CTO · CIO · CAgO · Fractional · Gold Coast, Australia
Technology and AI transformation executive with three decades leading engineering organisations, large-scale platforms, and production AI systems. Available for fractional CAgO, interim CTO/CIO, and board advisory mandates — fully remote or Brisbane-flexible.
Engagements
01
Defining the operating model for agentic AI in your organisation — governance charter, trust boundaries, AI portfolio prioritisation, and accountable deployment from strategy through to production. For boards and leadership teams moving AI from experimentation into governed operations.
CAgO practice →02
Senior technology leadership for organisations navigating transformation, platform modernisation, or a gap in executive technical authority. Architecture decisions, engineering governance, delivery discipline, and infrastructure — built to last beyond the engagement.
Discuss a mandate →03
Independent technology and AI counsel for boards, chairs, and executive teams. Risk, investment prioritisation, AI accountability, cybersecurity posture, and vendor decisions — translated from technical reality into language the boardroom can act on.
Start a conversation →Career
From engineer to founder to C-suite — across fintech, proptech, and design technology. Each role built on the one before it.
Chief Technology Officer
Leading technology strategy, platform evolution, and applied AI at scale for one of Australia's leading fintech finance brokers. Overseeing production deployment of agent-driven workflows, LLM-enabled decisioning, and the Zink platform — AI-driven real-time lender matching for dealerships nationwide. Finalist, Finnies 2026 — Most Innovative Fintech Product.
CIO · Chief Information Officer
Technology leadership for a global design platform with 35 million registered users across 5 continents. Led a distributed team of 38 engineers and 11 QAs — responsible for platform architecture, engineering governance, information security, and operational maturity at scale.
CTO · Head of Engineering
Built and scaled the engineering organisation from 3 to 14 engineers in under two years, delivering the technical platform for global expansion. Introduced Agile transformation, cloud-native architecture, and a delivery discipline built for scale — in a Proptech environment where speed and reliability were non-negotiable.
CIO · Lead Software Developer
First C-suite mandate — progressed from Lead Developer to CIO within 18 months. Responsible for full-stack platform re-architecture on AWS, team building, and technical governance for a high-growth marketplace.
Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Founded and led a full-service digital technology business delivering software, platforms, cloud architecture, and online-growth projects. 16 years of end-to-end client discovery, solution architecture, delivery, and technical execution. The foundation that sharpened every technical and commercial instinct that followed.
The foundation years
Two decades across government, enterprise, e-commerce, and creative technology — in Brazil and Australia. Roles spanning system analyst, head of technology, and founder across public sector, engineering services, health and fitness, and digital media. The years that built the platform judgement, delivery discipline, and commercial instinct every C-suite role since has drawn on. Started in technology at 13.
Education
Master of Information Technology
Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Specialisation: Software Engineering & Software Architecture. Completed Dec 2009.
Bachelor of Information Technology
University of Salvador (UNIFACS)
Specialisation: Systems Analysis, Logic & Programming. Completed Dec 2005.
Technology Foundation
AI & LLM
LLM strategy, agentic systems, workflow orchestration, document intelligence, structured data extraction, responsible-AI governance, production deployment patterns.
Cloud & Platform
AWS (EC2, ECS, EKS, Lambda, RDS, DynamoDB, SQS/SNS, CloudWatch, Security Hub, IAM), Kubernetes, infrastructure-as-code, observability, cost optimisation.
Engineering
Node.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Python, PHP/Laravel, APIs, microservices, DDD, TDD/BDD, CI/CD, automated testing, Agile.
Leadership & Governance
Enterprise architecture, engineering management, Agile transformation, product delivery, cybersecurity, ISMS, business continuity, vendor & regulatory risk.
Regulated Operations
Led implementation of technology systems and data practices aligned with:
Thinking
Perspectives from 30 years of building, scaling, and governing large-scale technology systems — engineering leadership, platform architecture, delivery discipline, and where AI fits into all of it.
Agentic AI
July 2026
The CAgO isn't a rebrand. It's a new accountability that boards need before agents run live processes — and no other executive role currently owns it.
Read on CAgO site →Production AI
July 2026
Every production AI system I've deployed has failed for the same reason — not the model, not the infrastructure, but the operating model around it.
Read on CAgO site →Platform Leadership
July 2026
From 3 to 14 engineers in 24 months. What breaks first, what to fix first, and why delivery discipline is the only moat that compounds.
Read →Cesar was instrumental in executing the rebuild of our platform for global scalability. By far the best I've worked with — incredibly talented, a respected leader, and goes above and beyond. I would highly recommend Cesar for any senior position.
Mark Deacon · 3x Founder · AFR Fast 100 · 40Under40
Core competencies
01
AI Strategy with Architecture Depth
Identifies commercially valuable AI opportunities and designs the architecture needed to deploy them responsibly — not just the strategy, but the system behind it.
02
Governance as System Design
AI governance built into architecture from the start — security, privacy, auditability, vendor risk, and human oversight as design constraints, not compliance additions.
03
Regulated Environment Experience
Experienced in financial-services environments with sensitive client-data workflows — the accountability standard that most organisations aspire to but few technology executives have actually worked inside.
04
Platform Decomposition & Scalability
Led transitions from tightly coupled platforms to domain-aligned, independently deployable services — the unglamorous work that makes a system actually scalable.
05
Commercial Translation
Connects technology investment to transaction speed, revenue, operating leverage, and customer experience — across board, executive, product, operations, and engineering audiences.
06
Operational Resilience
Has strengthened infrastructure, cybersecurity posture, observability, release safety, and operational resilience across fintech, proptech, and design technology at scale.
Operating companies
Gold Coast, Australia. Available for fractional CAgO, interim CTO/CIO, and board advisory engagements — fully remote or Brisbane-flexible. Not available for relocation or recurring interstate attendance.
For the right opportunity, prepared to transition from current employment following contractual notice.