About

I'm Mikael Baron — software architect and engineering leader based in Barcelona. I've spent 15+ years building backend systems at scale and leading the teams that run them.

The through-line across my career is working at the intersection of technical depth and organisational clarity. I can design the architecture and lead the team that builds it. At Nektria I built the engineering organisation through Series A — real-time pricing engine, distributed logistics SaaS, team scaled to 13 engineers. At Wallbox I coordinated delivery across 12 countries, launched €3M+ in service revenue in two years. More recently, I've shipped AI-native products in production — LLM-powered platforms in regulated environments.

I care about pragmatic systems, honest tradeoffs, and engineering cultures where quality and speed aren't in opposition. I've seen what happens when you optimise for one and ignore the other — in both directions.

On AI in engineering

AI got me interested again in what it means to build software. Not because it makes things easier — it doesn't, at least not in the ways people expect — but because it changed what's possible with a small team and serious architecture decisions. The founders I work with used AI to ship fast. My job is making sure that speed doesn't become a liability.

How I think

I'm drawn to problems that don't sit cleanly inside one team's remit — the ones that cross the boundary between engineering and product, between technical decisions and business consequences. I do my best work when I own the outcome end-to-end, not just a slice of it.

I value clarity over complexity, intellectual honesty over ego, and steady progress over dramatic rewrites. I've been on both sides of the table — builder, leader, consultant — and I've found that the most useful thing I can bring to any engagement is an honest read of what's actually going on.

Background

Pure Mathematics degree (University of Wales, Aberystwyth). Started in enterprise IT, moved into software engineering, ended up doing distributed systems and engineering leadership. The mathematical background shows up in how I think about systems — not in the languages I use.

Based in Barcelona. Working in English, French, and Spanish.