Leone Lage Perdigão

Background

I work across software architecture, AI, cloud, and security — from technical direction through implementation.

My Journey

My path started in software engineering in Brazil in 2010. Over 15+ years, I progressed from full-stack development through cloud architecture and platform engineering, eventually leading teams at companies including IBM, PostNL, ABN AMRO (Tikkie), and Randstad.

The shift to AI came from recognizing the gap between what AI can do in research and what it delivers in production. I went back to university to earn my MSc in Artificial Intelligence (with Distinction) from the University of Bath while continuing to lead AI engineering teams. This built on earlier degrees in Computer Engineering from CEFET-MG and Information Systems from Universidade FUMEC.

Today, as the founder of TaoQ AI, I bring this perspective to projects across software architecture, cloud, AI, and security.

Experience

Strategic

• PostNL (AI Centre of Excellence): Partnering with the CTO and Principal Engineers on enterprise AI strategy, governance, and adoption standards for 30,000+ employees. Co-created the organizational AI Architecture covering Generative AI, Agentic AI, Edge AI, classical ML, and MLOps/LLMOps.
• IBM (Advisory AI Engineer): Supporting AI solutions for strategic clients across 15+ countries in North, Central, and Eastern Europe. Collaborated with IBM Research to translate cutting-edge capabilities into production solutions.
• TaoQ AI: Independent software architecture and engineering practice.

Technical

• Engineering Leadership: Led multiple teams throughout my career — currently overseeing three specialized teams at PostNL (Prototyping, Core Tech & R&D, AI Adoption/Governance), with prior leadership roles at IBM, Randstad, and in fintech and logistics.
• Cloud & Platform Engineering: Deep experience across AWS, Azure, and GCP — infrastructure, networking, serverless architectures, and platform engineering at enterprise scale. Built platforms serving 50+ teams and 500+ cloud accounts.
• Fintech Delivery: Led API development at Tikkie (ABN AMRO) and built cloud APIs for Banco Inter, one of Latin America's largest digital banking platforms.
• Mentorship: IBM Blue Core Mentor and active MentorCruise mentor, coaching engineers and consultants on AI, cloud, and software engineering.
• Academic: MSc in Artificial Intelligence (Distinction) — University of Bath. BSc in Information Systems — Universidade FUMEC. BE in Computer Engineering — CEFET-MG.

Open Source & Research

Alongside consulting work, I dedicate time to open-source development and applied research in AI security and cryptography. I created Ziran, an open-source AI agent security testing framework (Apache-2.0) that performs tool chain vulnerability analysis, multi-phase exploit campaigns, and CI/CD security gating. I also contribute to NVIDIA's Garak (LLM vulnerability scanner) and Hugging Face's Transformers library, and I am building open-source tooling for post-quantum cryptography security — including quantum threat modelling, cryptographic agility tracking, and CI/CD compliance scanning for quantum-vulnerable algorithms. This hands-on involvement keeps me connected to emerging technology trends and informs the architectural decisions I make at enterprise scale.