Director of Engineering & Technology at Nuitée

Nicholas Valbusa

A product technology leader with 20+ years building software, leading teams, and delivering products end to end — from backend infrastructure and software architecture to full-stack product development.

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In a nutshell

My focus is on backend infrastructure, software architecture and full-stack product development — designing scalable systems, shaping clear technical specifications, and ensuring projects move smoothly from concept to launch.

I've led engineering teams through complex initiatives, from refining DevOps and CI/CD practices to managing AWS and GCP infrastructure, release cycles and security audits. I also enjoy guiding companies through compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2, combining a strong technical foundation with a pragmatic approach to security.

I stay close to the code while setting direction — coaching teams, presenting at industry conferences like JSDay and WHYMCA, and working closely with delivery managers to scale technical operations.

What I do

From infrastructure-as-code to LLMs — built to scale.

Backend Infrastructure

Designing high-performance, high-concurrency and low-latency systems built to scale across verticals.

Software Architecture

Shaping clear technical specifications and bespoke architectures — from the first prototype to launch.

Full-stack Product

Hands-on across Node.js, Go, C#, mobile apps, databases of every kind, caching layers and containerization.

Cloud & DevOps

Managing AWS (Fargate, Lambda, Aurora) and GCP, CI/CD pipelines, release cycles and infrastructure-as-code.

Engineering Leadership

Coaching teams through lean processes, scaling technical operations and creating space to push boundaries.

Security & Compliance

Guiding companies through ISO 27001 and SOC 2, security audits and low-level risk & vulnerability assessment.

Experience

  1. Nuitée

    2023 — Present

    Director — Engineering & Technology

    Guiding technology and product strategy — leading the technical vision with a focus on AI, overseeing infrastructure and product development for growth, scalability and reliability, and mentoring engineering and tech leads.

  2. Fliplet

    2016 — 2023

    Head of Development

    CTO-level role building an entire low-code platform from scratch. Owned backend infrastructure, software architecture, API strategy, DevOps & CI/CD, AWS, data security and ISO 27001 certification.

  3. Atlassian

    2015 — 2016

    Software Engineer · Contract

    Built the Windows Phone version of HipChat as a solo contributor — from backend infrastructure (Node.js, Socket.io, XML-RPC) through to UX.

  4. DigitasLBi

    2015 — 2016

    Lead Technologist

    Tech Lead for AstraZeneca's “Trace” project on a React / Node.js / MongoDB / AWS stack, driving BDD and DevOps practices while line-managing the team.

  5. Belocal.io

    2014 — 2016

    Co-Founder & CTO

    Co-founded a platform connecting travellers with independent local guides — owning the full build (Node.js, Express, MongoDB) plus a native Android app.

  6. Cronycle

    2013 — 2014

    Lead Engineer / Tech Lead

    Led a team building a high-performance web app on Backbone, Ruby on Rails, ElasticSearch, PostgreSQL and Cassandra, with a strong test-driven focus.

  7. Microsoft

    2013 — 2014

    Senior Application Engineer · Contract

    Founded Collector, a top Windows Phone news-reading app backed by Microsoft and Nokia, spanning Windows 8 and Windows 10.

  8. Earlier

    • Quipper — Senior Full-stack Engineer 2012 — 2013
    • Intesys — Lead iOS & Full-stack Engineer 2010 — 2012
    • BeWebMedia — Full-stack Developer 2008 — 2010
    • NSC — Full-stack Developer 2007 — 2008
    • Azienda Ospedaliera di Verona — System & Network Administrator 2004 — 2006

Open source

Code is a daily habit — commits, reviews, and the odd late-night side project. Here's a year of GitHub activity.

Contributions in the last year

@squallstar

What I'm building

“The complexity of travel distribution isn't just a business hurdle — it's a massive technical data hurdle. At Nuitée, our mission is to abstract that chaos: building the high-performance infrastructure to move travel into the era of embedded B2B2C solutions.”
Resilient connectivity · scalable abstraction · agentic commerce, AI and MCP as foundational building blocks.
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Got a great idea to build?

I'm always happy to talk architecture, infrastructure, leadership — or a promising side project. Let's connect.

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