When Tiago Sao Jose arrived in the Netherlands from Portugal in 2012, he wasn’t planning to build a career in software engineering. In fact, he had been studying architecture. But that willingness to take a leap of faith coupled with a desire to improve how things work has guided him through a decade-long journey at Shapeways that’s taken him from the production floor to leading the engineering team.

From architecture to additive manufacturing

After four years of architecture studies, Tiago realised the path wasn’t the right one for him. He moved to the Netherlands with his Dutch partner (now wife) and soon after found an opening at Shapeways for a Production and Distribution Specialist.

“It was basically everything that happened after the parts came out of the printers — cleaning, post-processing, packing and shipping,” he recalls. Early advice during the interview stuck with him: if you wanted to succeed at Shapeways, you needed to take initiative and look for ways to improve things.

That mindset led Tiago to experiment with automation. With no programming background but plenty of willingness to get stuck in, he began teaching himself to code to make processes faster and more reliable. Within a year, he was coding every day.

The ‘Ah! So this is what I love’ moment

By 2015, his enthusiasm for automation led to a role in the Industrial Engineering team, where he worked more deeply with machines, programming and process development. Soon after, he began collaborating part-time with Shapeways’ software group, a step that ultimately defined his career.

“I realized this is what I wanted to do. I loved the idea of building a piece of code that could make someone’s working life easier and better,” he says. That spark carried him through roles as junior and senior developer, staff engineer leading the migration to AWS, engineering manager, and today, Head of Engineering.

A leadership style built on empathy

Tiago’s leadership is shaped by his early days on the production floor. He knows first-hand how software choices affect the people who use them. That’s why every new engineer on his team spends their first week working alongside production, packing and shipping orders, before they write a single line of code.

“When you see how people actually use the software, you start noticing issues no one else sees anymore,” he explains. “It gives you fresh eyes and a better understanding of how to improve things.”

Once a month, his team holds a “Lab Day,” where developers are free to test new tools, try ideas and then present their findings back to the group. Sometimes the result is a fun dead end, other times it sparks features that deliver real value across the company.

Building for Shapeways’ future

The engineering team doesn’t operate in isolation. Its goals are directly tied to the company’s goals, with three main areas of focus:

  • Customer Experience: ensuring smooth, accurate, and reliable quoting, ordering and tracking.
  • Operational Efficiency: building and maintaining fast, dependable tools that keep production moving without bottlenecks.
  • Scalability: designing systems that can grow from serving a handful of customers to tens of thousands without breaking.

Working side-by-side with operations, supply chain and sales teams keeps communication short and feedback loops tight. Developers regularly join customer meetings to hear how tools are being used in real-world contexts — often in ways the team hadn’t imagined.

Curiosity + problem solver = opportunity

The “restart” of Shapeways brought challenges but also opportunities to rethink what works and what doesn’t. Tiago sees it as a rebirth moment: a chance to carry forward what’s good, leave behind what isn’t and rebuild stronger.

He’s especially excited about the new instant quoting tool, currently in beta, which he describes as a new canvas for Shapeways to keep improving customer experience in the years ahead.

“At Shapeways, if you’re curious and want to solve problems, you’ll always find opportunity,” Tiago says. “That’s been my journey and it’s what we want for everyone who joins the team.”