Available for senior opportunities

Ricardo
Wagemaker

Platform Lead & Full-Stack Engineer

25+ years turning complex enterprise infrastructure into clean, sustainable,
AI-powered platforms—backed by deep expertise in Data Protection & Cyber Resilience.

Sustainable Engineering Cyber Resilience Data Protection Platform Leadership Agentic AI Integration
Get in Touch See My Work
Ricardo Wagemaker – Profile
25+ Years Exp.
34PB Data Managed
15 Engineers Led
About Me

Engineering meets Leadership

I'm a Platform Lead and hands-on Full-Stack Engineer with over 25 years of experience, including almost 17 years at NatWest Group. My career is built on a strong foundation of data protection, cyber resilience, and enterprise storage—evolving major infrastructure while ensuring the highest level of security and recoverability for mission-critical systems.

I excel at combining high-level platform strategy — managing costs, transformation, and teams — with deep practical software engineering. Today, I leverage decades of operational rigor to champion sustainable software architectures, reduce carbon footprints through optimized code, and integrate AI to build robust, modern applications.

Outside my day role I actively turn innovative ideas into practical open-source tools on GitHub, using modern cloud services and CI/CD pipelines.

🏆

Award-Winning Work

Led development of an award-winning climate dashboard at NatWest Group.

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Enterprise Scale

Managed 34PB+ storage portfolios and £100M+ contracts across UK & India.

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Open Source

Active contributor with tools like Terminal Intelligence, SCMD, and EasyEditor.

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AI Champion

Leading the shift towards Agentic AI with multi-step reasoning and memory-persistent workflows.

Core Competencies

Technology & Expertise

🎯

Leadership & Strategy

Platform Leadership Agile Methodologies Product Ownership People Management Cost & Financial Planning Stakeholder Management Risk Management Engineer Coaching & Mentoring
⚙️

Software Engineering

Go Python React Backstage TechDocs MCP (Model Context Protocol) Vite TypeScript Full-Stack Development API Design (fastAPI, GIN) Solution Architecture Sustainable Software Green Architecture
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AI & ML

Agentic AI Multi-step Reasoning Loops AI Goals, Tools & Permissions Task Persistence & Memory Gemini Pro LLM Ollama Amazon Bedrock & Marketplace Antigravity & GitHub Copilot AWS Kiro Vector Databases & RAG
☁️

Cloud & Infrastructure

GCP / Firebase AWS / Amplify Amazon S3 Kubernetes Docker Terraform Storage Architecture CyberVault PaaS / IaaS
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Data & Databases

PostgreSQL NoSQL DynamoDB MongoDB SQLite GCP Firestore AWS Aurora sqlite-vec / Vector Search NetApp / EMC Data Protection
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DevOps & Tooling

GitLab CI/CD GitHub Actions Google Firebase AWS Amplify Backstage TechDocs NotebookLM MCP VSCode Kiro Antigravity NetBackup LTO Tape Libraries

Languages

🇬🇧EnglishFull Professional
🇳🇱DutchFull Professional
🇵🇹PortugueseFull Professional
🇪🇸SpanishLimited Working
Work History

Career Timeline

Jan 2022 – Present

Platform Lead, Sustainable Enterprise Solutions

NatWest Group · Edinburgh, UK
Current

I am a Platform Lead and hands-on Full-Stack Engineer with over 25 years of experience, including almost 17 years at NatWest Group. I successfully established and matured a specialized sustainability innovation team from a blank canvas within the technology division. This initiative drove innovation, resulting in the development of the multi-award-winning NatWest Climate Dashboard. Over a four-year period, I grew this team to deliver a portfolio of over 13 internal banking applications, blending hands-on software development with strong leadership, ideation, and people skills. Today, I leverage decades of operational experience to champion sustainable software architectures and integrate AI to build robust modern platforms.

