Manuel Baez Gonzalez
Verified Expert in Engineering
Full-stack Developer
Caguas, Puerto Rico
Toptal member since February 26, 2026
Manuel is a backend-focused full-stack developer with 4+ years of experience at Microsoft, where he built microservices in the .NET/Azure ecosystem while owning CI/CD pipelines and cloud infrastructure. Working in the DevSecOps space, he delivered 4x performance improvements and enterprise-scale authentication systems. Manuel also brings experience in TypeScript and JavaScript across various projects, is Azure certified (AZ-400, AZ-204), and is fluent in English and Spanish.
Portfolio
Experience
- TypeScript - 4 years
- Microservices - 4 years
- Azure DevOps - 4 years
- .NET Core - 4 years
- Express.js - 4 years
- .NET 7 - 4 years
- C# - 4 years
- Domain-driven Design (DDD) - 3 years
Work Experience
Senior .NET Windows Application Developer
Quickstrike Systems LLC
- Delivered the first version of a native Windows desktop app, built solo in .NET 8 and Avalonia in five months, replacing a client's legacy Excel artillery fire-mission generator with a guided workflow and interactive map.
- Designed and prototyped the operator workflow in an Electron, React, and TypeScript app with a Fluent UI interface, approved by the client, and used to demo the concept to potential customers at an industry event.
- Reimplemented a proprietary calculation engine in .NET supporting multiple configurable profiles, compiled with NativeAOT to ship the protected logic as native code, and structured the core for cross-platform reuse, with a planned Android build.
- Built fully offline, worldwide MGRS coordinate handling with a WGS84 to UTM to MGRS conversion chain for internal math and operator display, validated against fixed reference points to keep the map, grid overlay, and engine aligned.
- Developed an interactive map in WebView2 and MapLibre GL JS with drag-and-drop standardized symbology, a zoom-aware coordinate grid, and operator-drawn range and exclusion zones, running offline on low-spec, locked-down workstations.
- Implemented offline licensing using RSA-signed, machine-bound license files with an offline activation exchange, plus signed configuration packages, so the application installs and runs in fully disconnected, security-restricted environments.
Software Engineer
Microsoft
- Delivered microservices-based features in Azure C# (Functions and MVC) for a new proprietary content localization platform, including file-processing pipelines and handoff/handback services, enabling content localization at scale.
- Built feature components supporting over 25-megabyte file handling in the data ingestion process, expanding project acceptance capabilities, and enabling processing of larger artifacts across the existing software localization pipeline.
- Resolved a critical UI performance bottleneck shared by both software and content localization platforms, reducing page load time from two minutes to milliseconds, directly improving workflow efficiency for project management teams.
- Designed and implemented Azure File Share caching, achieving a 4x reduction in file ingestion workload processing time, significantly improving throughput for content localization workflows.
- Owned and maintained CI/CD pipelines across development, staging, and production environments on Azure DevOps for both localization platforms, becoming the team's secondary infrastructure expert after senior engineers.
- Created infrastructure-as-code documentation and educational resources for Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template development, enabling team self-service and reducing dependency on infrastructure specialists by over 30% per sprint.
- Led security development lifecycle initiatives, including implementing monitoring, code bug prevention, performing threat model reviews, and migrating authentication to compliant methods.
Project History
Non-compliant Timesheet Checker
Coaching Subscription Platform Customization and Deployment
Education
Bachelor of Science Degree in Software Engineering
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez - Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Certifications
Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
Microsoft
Microsoft Azure Developer Associate
Microsoft
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, React, Vue
Tools
Git, Slack, Azure Logic Apps, GIS, WebView, Agora, NGINX, PM2
Frameworks
.NET 7, .NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Express.js, ASP.NET, .NET, Django, Next.js, Hapi.js, Angular, Flask, Avalonia, Electron, Fluent UI, NestJS
Paradigms
DevOps, Agile, Azure DevOps, Test-driven Development (TDD), Event-driven Architecture, Microservices, Event-driven Design (EDD)
Platforms
Azure, Azure Functions, Linux, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes, Hostinger
Languages
TypeScript, C#, Java, JavaScript, HTML, C#.NET, Python, CSS
Storage
Databases, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB, MongoDB
Other
RESTFul APIs, Full-stack, Large-scale Projects, Event-driven Systems, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Domain-driven Design (DDD), Agile Leadership, Azure Durable Functions, Compliance, Azure Data Factory (ADF), ICT Training, CI/CD Pipelines, Azure Files, Prototyping, GeoJSON, MapLibre, Maps, Cross-platform App Development, MERN Stack, Monorepos, OpenTelemetry
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