Gonçalo Luiz

“My first impression of Gonçalo was him starting his new role at PhotoBox on a Friday at 8am, and immediately getting on with matters at hand that day. During his tenure this resolute commitment continued. Gonçalo pulled together a disparate tech department and worked hard with the teams to understand them and move everybody in the same direction. Gonçalo’s role became increasingly diverse with many different stakeholders however he always found time for others without compromising on delivery. Gonçalo has an infectious enthusiasm and energy for building great teams and a tireless dedication to being the best that he can both as a leader and a tech professional. ”

“Gonçalo Luiz has worked for me when I was the CIO for Impresa – the major media Group in Portugal. Gonçalo was head of software development for the duration of the assignment until I left Impresa. He worked for me from April 2010 (aprox) until I left in April 2012 and reported directly to me. Gonçalo was challenged to create and further develop the software development area in Impresa which was inexistent at the time (we outsourced most of the software development). He was absolutely masterful in this programme. I had the vision but he totally delivered the promise I made. Gonçalo is brilliant as a software engineer, demonstrates a “can do” attitude at all times which makes him be admired and respected by his team. He also brought in a team of bright software developers/engineers based on his own network. Something it was impossible to do before because hiring this type of people can be tricky at times. We had to deliver a number of media websites, in an unknown technology for most of us with very limited resources. He designed, together with the team the architecture that made this all possible. Along with this challenge, which he delivered exceeding all expectations, he was also given the mobile apps and the user experience team all to be dealt in the same time frame. He delivered all he was asked and, again, exceeding expectations with such high commitment to ensure our customers had the best product possible. One of our mobile apps was awarded a place in the top 10, on a global survey of more than 1000 titles worldwide. Amongst his top skills is the maturity he demonstrates when dealing with other people outside his team. Everyone trusted him due to the credibility and ability to deliver to his promises. In summary I would say his major strengths (but I wouldn’t limit to these) are: • Great software development and architecture skills • Great people developer • Highly mature on his interpersonal relationship skills • “Can do” attitude • Exceeds expectations on delivering to his promises. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with him again and I know I will struggle to find someone like him. ”