organization. Championed adoption of Backstage and C4 model with Structurizr as central repository for architecture diagrams and documentation, improving architectural visibility and decision-making.
Platform architect responsible for migrating 30+ internal services to Kubernetes in AWS using CI/CD with Jenkins, Terraform, Docker and Skaffold, reducing deployment time by 50% and infrastructure costs by 30%.
Introduced Istio service mesh across microservices platform, enhancing security with mTLS and improving observability with distributed tracing, supporting 100M+ daily requests.

William Hill (Mar 2012 - Dec 2019)
Solutions Architect

Sportsbook Data Team (2017-2019)

Architect responsible for all data services powering William Hill sportsbook. Led microservices transformation using gRPC, HTTP/2, and SSE, improving API response times by 70%. Pioneered first Kubernetes deployment on Amazon EKS, migrating 20+ services and achieving 99.9% uptime.

Mobile Sportsbook (2014-2017)

Designed and delivered William Hill’s first iOS and Android native applications, reaching 2M+ downloads in first year and handling 100K+ concurrent users during peak events.

Mobile Gaming (2012-2014)

Architected modern mobile site and native applications integrating 15+ third-party game providers, implementing single wallet and SSO that increased user engagement by 40% and reduced customer support tickets by 25%.

OHMI (Jun 2011 - Mar 2012)
Senior Consultant

Lead Java Developer on team of 6 developing new document management system (DAS) for EU agency, replacing IBM FileNet, managing 500K+ documents annually.
Architected hybrid solution with .Net rich client and Java/Spring/Hibernate backend, reducing document processing time by 50% and license costs by €200K/year.

UNFCCC (Dec 2010 - Jun 2011)
Solutions Architect

Solutions Architect for UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), architected business intelligence solution in Python to analyze 10 years of project data covering 7,000+ registered projects across 100+ countries, enabling advanced search and reporting capabilities for policy makers.

Federal Express (Jun 2009 - Dec 2010)
Senior Consultant

Developed automatic sorting and scanning system for fully automated FedEx HUB in Cologne using Java and Drools, processing 50K+ packages per hour with 99.5% accuracy and reducing manual handling by 80%.

Earlier Roles

Vitria Technology (Oct 2007 - Jun 2009)

Senior Consultant - Architect for OSS development in telecom (FTTH, SOA architecture)

Indra (Apr 2007 - Sep 2007)

Software Architect - Banking core system with SOA architecture

Telindus (Jul 2006 - Apr 2007)

Senior Consultant - Internet traffic management applications

Siemens (Feb 2004 - Jun 2006)

Consultant - Portuguese Customs Authority system architect

Novabase (Oct 2001 - Feb 2004)

Senior Consultant - Telecom and insurance enterprise applications

Skysoft Portugal (Oct 1998 - Oct 2001)

Technical Manager - ESA satellite messaging systems, EU air traffic control research

Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (2023)
Certified Kubernetes Administrator - CKA (2020, expired in 2022)
Certified Kubernetes Application Developer - CKAD (2019, expired in 2021)
Intermediate Certificate in Enterprise & Solution Architecture (2013)

Education

Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering | Instituto Superior Técnico | 1998
Systems engineering and complex problem-solving foundation

Languages Spoken

English (Full Professional Proficiency)
Portuguese (Native or Bilingual Proficiency)
Spanish (Full Professional Proficiency)
Italian (Professional Working Proficiency)