I’m João Forja. I build software and help shape the product behind it.

I’m a Software Engineer based in Faro, Portugal, with more than nine years of experience. I turn ambiguous product problems into reliable software, from early requirements and interaction decisions through implementation and production.

Most recently, I helped build Sherlock AI, an AI-powered smart contract security product. I owned its frontend from scratch, shaped product and interaction decisions with a designer, and delivered end-to-end features across backend services, model integration, prompting, and benchmarking.

Earlier in my career, I led custom software projects from requirements gathering through production. My work also includes design-system foundations used by more than 50 engineers at Templafy, as well as open-source contributions to the Excalidraw project.

I do my best work with clear goals and the autonomy to question assumptions, make decisions, and maintain a high quality bar. Outside work, I train Brazilian jiu-jitsu and surf.

Looking for Product Engineer or Full-Stack Engineer roles. Available for remote roles from Portugal.