FC

Fabio Cirone

CTO · Gambling · Payments · Cloud Platforms

Available for advisory & board-level conversations

Enterprise-grade CTO for gambling, payments & high-scale platforms.

I partner with boards and founders to build resilient, compliant, always-on platforms in highly regulated, high-volume environments. From strategic planning and financial modelling to hands-on cloud architecture, my focus is on systems that do not go down.

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Years in tech

25+

Executive roles

CTO · COO · CEO

Regions led

LatAm · US · EMEA

About

Technologist, operator, and partner to the business.

Blending strategic input with pragmatic delivery — from board-level conversations to platform-level decisions.

Over more than two decades in technology, I've led engineering, product, and operations teams across iGaming, fintech, payments, and high-scale digital platforms — places where uptime, compliance, and trust aren't optional.

My background mixes executive leadership with real hands-on depth. I get into the early stages of new initiatives — defining architecture, cloud foundations, integrations — and then build teams that can scale execution without me in every decision. I've also served as COO and CEO, including as registered executive before the Central Bank of Brazil during a payment institution licensing process.

More recently, I've been leading AI adoption across the software development lifecycle — using tools like Claude Code and Codex to accelerate delivery and push the team forward. That's the kind of thing I find genuinely interesting.

What I'm known for

  • Strategic input with boards and executive teams, translating commercial objectives into technology roadmaps and investment decisions.
  • Ownership of the full application lifecycle — from architecture and development through release management, operations, and continuous improvement.
  • Negotiation and integration with third‑party providers, building ecosystems of partners around core platforms.

Career journey

From developer to CTO, across gambling, gaming, and payments.

A consistent thread: high‑stakes, high‑availability platforms and cross‑border, cross‑functional leadership.

  1. eightroom

    CTO | COO

    Dec 2021 — Present · Montevideo, Uruguay

    Current role

    Joined to restructure the tech organisation and build two new products for the online gambling payments market: a payment gateway and a digital wallet platform.

    • Led engineering transformation, introduced DevOps culture, and established AWS as the cloud foundation.
    • Played a key role in creating a regulated payment institution in Brazil — from company setup through the BACEN licensing process.
    • Took on broader exec responsibilities as COO and later CEO, serving as registered executive before the Central Bank of Brazil.
    • Leading AI adoption across the SDLC, using Claude Code and Codex to accelerate delivery and foster innovation.

  2. Speedy.io

    Managing Director Brazil

    Jan 2020 — Dec 2021 · São Paulo, Brazil

    Built the local Brazil operation for a fintech platform targeting SMBs, covering invoice issuance, payment flow visibility, and cash flow control.

    • Set up a multidisciplinary team across engineering, product, compliance, finance, and marketing.
    • Also supported local adaptation of the company's payment gateway for the online gambling market.

  3. Ventures Lab

    VP of Software Engineering

    Jan 2020 — Dec 2021 · São Paulo, Brazil

    Built and led a Brazil-based engineering team for an online gambling platform serving proprietary brands and white-label operations.

    • Hired and onboarded the local team from scratch, with full ownership of technical training and engineering leadership.
    • Delivered a new user management module and a live betting solution built from the ground up.
    • Focused on admin platform, payments, and live betting — reporting directly to the CTO.

  4. Betsul

    IT Consultant

    Jul 2019 — Dec 2019 · Brazil

    Senior iGaming consultant supporting critical technology initiatives at a sports betting operator.

    • Advised on Betradar integration, homologation, and certification.
    • Led bonus engine design and implementation.

  5. Crossover & Aurea Software

    Chief Software Architect

    May 2018 — Jul 2019 · Global / Remote

    One of the leaders of the M&A import team, responsible for technical due diligence and post‑acquisition integration.

    • Evaluated target companies from both financial and technical perspectives.
    • Ran due diligence and produced reports for executive decision-making.
    • Led integration of acquired companies into a centralised ecosystem.

  6. Command Alkon

    Mobile Development Manager

    Mar 2016 — May 2018 · Brazil · US

    Built and led a distributed mobile engineering team serving a global construction software leader.

    • Managed teams across Brazil and multiple US states.
    • Defined architectures and InfoSec practices for mobile products.
    • Leveraged AWS, microservices, and serverless for high‑performance solutions.

