I help founders and CTOs make better technical decisions before they become expensive ones.
I'm Ricard Clau, a systems architect and technical advisor based in Barcelona. As CTO at Holaluz, I grew engineering from 5 to 40 people and led the move to AWS. I also created Ansistrano, an open-source deployment tool with 2,400+ GitHub stars.
After 15+ years building systems and leading teams, I now work directly with founders and CTOs through my consultancy, Rigor Alliance. I help decide what needs to change, then work with the engineers to make it happen.
Rigor Alliance
2,400+ GitHub stars
How I can help
I've worked on both sides of engineering: making architectural decisions as a CTO and implementing them as an engineer. That experience shapes how I approach technical problems today.
I focus on four areas:
Architecture & technical decisions
Understanding complex systems, identifying what actually needs fixing, and making architectural choices that balance performance, cost, maintainability, and the capabilities of the team.
Cloud & infrastructure
Designing and improving cloud platforms, automation, deployment processes, and security. I care about infrastructure that engineers can understand and operate, not complexity for its own sake.
AI & emerging technologies
Exploring where AI can deliver real value, building practical integrations, and helping teams move from experiments to production without unnecessary complexity.
Engineering leadership & advisory
Supporting CTOs and engineering leaders with technical strategy, organizational challenges, and difficult decisions. Sometimes as an independent second opinion, sometimes working directly with the team.
Selected clients
How I approach engineering
I don't believe in universal best practices.
What works for a 10-person startup may be completely wrong for a company with 200 engineers. The same goes for Kubernetes, microservices, cloud providers, AI, and almost every other technology decision.
Good engineering is about understanding the context, making informed trade-offs, and knowing when not to add complexity.
I've spent enough time building, operating, and leading systems to know that the technically most impressive solution is rarely the most valuable one.
I prefer pragmatic decisions, straightforward communication, and leaving teams capable of owning what we build.
Background
From engineering to leadership
I've spent over 15 years working across software engineering, infrastructure, architecture, and technical leadership.
As CTO at Holaluz from 2017 to 2018, I grew the engineering team from 5 to 40 people, led the migration to AWS, and introduced CI/CD and automation while the business reached €14M in monthly revenue.
Before that, I worked on backend engineering and infrastructure at Hailo, SocialPoint, and Emagister, among others, in London and Barcelona.
Independent consulting
In 2018, I founded Rigor Alliance, my independent engineering and advisory consultancy.
Since then, I've worked with companies across Europe and the US, helping engineering teams solve technical challenges and make better architectural decisions. My clients span energy, fintech, mobility, and healthtech.
Open source & community
I created Ansistrano in 2014, an open-source tool for deploying applications with Ansible, now with over 2,400 GitHub stars.
I also founded and organize DevOps Barcelona, and have spoken at conferences including PHP UK, SymfonyCon Madrid, and Sunshine PHP, as well as local meetups. In 2026, I participated in a panel at Talent Arena.
Based in Barcelona. Working with companies across Europe and the US.