Backend engineer
Workflow automation
Marlo Barua
I build the software businesses can't afford to break: payroll, compliance and point of sale.
Complicated rules, uneventful software.
I build complete applications: the interface people use, the API and database behind it, and the pipeline that ships it. Most of my work lives where business rules get complicated, like payroll, leave approvals and point-of-sale compliance. My job is to make those workflows reliable and uneventful to run.
At ActiveSystems I'm a core member of the R&D team. I architected the multi-tenant backend for ActiveWork, an HR and payroll SaaS on .NET 9 and Next.js with PostgreSQL Row-Level Security, and I own its CI/CD from GitHub Actions to AWS. On ActivePOS XA, a BIR-accredited POS serving 20+ businesses, I traced a connection-pooling defect to its root cause and raised throughput by about 60%.
I ship daily with an AI coding agent handling implementation, review and PRs, and I own every line that merges. I graduated Magna Cum Laude in IT (Information Security) from the University of Southeastern Philippines, and I work remotely from Davao City.
- 20+ tenant businesses
- ~60% throughput gain
- Magna Cum Laude
- Status
- Open to select opportunities
Screens people use all day
Dashboards, forms and approval flows people use all day. Typed end to end, tested in the browser, and fast with real data.
Next.js, React, TypeScript, Vue 3, Nuxt, Tailwind CSS, Vitest, Playwright
- Built payroll overtime approvals with optimistic UI and rollback
- Shipped a Vue 3 analytics dashboard with one-click Excel export across five DSWD divisions
- Improved load times and SEO on a client web system
Systems that hold under load
APIs, data models and background jobs where business rules, compliance and tenant isolation live in the core rather than being patched on at the edges.
.NET 9, NestJS, PostgreSQL, Redis, Hangfire, SignalR, EF Core, Socket.IO, Laravel, Delphi, xUnit
- Enforced per-tenant isolation with PostgreSQL Row-Level Security across every service and job
- Built JWT auth, RBAC and searchable field-level encryption for employee records
- Raised POS data-processing throughput by ~60% by fixing an ORM connection-pooling defect
Releases that are routine, not risky
Containerized builds, automated pipelines and versioned migrations, so shipping to staging and production is the same predictable step every time.
Docker, GitHub Actions, GHCR, AWS EC2, AWS S3, Ubuntu, Flyway, Vercel
- Own the ActiveWork release pipeline end to end as platform release owner
- Automated deploys to an on-prem Ubuntu staging host and AWS EC2 production
- Versioned schema delivery with Flyway migrations on every release
Experience
Jul 2024 to Present
Software Engineer
ActiveSystems Software Inc., Davao City
Core member of the R&D team building ActiveWork, a multi-tenant HR/Payroll SaaS (.NET 9 + Next.js), and ActivePOS XA, a BIR-accredited POS serving 20+ businesses.
ActiveWork · HR/Payroll SaaS, ActivePOS XA · BIR-accredited POS
- Architected a multi-tenant backend with PostgreSQL Row-Level Security and tenant-resolution middleware
- Built the leave subsystem: accrual engine, balance ledger, PH statutory rules, multi-level approvals and year-end forecasting
- Shipped payroll outputs: overtime approvals with audit logging, bank files, payslip history and BIR-2316 PDFs
- Improved reliability with Hangfire background jobs, retries, Redis caching and SignalR real-time notifications
- Own the CI/CD pipeline end to end: GitHub Actions, Docker and GHCR to Ubuntu staging and AWS EC2
- Resolved an ORM concurrency and FireDAC connection-pool defect on ActivePOS XA, lifting throughput by ~60%
- Built BIR-compliant POS reports with PDF export and a Socket.IO adapter, and refactored sales, discounts and payments toward Clean Architecture with DUnitX tests
Apr 2024 to May 2024
Project-Based Web Developer
Global Staff Network, Davao City
Part-time, project-based web development for a client business system.
- Optimized website performance, improving load times and lifting SEO ranking
- Delivered data-driven enhancement recommendations from analytics and user feedback
Sep 2023 to Dec 2023
Full-Stack Developer (Intern)
Department of Social Welfare and Development, Davao City
Led a small team building a records-management and analytics dashboard spanning five welfare divisions.
- Designed a Laravel 8 REST API with Sanctum auth, role-based access and a full edit-history audit trail
- Added soft-delete archival and version history for records
- Built aggregation endpoints consumed by a Vue 3 SPA with one-click Excel export, deployed to Vercel
- Managed the team GitHub repository while leading a small team
Jun 2023 to Aug 2023
Frontend Developer (Intern)
IdeaHub IT Solutions Provider Inc., Davao City
Frontend work on a complex business web system.
- Contributed debugging, feature development and documentation to a production web system
- Extended custom WordPress functionality and built responsive MJML email templates
Education & honors
University of Southeastern Philippines
B.S. Information Technology, Information Security major
Aug 2020 — Jun 2024
Magna Cum Laude, Dean's Lister, years 1 to 4
- Huawei ICT Competition (Networking)
- Mindanao IT Olympiad
- Zuitt Web Development Workshop
How I work
Own the whole path
I take a feature from the PostgreSQL schema and migrations through API design to deployment, so nothing gets lost between layers.
Reliability first
Background job queues, retries, idempotency, audit logs and error handling are part of the first version, not a later patch.
Small, verified changes
I ship daily with Claude Code as an AI coding agent. Changes stay small and tested, and I review and own every line that merges.
Root causes over workarounds
On ActivePOS XA I traced slow processing to a connection-pool defect and fixed it at the source, which raised throughput by about 60%.
Have a system that has to work?
Currently building full-time, but always open to conversations about interesting products, freelance builds, and the right next role.
- Engineering roles
- Backend or full-stack roles, remote, working in GMT+8.
- Client projects
- Workflow automation and business-system builds, from database to deployment.
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