  7. Diverso Games

    CTO

    Oct 2013 — Mar 2016 · São Paulo, Brazil

    Founding‑stage CTO for a gaming startup, responsible for end‑to‑end technology and strategic planning.

    • Participated from initial strategic plan through budgeting and execution.
    • Managed infrastructure, development, database, and release management.
    • Defined cloud setups on AWS and core architecture decisions.

  8. Betboo (GVC Holdings group)

    CTO Latam

    Oct 2008 — Sep 2013 · Brazil · Uruguay · Ireland

    Regional CTO for a major online gaming brand, owning mission‑critical, high‑availability platforms across LatAm.

    • Point of contact for financial audit during acquisition.
    • Managed teams across three countries and all IT disciplines.
    • Focused on performance, safety, and continuous improvement under heavy load.

Expertise

Where I add the most value.

A blend of product, platform, and organisational leadership aligned to regulated, always‑on businesses.

Online gambling & gaming platforms

  • High-availability architectures and performance under heavy, spiky load.
  • Multi‑region, multi‑lingual, multi‑currency environments.
  • Regulatory, compliance, and risk-aware technical decisions.

Payments & transactional systems

  • Designing safe, observable, and resilient transaction flows.
  • Integrating multiple PSPs and third‑party providers.
  • Balancing risk, UX, and operational cost.

Cloud, data & observability

  • AWS expertise including serverless, streaming, and caching.
  • Data architectures for analytics and operational intelligence.
  • End‑to‑end monitoring, logging, and incident practices.

M&A & due diligence

  • Technical and financial evaluation of acquisition targets.
  • Structured due diligence and reporting to executive teams.
  • Post‑merger integration into central platforms and operating models.

Engineering leadership

  • Building and scaling cross‑cultural, distributed teams.
  • Defining operating models, rituals, and metrics.
  • Mentoring leaders and anchoring culture on outcomes.

Delivery & governance

  • PMI and agile techniques across complex programmes.
  • Strong ALM practices from idea to production.
  • Balancing innovation pace with operational discipline.

Portfolio

Selected case studies.

De‑identified case studies that unpack architectural decisions, trade‑offs, and outcomes at scale.

Eightroom · CTO

LATAM Payment Gateway

Led the full technology architecture of a payment gateway for the Brazilian and Argentinian markets — from cloud foundation to multi-PSP integration.

R$ 1B+

monthly volume

2M+

transactions / mo

6 months

to full scale

  • Cloud-native AWS architecture with redundancy and auto-scaling.
  • DevOps culture with fully automated pipelines from dev to production.
  • Multi-PSP integrations for vendor and infrastructure redundancy.
  • Engineering team of 15 built and led from the ground up.

Eightroom · CTO · Diretor Presidente / BACEN

Bettor Digital Wallet

E-wallet built for the Brazilian sports betting market, designed to increase conversion and bettor LTV through exclusive financial benefits.

SPB

license

SPI

license

8 months

to licensing

  • Launched via BaaS integration with cashback, exclusive bonuses, and a rewards programme.
  • Product designed to drive higher conversion rates and long-term bettor retention.
  • Led the full IP licensing process before the Central Bank of Brazil as Diretor Presidente.
  • Obtained SPB licence followed by SPI, enabling full operation within the Brazilian payment system.
  • Active participation in regulatory compliance strategy throughout the process.

Command Alkon · Tech Lead

IoT Sensor Platform for Concrete Production

Designed and led the architecture of an IoT platform to capture, process, and analyse sensor data from concrete mixing machines — turning raw equipment data into operational insights.

20M

messages / day

3 months

to production

5 people

team

  • Edge module running on-machine to collect sensor readings and stream data to AWS Kinesis.
  • Event-driven pipeline: Kinesis → Lambda → DynamoDB, processing 20M messages per day.
  • In-house Node.js application delivering dashboards, charts, and resource optimisation insights.
  • Delivered measurable improvements in operational efficiency for concrete production workflows.

Contact

Let's talk.

Open to advisory roles, board conversations, and complex platform challenges where reliability truly matters.

Email FabioConnect on LinkedIn

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