Montevideo, Uruguay · Technical Team Lead at Activo.uy

Gabriel Baña

Building high-performance teams at the intersection of leadership and tech.

I lead a team of software engineers that designs and builds products to help clients operate more efficiently. Before that I spent years shipping web and blockchain products as a full-stack contractor, and co-founded INIT.UY, a community that brings new developers into the software industry.

LinkedIn ↗
How I lead

People first, with extreme ownership

Empathy

Engineers do their best work when they feel heard. I start every conversation from their side of the table.

Honesty

Clear, direct feedback in both directions keeps the team aligned and the work moving.

Ownership

When the team struggles, the leader looks inward first. I want engineers to own their craft and raise the bar for whoever comes next.

Experience

Where I've worked

  1. Dec 2023 – now
    Current

    Technical Team Lead

    Activo.uy · Hybrid, Uruguay

    • Lead 5 software engineers from opportunity discovery through solution design and delivery.
    • Drove the team's standardization initiative: coding standards, documentation practices and architecture guidelines, built from the ground up.
    • Present technical proposals to stakeholders, PMs and heads of development; own sprint planning and team alignment.
  2. Sep 2020 – Nov 2024

    Co-Founder

    INIT.UY · Uruguay

    A community and learning space for students and aspiring developers. We built software for clients with multidisciplinary, mixed-seniority teams, so juniors learned on real projects. I ran operations end to end: team coordination, client negotiations, quality control and strategy. It's where I formed my views on leadership.

  3. Feb 2019 – Sep 2023

    Full Stack & Frontend Developer

    Independent contractor · Remote, clients in the US, Argentina and Uruguay

    Scalestack"Zapier for B2B sales data." Built the product from scratch.
    CubeFinancial planning tool. Built its marketing sites, including the HubSpot one.
    UltraDropBlockchain platform for musicians and fans. Built the MVP and stayed on as main team.
    Space HeadsSolana NFT collection with utility programs. Took over and maintained the full product.
    Legal CryptoTrackerReal-time wiki of crypto regulation worldwide, written by legal experts.
    The Design ProjectNYC UI/UX agency. Built their site and their clients' sites.
  4. Aug 2022 – Aug 2023

    Project Manager

    XERIAL · Remote, Argentina

    Advised a web3 gaming platform on technology and blockchain integration ahead of its Solana launch.

Toolkit

What I work with

Engineering
Node.jsNext.jsReactRustMongoDBKubernetesSolanaHeadless CMS
Leadership
Team leadershipSprint planningEngineering standardsStakeholder communicationProduct developmentMentoring
Education

Still learning

Universidad ORT UruguayLicenciatura en Sistemas · in progress2026 – now
Hack AcademyFrontend Developer bootcamp2018
Fundación ForgeJunior Tester2017
Contact

Let's talk

Questions about leadership, engineering teams or a project you have in mind? Send me a message and I'll reply by email. Spanish or English is fine.

hola@gazorpian.uy