About Twistag

Product, data and AI under one roof.

Twistag is an AI transformation company based in Lisbon, with a decade of systems in production. We work with leadership teams to find where AI creates the most value, then build the workflows, systems, and products that capture it.

Lisbon rooftops and the river Tagus in the evening
Fred Sarmento, founder and CEO of Twistag

Fred SarmentoFounder and CEO

A note from the founder

Twistag started in 2016 as a product studio. Ten years later, most of our work is applied AI. The way we work has stayed the same.

We spent our first years designing and building apps, SaaS platforms and online stores for startups, then for larger companies and some of the best-known brands in the world. Those years taught us one lesson above all: technology only matters when people use it every day.

As the products we built became more complex, so did the problems behind them. Five years ago, a recommendation engine for a client’s social app meant going beyond the product itself and building the data and machine learning underneath it. Over time, more of our work moved in that direction. What changed wasn’t how we worked. It was what we were able to change inside a business.

Today, we work with leadership teams to find where AI can create the most value, then build the workflows, systems and products that capture it.

The principle is still the same: start small, prove the value, then scale what works. We build systems people can actually use and understand, and leave every business more capable than we found it.

Product, data and AI rarely sit under one roof. Here, they share the same desk.

Fred Sarmento · Founder and CEO
One team, three disciplines

The overlap is the point.

AI transformation needs three disciplines at the same time: understanding how the work is really done, having the right data and systems, and building intelligence that actually enters the operation. Twistag brings all three into one team.

Ten years of products people use.

Understanding the people, the workflow and the habits a change has to fit into. Research, design and engineering that turn a new capability into something teams adopt and keep using, built on apps, platforms and internal tools shipped since 2016.

Data that stay current.

Pipelines, warehouses and governance that keep company data clean and connected, so reports, people and agents work from the same figures.

AI that carries real work.

Models and agents tested against an agreed number, watched once live and improved from real use, with people approving what matters.

Each discipline makes the other two better. Together they turn an AI idea into something a company runs every day.

Leadership

The people in the room.

A leadership team with skin in the game. We sit inside every engagement, help decide what matters and stay until the work is shipped.

  • Fred Sarmento

    Fred Sarmento

    Founder & CEO
  • Sara Maia

    Sara Maia

    Partner & COO
  • Jorge Franco

    Jorge Franco

    CTO
  • João Belo

    João Belo

    VP of Engineering
  • Inês Marcão

    Inês Marcão

    Head of Product

With more than 25 engineers, designers, data and AI specialists, averaging over eight years in their field.

Join the team
How Twistag works

Six principles, for clients and for the team.

What a client can expect from every engagement, and what everyone at Twistag signs up to.

  1. 01

    No middle layers.

    The people doing the work talk directly to the people who own the problem.

  2. 02

    Understand the business.

    Know how the company makes money, how the market moves and how the work gets done before deciding what to build.

  3. 03

    Work beyond your title.

    Engineers think about product. Product thinks about the business. AI thinks about the workflow. Good decisions rarely belong to one discipline.

  4. 04

    Own the outcome.

    If something stands between the team and the outcome, it is part of the job.

  5. 05

    Proof first.

    Start small. Agree what success looks like. Prove it before scaling.

  6. 06

    Say it plainly.

    Say what is working, what isn’t and what needs to change. Clarity makes the work better.

Lisbon

Built in Lisbon, working worldwide.

Lisbon gives Twistag senior people who chose the city and a working day that overlaps both Europe and the Americas. Clients in Europe, North America and Asia work with the same team, remotely and on site whenever the work needs it.

Time zone
Shares the full European working day and the morning of the US East Coast.
Travel
Two to three hours from most European capitals, under eight to New York.
Office
Av. Berna 30 2B, 1050-048 Lisbon, Portugal.
Lisbon rooftops above the river at sunset
Trusted by

Work for teams that set a high bar.

  • DHL
  • Volkswagen
  • Autodesk
  • Bangkok Bank
  • Ruinart
  • Glovo
  • Nike
  • Worten
  • Defined.ai
  • Datatalks
  • Keepwhat
  • Indie Campers
  • Source.app
  • kencko
  • Value for Health CoLAB
In their words

What clients say after the work ships.

We have relied on Twistag as a partner for quite a few years. They are a really good partner with a great team. They always deliver on expectations and are very responsive to our needs when they change. It is really hard to deliver quality year after year but Twistag does exactly that.
Stefan LavénFounder & CEO, Datatalks
Twistag dedication to understanding our business goals and their innovative approach to solving challenges were impressive. They were highly responsive to our needs and operated as a true partner.
João SilvaBusiness Manager, Glovo
Twistag team are really easy to work with, they helped us build our first subscription-based e-commerce platform which helped us test our product with our early users and get market feedback fast.
Tomas FroesFounder & CEO, kencko
Twistag has delivered a ready-to-use MVP on time that received positive great feedback. The team has exceptional project management skills, excellent communication, insightful feedback, and dedication. Their proactiveness and profound understanding of the client’s product and business are impressive.
Ana RitaChief Scientific Officer, VOH.CoLAB
Our MVP was developed for a small target audience, validated, and refined into a subscription-based product and logistics solution. In 12 weeks, Twistag delivered the company website, mobile app, and inventory management integrations, along with a seamless onboarding and training process.
Ricardo AlvarezCo-founder & CEO, Keepwhat
  • DeloitteTechnology Fast 500 EMEA2023 and 2024
  • Tech BehemothsWinner, Artificial IntelligencePortugal, 2025. Custom Software Development, Portugal, 2024
  • Clutch4.9 out of 5From 14 verified client reviews
  • AWSPartnerCloud, data and AI services
  • ISO/IEC 27001Information securityPractice behind every engagement
In the press
Work with Twistag

Three ways in.

