Willamette Valley, Oregon · Pacific Time
Miguel Cervera
Staff Software Engineer, thirteen years across Twitter, Stripe, Uniswap Labs, and Caldera. Consulting from a permaculture homestead in Oregon, with a growing focus on climate-tech and the regenerative economy.
About
I'm a Staff Software Engineer with thirteen years building internet services: APIs, data platforms, and the infrastructure underneath them. Most recently I led backend & SDK projects at Caldera; before that, Routing team at Uniswap and previous to that I was on the Timelines Infrastructure team at Twitter. The full project list is below.
My distinctive strength is systems thinking: understanding a system's internal and external dynamics, and architecting it to optimize its subsystems while preserving flexibility for the larger systems it operates within. I believe in doing the engineering well, letting data guide the calls, and getting products out early so there's something real to learn from.
I grew up in Monterrey, Mexico and studied computer science at Tecnológico de Monterrey (with a semester at UNC Greensboro). I'm bilingual in English and Spanish, which helps when a project crosses borders.
These days I'm increasingly drawn to mission-aligned work: climate tech, environmental and social nonprofits, regenerative networks. My partner and I are slowly building a permaculture homestead: gardens, a food forest, bees, biochar, the whole thing. I also serve as Vice President of the Board of Directors at Beyond Toxics, an environmental-justice nonprofit working for equitable access to healthy communities and a thriving environment.
Work with me
These days I'm looking for mission-aligned work with small-to-mid-size teams: climate tech, environmental nonprofits, regenerative-economy organizations, or similar. That said, I'll still take on a good technical challenge outside that orbit. Here are a few ways to work with me:
Tech I work in
- Languages
- TypeScript, Scala, Python, Go, Solidity, Ruby
- APIs
- Protobuf / Connect-RPC, GraphQL, REST, Thrift
- Cloud / infra
- AWS, Terraform, Kubernetes, Postgres, NoSQL (Manhattan, DynamoDB)
- Onchain
- EVM (Ethereum, Arbitrum, OP Stack), Solidity, cross-chain bridging architecture
- AI
- Claude / Anthropic SDK, agentic tooling and the surrounding ecosystem
- Domains
- Resilient and fault-tolerant systems, multi-service architectures, API design, backend frameworks, data pipelines, regulatory-compliance APIs
Book an initial consultation
I take a few consulting engagements each quarter. Grab a time below and a short call will tell us whether there's a fit. If your project doesn't match the ways to work above, that's a good reason to talk too.
Past projects
-
Cross-chain Metalayer (asset bridging)
Caldera · 2024 – 2026
Architected and built the backend API and TypeScript SDK for the Metalayer, a system that bridges assets between any chains running in the Caldera ecosystem. Also contributed to the React widget and Solidity smart contracts.
-
Smart Order Router scalability
Uniswap Labs · 2023 – 2024
Worked on the RoutingAPI (quoting, pricing, route discovery) and added scalability features including a database of routes. Built a generalized framework for AWS backend systems with testability as a first-class concern.
-
Timelines REST → GraphQL migration
Twitter · 2020 – 2022
As a Staff engineer on Timelines Infrastructure, led the migration of TimelineService-API (the backend powering Home Timeline, Profile Timeline, and adjacent surfaces) from REST to GraphQL. Cross-functional with frontend, backend, data science, and infra teams.
-
NFT Profile Picture backend
Twitter · 2021
Initial architect of the backend services that let Twitter users display verified NFT pictures in their profiles.
-
Connect Accounts FinCEN compliance API
Stripe · 2018
On the Connect Accounts team, built the API surface that let marketplace platforms collect and submit the information their businesses needed to be FinCEN-compliant.
-
Designed and implemented a service to define cohesive, experimentable onboarding flows across platforms (still in use at Twitter).
-
Address Book Service re-architecture
Twitter · 2015
A database-layer overhaul of the Address Book backend, re-indexing trillions of contact entries for more efficient access and storage. The work laid the foundation for Twitter's eventual GDPR compliance.
-
Birth-date feature + the birthday balloons 🎈
Twitter · 2014
Original engineer on the birth-date feature: backend changes to add the field to user profiles and store/serve it, plus the web client implementation of the floating-balloon animation that appears on a user's profile on their birthday. Yes, those balloons.
-
Twitter Profile Pages redesign
Twitter · 2013 – 2014
First team I joined at Twitter. Backend and frontend engineering on the changes that shipped the redesigned profile page (header photo, larger avatar, pinned tweets, the works) in April 2014.
Get in touch
Email is the most reliable way to reach me. Or skip the back-and-forth and grab a slot on the calendar above.