Alejandro Palacios Arévalo

Profile

Software Engineer at Mercado Libre / Mercado Pago and freelance developer since 2019. 9+ years building digital products for banking, fintech, e-commerce, logistics and agencies. React, TypeScript, Next.js, Node.js and Go, API integration, testing, automation and AI built into the development workflow. I speak three languages on a team: business, marketing and code.

Experience

1. Software Engineer · Mercado Libre / Mercado Pago

   Oct 2024 — present

   I build the internal platforms CX, Benefits and Refunds teams use to run operations across Mercado Libre's markets.

   • New Refunds platform that now processes millions of refunds
   • About 15 improvements to the internal library that builds UIs from JSON
   • Nearly 90% of my work is now AI-assisted

   React · TypeScript · Node.js · Go · n8n · Python

2. Freelance Full Stack Developer · Alpacorp

   2019 — present

   Alongside my job, I build products for clients in Colombia, Mexico and the US: e-commerce, corporate websites, campaigns and my own products.

   • E-commerce and an AI-powered sales panel for Mr. Goma Tires (US)
   • Websites and campaigns for BBDO Mexico’s brands
   • White-label digital novenas for 8 companies

   Next.js · Astro · React · WordPress · Drupal · Odoo · AI

3. Frontend Developer · Banco Caja Social

   Jun 2022 — Oct 2024

   I started out building technology for Marketing, and the visibility of that work led me to CDT Digital, the product for opening a certificate of deposit (CDT) 100% online.

   • CDT Digital: over COP 2 billion (≈ USD 500K) raised in two years
   • The bank's best product three years in a row; the team won an award
   • Test-driven development (TDD) under banking security standards

   React · Next.js · NestJS · TypeScript · SonarCloud · Azure DevOps

4. Frontend Developer · Jikkosoft

   Jul 2021 — Jul 2022

   We built the MVP of a platform for managing the tax obligations of companies in Cali, fully remote and using Scrum.

   • MVP with e-invoicing and a payment gateway
   • Modules for users, invoicing by period and change reports
   • 100% remote, using Scrum

   React · Material UI · Redux · Jest

5. Analyst → Webmaster and Paid Media Specialist · Servientrega

   Jul 2011 — Jun 2021

   Ten years at one of Colombia's largest logistics groups. I started in billing and ended up running its web presence.

   • Two migrations of the Servientrega portal on IBM
   • "Ya Mismo": now the top three Google results
   • 12 group websites, with SEO, paid media and content

   IBM WebSphere · WordPress · Joomla · Google Analytics · SEO

Selected freelance projects

• Selling used tires like premium products

  Mr. Goma Tires

  E-commerce for 7 Florida locations with tire-size search, a faceted catalog, 3D tread views, Stripe checkout and a sales dashboard with an AI chat that filters inventory in plain language.

  ResultCLS → 0 down from 0.914, plus mobile LCP from 4.5 s to 3.2 s on the product page

• The developer behind an agency's campaigns

  BBDO Mexico

  BBDO Mexico's website and its new Astro version, the Afrin and Tabcin sites for Bayer built from scratch in Drupal, Finamex's investor profile quiz, and webmaster and email work for BMW, all on campaign timelines.

  Result6 brands: Finamex, Bayer, San Rafael, BMW, FedEx and BBDO itself

• One Christmas novena, eight brands

  White-label product

  A mobile-first app for praying the novena, a Colombian Christmas prayer tradition, with each company's logo, colors and illustrations. It started as a template, and I rewrote it from Create React App to Vite.

  Result8 companies, from Banco Caja Social to a pizzeria