  • Companies

    Bring the work that should change first.

    A workflow, a data problem or a product idea. A senior person replies within one working day with an honest view of what proving it would take.

    Book a call
  • Partners and portfolios

    A delivery team for partners.

    Senior capacity for a tech company’s own roadmap, tech delivery for consulting firms’ clients, and AI playbooks rolled out across PE portfolios.

    Explore a partnership
  • Careers

    Senior people who like shipping.

    Engineers, designers, data and AI specialists who want their work in daily use at companies around the world.

    See open roles
Careers

Open roles.

Small senior teams, real clients, and work that ships. Hybrid from the Lisbon office.

Senior AI Engineer

Lisbon · Hybrid · Full time

Builds the agents that take on real work for companies worldwide: the integrations, the evaluations, the monitoring and the interfaces people use to approve what matters. Works in a small team with a product lead and a data engineer, inside the client’s own systems.

Apply

The work

  • Agents connected to ERP, CRM and ticketing systems
  • Evaluation sets and tests for every release
  • Monitoring, cost and quality reporting
  • Workshops with the people who run the process

Who fits

  • Five or more years building software people use
  • Hands-on work with LLMs, retrieval and tool use
  • Strong Python or TypeScript
  • Clear writing in English

Senior Product Designer, AI products

Lisbon · Hybrid · Full time

Designs how people work alongside AI: the review queues, the approvals, the dashboards and the assistants a whole company uses. Pairs with engineers from the first workshop and tests every idea with real users before it is built.

Apply

The work

  • Discovery with operations and business teams
  • Prototypes tested with real users within days
  • Interfaces for agents, approvals and reporting
  • Design systems the client’s team can keep

Who fits

  • Six or more years in product design
  • A portfolio of shipped B2B or internal tools
  • Comfortable with data-heavy screens
  • Curious about how AI changes the interface

Twistag at a glance

Founded
2016, Lisbon
What Twistag is
An applied AI company
Practices
AI & Agents, Data & Cloud, Product Engineering
Team
25+ people, 8+ years average experience
Clients
Mid-market, enterprise and PE-backed companies in Europe, North America and Asia
Partners
AWS
Certification
ISO 27001 practice
Office
Av. Berna 30 2B, 1050-048 Lisbon
Questions

Still have questions?

What is Twistag?

Twistag is an applied AI company in Lisbon, Portugal, founded in 2016. It designs, builds and runs AI agents, AI-ready data platforms and AI-native products for start-ups, scale-ups and enterprises in Europe, North America and Asia.

How big is Twistag, and who does the work?

Twistag is 25+ senior engineers, designers and AI specialists, most with eight or more years in their discipline. A typical engagement runs with one or two forward-deployed engineers who work inside the client’s systems and team, with AI tooling doing much of the heavy lifting. Larger programmes scale to a squad of three to eight. The people in the first meetings are the people who build.

How long has Twistag worked on AI?

Since the start. Data integrations, BI tools, recommendation engines and machine learning have been part of the work since 2016, and LLM and agentic work since 2023. More than thirty AI agents now run daily operations for clients, from internal workflow automation to customer-facing features.

Which industries and companies has Twistag worked with?

Financial services, retail, e-commerce, hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing and media. Clients include Autodesk, DHL, Volkswagen, Bangkok Bank, Ruinart and Glovo, alongside dozens of European scale-ups.

Is Twistag certified, and what standards does it work to?

Twistag runs an ISO 27001 practice. It is an AWS Partner, and a member of the Data Science Portuguese Association. It was listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA in 2023 and 2024, and holds a 4.9 rating on Clutch from 14 verified client reviews.

Where is Twistag based, and which time zones does it cover?

Twistag is based in Lisbon, Portugal, and works remote-first with clients in Europe, the UK, North America and Asia, travelling for kick-offs and key milestones. Lisbon shares the full European working day and the morning of the US East Coast.

How much does it cost to start with AI?

Cost follows scope. Four things move it: how many systems need to connect, how much of the data layer already exists, how much human review the workflow needs and how long the team stays. A discovery sprint runs two to four weeks and a first build six to twelve. A written proposal with scope, milestones, team and pricing follows within a week of a 30-minute call.

How does an engagement start, and how soon?

With a 30-minute call to understand the problem, then a written proposal within a week covering scope, milestones, team and pricing. Most engagements open with a focused two-to-four-week discovery sprint that settles the scope before full delivery starts.

Does the company need an AI strategy or a data platform first?

No. Twistag works with companies at any stage. When the data is scattered and unmodelled, the first phase is data work, and the team says so before any commitment.

How does Twistag work with an existing team?

Twistag embeds and works inside the client’s own infrastructure: the same repository, CI, cloud accounts and environments, with a shared backlog, stand-ups and definition of done. It can run the whole product or add people to existing squads, and always states which of the two it is doing.

Who owns what is built?

The client owns everything. Source code, infrastructure as code, prompts, models, evaluation datasets and documentation transfer in full. Twistag documents the system and trains the team to run it, and taking the work in-house afterwards is a supported outcome.

Will the internal team be able to run it afterwards?

Yes. Build, train, transfer is one of Twistag’s operating principles. The team pairs with the client’s engineers during the build, documents the system and runs walkthroughs before handover, so the internal team can run the product on its own.
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