  • Built a high-performing team from a blank canvas, coaching 15 software engineers to unlock their individual potential.
  • Led the initial prototype development of SkillsMatrix, an internal application for technology and soft skills mapping, including role profiles and HR-agreed proficiency levels. This full-stack application was built with a TypeScript/TSX and Node.js/Vite frontend and a Python/API backend, supporting user/manager updates, approvals, and hierarchy-based reporting.
  • Steered end-to-end development of an award-winning climate dashboard and extensive enterprise API data banks.
  • Drive sustainable software engineering practices—reducing the architectural carbon footprint for all platform deployments.
  • Implementing Backstage and TechDocs for developer portals, alongside MCP deployments.
  • Architecting Agentic AI frameworks featuring multi-step reasoning loops, tool-use permissions, and memory persistence.
  • Recognized as a great manager with excellent Ourview scores; consistently supportive, respectful, and diverse.
  • Oversee platform strategy with monthly DORA/Climate reporting while maintaining rigorous risk and compliance.
GofastAPIPostgresSQLNoSQL DynamoDBPythonReactGCPFirebaseAWSAmplifyAmazon S3AI/MLBackstageTechDocsNotebookLMAI MCPAgileDevTools
2018 – Jan 2022

Head of Backup & Storage

NatWest Group · Edinburgh, UK
  • Product Owner for 34PB+ of online and offline storage across multiple locations.
  • Achieved 99.98% data protection success rate (20,000+ backups & 3.5PB on single weekends).
  • Involved in contract deals over £100M+ and led internal/external auditing processes for 3 consecutive years.
  • Managed ~50 people across UK and India; coached new managers on leadership and conflict resolution.
  • Achieved a 20% improvement in customer feedback through proactive relationship building and monthly reviews.
  • Led design and deployment of a highly secure CyberVault during storage migrations.
  • Consistently achieved top Unit scores for risk control and compliance.
NetAppNetBackupDell TechnologyCyberVaultBudget ManagementTeam Leadership
2012 – 2018

Technical Backup Manager

NatWest Group · Edinburgh, UK
  • Defined overall backup strategy and delivered reliable backup solutions for EMEA infrastructure.
  • Spearheaded cost and finance planning for hardware, software licensing, and capacity growth.
  • Led people management to grow team skills and ensure smooth operations.
EMEA InfrastructureCapacity PlanningNetBackup
Jul 2009 – 2012

Backup Specialist

NatWest Group · Edinburgh, UK
  • Expert-level administration for enterprise backup environments using NetBackup, Networker, DataDomain, and LTO Tape Libraries.
NetBackupNetworkerDataDomainLTO
1995 – 2009

Senior Storage & Backup Consultant

T-Systems · Atos Origin · Centrica · Accenture · Symantec / Veritas · Legato · Dell
  • T-Systems – Senior Storage Consultant (2007–2009)
  • Atos Origin – Backup Consultant (2006)
  • Centrica Plc – Senior Storage Support (2003–2006)
  • Accenture – NetBackup / Storage Consultant (2001–2002)
  • Symantec / Veritas – Technical Consultant (2000–2002)
  • Legato Software – Support Analyst (1999–2000)
  • Dell Computer – Network Support (1995–1999)
Storage ConsultingData ProtectionNetBackupLegato
Leadership Insight

Building High-Performing Teams

"

Recognized as a great manager with excellent Ourview scores; consistently supportive, respectful, diverse, and helpful.

NatWest Leadership Review
Leadership & Management Excellence
Open Source

Personal Projects

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Terminal Intelligence IDE

Terminal Intelligence (TI)

A lightweight, CLI-based IDE written in Go with Agentic AI capabilities. Features multi-step reasoning loops and tool integration using Ollama, Gemini Pro, and Amazon Bedrock.

GoCLIAI IntegrationSustainable
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SCMD – AI-Powered CLI Search

SCMD – AI-Powered CLI Search

An AI-powered command knowledge base using semantic vector search as both a CLI and Web UI in Go. Leverages Vector Databases & RAG for semantic search and integrates with Ollama, Gemini Pro, and Amazon Bedrock.

GoPostgreSQLVector Databases & RAGOllamaGeminiSQLite
Education & Credentials

Learning & Certifications

☁️

AWS Certified AI Practitioner

AIF-C01 · In Progress

In Progress
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Climate Change Transformation Program

University of Edinburgh · 12 Weeks

Completed
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Determining to Lead & Challenging Potential

Leadership Development

Completed
💻

Full Stack Bootcamp

Certification

Completed
☕

Java Bootcamp Course

Certification

Completed
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Computer Science

A-levels Equivalent

Completed
Get In Touch

Let's Connect

Based in Edinburgh, UK. Open to senior engineering leadership and platform architecture opportunities.

✉️

Email

wagemra@gmail.com
💼

LinkedIn

linkedin.com/in/gcclinux
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GitHub

github.com/gcclinux
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Phone

07966 272306
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Portfolio

portfolio.web.app