Sooke, BC, Canada · Open to new opportunities

Nicholas Bates

Software Development Manager / Engineering Manager

20+ years in software and 5 years leading backend teams for enterprise SaaS. Built and led the backend team behind ArborXR's Portal while staying hands-on with architecture, scalability, and security/compliance readiness.

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Nicholas Bates

About

Engineering manager with 20+ years in software and 5 years leading backend teams for enterprise SaaS. I built and led the backend team behind ArborXR's Portal, hiring most of the team directly in a competitive market and keeping delivery steady through organizational change. In 360-degree feedback, the team identified psychological safety as the defining strength of my leadership.

I stay hands-on throughout: I set architectural direction across Laravel services composed through GraphQL Federation, designed the escalation rotation that absorbed customer load without breaking the team's focus time, and set the review practice that holds engineers accountable for AI-generated code.

Recent Experience

Software Development Manager — ArborXR

2026

Lead Backend Developer — ArborXR

2021 – 2026

Lead Backend Developer — SpringboardVR

2017 – 2021

Founder & Director of Development — Iconic Media


1999 – 2016

Development Manager / Software Engineer — Bravenet Web Services


2008 – 2015

Current Projects

BusyBlend — Personal Project

Closed Beta

A shared shopping and meal-planning suite: a truly native iOS and Android app built on NativePHP with offline-first sync, backed by a Laravel web platform and Filament admin.

Tenantrail — Personal Project

In development

A web app for self-managing landlords in British Columbia: plain-language BC tenancy rules with named sources and last-verified dates, guided workflows for notices, inspections and official RTB forms, and an append-only, tamper-evident log of every action. Built on Laravel, Livewire and Flux, with a phone-first inspection flow.

Skills

Leadership

  • Engineering Leadership
  • Talent Acquisition
  • Team Building & Performance Management
  • Mentoring
  • System Architecture & Scalability
  • Security & Compliance Audits

Platform & Architecture

  • Microservices & GraphQL Federation
  • Multi-Tenant SaaS Architecture
  • GraphQL & REST API Design
  • Developer-Facing Surfaces (Public API, CLI)
  • Search & Indexing Services
  • Event-Driven Messaging (RabbitMQ, MQTT)
  • Legacy System Decommissioning & Migration
  • Vendor Evaluation

Engineering

  • PHP
  • Laravel
  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • Node.js
  • Vue.js
  • React
  • NativePHP
  • Git
  • TDD / BDD
  • Agentic & AI-Assisted Development Workflows

Data & Infrastructure

  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • MongoDB
  • AWS
  • GCP
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • Firebase

Monetization & Billing

  • Custom Billing & Licensing Systems
  • Usage-Based Metering
  • Subscription & Plan Management
  • Proration
  • Revenue Share & Payouts
  • Chargebee
  • Stripe

Security & Compliance

  • SOC 2 Type II
  • ISO 27001
  • GDPR
  • Vanta
  • Penetration-Test Coordination
  • Enterprise Security Review

"Nicholas has been a great person to work with. In projects we've worked on together, he's been thorough in completing the tasks and ensuring that they are done to — and in some cases higher than — the customer spec. I don't hesitate to recommend him to others."

Jamie Penner, V3 Media

Education

Multimedia Design & Communication Diploma

1999 – 2000

Applied Multimedia Training Centers, Calgary, AB, Canada

Get in Touch

Currently open to new opportunities in engineering leadership and software development. Feel free to reach out.

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