Life at WeBuild-AI: meet Tiago Dias, who shares his love of everything from basketball to bass guitar to building AI solutions

People & Culture

12 Dec

What's your role here at WeBuild-AI?

I’m a Lead Platform Engineer Consultant, focused on building secure, reliable and developer-friendly cloud platforms. My work sits at the intersection of software engineering, DevOps and cloud architecture - essentially, making sure the teams shipping AI products have a fast, safe and scalable platform to run on.

I recently started at WeBuild-AI, but I got started straight away on a client engagement. When I start a new engagement, as I gain access to the client tools, I try to understand the business and non-functional requirements to build a platform to host the internal team's applications, which may be a mix.

What does a typical day look like for you?

My ideal day begins before sunrise. I like getting a run or a gym session in, as that active start helps me wake up and stay focused later. Usually, I get to the office and check off priority tasks right away after the daily stand-up.

The middle of the day is for coordinating, collaborating and addressing any unexpected issues that arise. I aim to wrap up any heavy thinking by the early afternoon, leaving the final hour for organising and planning for tomorrow. I always make time for daily technical reading before logging off as it’s the perfect little full stop.

What's your career journey been like so far?

I've started my career in Portugal as a Consultant and stayed in that sector ever since.

Initially, I started as a full-stack developer and learnt the entire software development lifecycle. It really opened my eyes to how vital it is to follow coding standards to help future team members. I worked across different industries, including public, finance and telecom.

Eventually, I was looking for more and moved to London in 2014. I quickly got a job as a Java Engineer, where I worked mainly in the backend/integration. Since 2017, I have transitioned into platform/cloud engineering while remaining in software development.

Now I'm working at WeBuild-AI, where I can see the knowledge I've gained from my previous experience come to fruition.

What do you enjoy the most about your job here?

What I enjoy most is being in a place where the impact of what I do is visible almost instantly. It’s rare to work somewhere where you can ship something, see it make a difference the same week and actually feel like your contribution matters.

Add that to the fact that we’re working on genuinely exciting AI problems and it makes the job even better. But honestly, the biggest highlight is the people - innovative, collaborative and just great to be around. It makes the work fun, the challenges easier and the wins feel even bigger.

Quick fire

Coffee or tea?

Coffee. Always coffee.

Most British thing you’ve done this week?

Said “lovely weather” while standing in sideways rain, then pretended I wasn’t cold because I’ve lived in the UK long enough to commit fully to the denial.

Are you a nerd (and if so, what topics are you nerdiest in)?

I’m a full-time nerd about a variety of topics, including bass guitar and basketball.

Bass players, I love Thundercat, Flea from Red Hot, Paco Pastorious, Joe Dart from Vulfpeck - the list goes on. Basketball, I love to watch old games from the Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird eras.

So yes - 100% a nerd. Just the sporty-musical kind.

What's one thing people in work are surprised to learn about you personally?

I did capoeira (a Brazilian martial art) when I was younger and I still know a few moves. It usually surprises people because my work involves sitting at a keyboard all day, not doing backflips in a circle!

People & Culture