David Porkka | Senior / Staff Software Engineer

Senior / Staff Software Engineer

I build complex software and make it feel simple.

Product and platform engineering across vertical SaaS, distributed systems, geospatial software, and AI infrastructure — from data models and backend architecture through polished product UX.

Seeking senior/staff software engineering roles where I can own difficult systems and product problems end-to-end. Remote from Brazil, UTC−3.

Senior / Staff Software EngineerTypeScript · React · NodePostgreSQL · PostGISRust · distributed systemsRemote · Brazil (UTC−3)
David Porkka
9+ years
shipping production software
100k+
mapped assets handled
80%
infrastructure cost reduction
60+
production applications shipped

Selected engineering work

Systems that show how I think and what I can own.

Each project combines product judgment with architecture and hands-on implementation.

Vertical SaaS

Adacavo

Founder / CTO · product & platform engineering

Challenge
Unify inventory, sales, contracts, campaign delivery, installs, maps, and billing into one operational system for OOH teams.
Engineering
TypeScript · React · Node · PostgreSQL/PostGIS · cloud infrastructure
Outcome
~15 OOH operators onboarded · replaces 4–6 disconnected tools

Geospatial platform

SignValue Map

Lead product engineer

Challenge
Make a large geospatial inventory fast enough to search, render, and inspect interactively instead of waiting on heavyweight map queries.
Engineering
PostGIS · vector tiles · geospatial data pipelines · interactive maps
Outcome
28k+ dynamic locations · sub-second latency · reported 7× ROI

Distributed runtime

Nulang

Language & runtime architect

Challenge
Combine actor-style concurrency, durable workflows, JIT compilation, and WASM support in a language designed for autonomous distributed software.
Engineering
Rust · register VM · Cranelift JIT · actors · durable execution · WASM
Outcome
VM + JIT + actor model + durable workflows

What I can own

Senior-level breadth without losing implementation depth.

Product & platform engineering

Own ambiguous product problems end-to-end: architecture, APIs, data models, frontend systems, testing, observability, and production operations.

Distributed systems & data

PostgreSQL, durable workflows, queues, event-driven systems, caches, service boundaries, and the tradeoffs that keep complex systems dependable.

Geospatial engineering

PostGIS, map interfaces, vector tiles, spatial search, and high-volume operational datasets where data shape and latency both matter.

AI & automation

LLM-backed workflows, agent systems, integrations, and automation that supports real products rather than existing as a demo layer.

Background

Biology taught me systems thinking. Software gave me a place to use it.

I studied biology at UW-Madison and worked in research before moving into software. Over the last nine years I have built production systems across SaaS, maps, commerce, automation, developer tooling, and infrastructure.

My best work sits at the intersection of product and systems engineering: messy real-world workflows, difficult data models, strong UX requirements, and enough scale that architecture and operational discipline matter.

Contact

Hiring for a senior or staff engineer?

Send the role, team, and hardest problem you need this person to own. I’m especially interested in product, platform, distributed-systems, geospatial, and AI infrastructure work.

Project and consulting inquiries are still welcome through the same form.

Or connect on LinkedIn ↗