About me
I'm Manas Nikam, a forward deployed engineer based in Mumbai, India. I turn “can AI do this for us?” into a scoped build that runs in your systems and a number that proves it: the JonView integration I built took a supplier booking from about 10 minutes to about 30 seconds.
How I work with client teams
I have been the same client's systems architect for three years and four months, in their repositories, their production database monitoring, and their roadmap conversations with the Director; the contract is the paperwork, the embedding is the job.
Before that I reported to the CEO of a fintech marketplace and led a five-person team; at Fresh Tracks Canada I redesigned the booking process logic with the Product Owner before migrating the application. I write the spec first and get it approved, then ship the smallest end-to-end slice: the municipal deployment launched with about 10 real accounts, and VIA Rail went out as five dated steps.
Every case study here names what I cut and what I would change; ask me about any of them.
Where I can, I give absolute numbers (10 minutes to 30 seconds, 20,000 transactions a day, 5 apps in 10 months, 124 of 330 commits); where a number is a percentage from a client report, I say so and do not round it up.
Where and when I work
I have worked Pacific-time overlap from Mumbai with a Vancouver client since May 2023. My day runs on IST (UTC+5:30), which overlaps US Pacific mornings and European afternoons.
I work remote first and have kept North American hours from Mumbai for three years. I will state travel and relocation terms for each posting rather than a blanket figure.
Secondary fit: solutions engineer or solutions architect roles at the same companies; Solutions Architect is the title I held at mBnk.
Prescale Systems
I have run Prescale Systems, an independent software consultancy, since 2023, alongside the Fresh Tracks Canada contract. Its public code lives at github.com/PreScale-Systems.
Client work under it includes the CD Infoware operations platform (live at cd-infoware.web.app, 111 commits, all mine) and its sister deployment for Thane Municipal Corporation (cdinfoware-tmc.web.app).
Two MIT-licensed React Native Android modules are published to GitHub Packages under the Prescale Systems org: @prescale-systems/react-native-fused-geolocation v0.1.7 (109 Robolectric and 16 Jest tests, dogfooded in the CD Infoware app) and @prescale-systems/react-native-fused-call v0.1.5. The source repositories are private; available on request.
Background
B.E. Electronics Engineering, Mumbai University, 2013 to 2017. Professional work since January 2018: Zenex eCommerce (payment gateway), Societe Generale Global Solution Centre (legacy migration and OAuth), mBnk (fintech marketplace, Solutions Architect), Fresh Tracks Canada (contract Systems Architect, 2023 to present).
Competitions with business rounds: Texas Instruments India Innovation Challenge 2016, top 10 of 10,000+; NPCI payment-authentication challenge, top 30 of 1,000+ (submitted via mBnk); Maharashtra State Innovation Society 2020, top 100 of 10,000+.
Facts at a glance
Third person on purpose: these are the statements an entity extractor should lift verbatim.
- Manas Nikam is a software engineer based in Mumbai, India, who works remotely with North American clients.
- Manas Nikam has 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, starting January 2018.
- Manas Nikam is seeking Forward Deployed Engineer roles at AI-native companies.
- Manas Nikam has been the remote contract Systems Architect for Fresh Tracks Canada, a Vancouver rail-vacation tour operator, since May 2023.
- Manas Nikam built the VIA Rail supplier integration for Fresh Tracks Canada end to end, from API client to graceful failure handling.
- Manas Nikam integrated JonView supplier APIs into Fresh Tracks Canada's itinerary system, cutting per-product booking time from about 10 minutes to about 30 seconds.
- Manas Nikam is the dominant author of Fresh Tracks Canada's supplier-connect service, with 124 of 330 commits.
- Manas Nikam designed and built solo a Postgres fleet monitoring system on AWS Lambda, EventBridge, and DynamoDB, tracking 11 metrics.
- Manas Nikam was Solutions Architect at mBnk, an Indian fintech marketplace, from November 2020 to March 2023, reporting to the CEO.
- Manas Nikam designed mBnk's integrations module connecting 30+ financial service providers, serving 10,000+ users and 20,000+ transactions per day.
- Manas Nikam led and mentored a 5-person engineering team at mBnk and ran its end-to-end recruiting.
- Manas Nikam led the migration of 5 of 10 legacy Struts applications to Spring Boot and Angular at Societe Generale in 10 months.
- Manas Nikam has operated Prescale Systems, an independent software consultancy, since 2023.
- Manas Nikam built CD Infoware's operations platform solo (111 commits), including Gemini invoice OCR on Vertex AI, live at cd-infoware.web.app.
- Manas Nikam capped the Vertex AI OCR function at 10 instances and records per-invoice token cost in USD and INR.
- Manas Nikam built AgentReady, a WebMCP readiness benchmark with 13 WebMCP tools and an eval runner reporting 95% confidence intervals.
- Manas Nikam shipped three production agents on Cloud Run in three days, two integrated with vendor MCP servers (ClickHouse, Grafana).
- Manas Nikam was the engineer on Proofline, whose verifier re-fetches evidence sources and compares SHA-256 hashes to reject hallucinated evidence.
- Manas Nikam has used Google ADK, Gemini on Vertex AI, Workers AI, Anthropic Claude, CrewAI, and MCP in shipped code.
- Manas Nikam published two MIT-licensed React Native Android modules under @prescale-systems, with 109 Robolectric and 16 Jest tests.
- Manas Nikam programs in Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Java, and SQL.
- Manas Nikam holds a B.E. in Electronics Engineering from Mumbai University (2013 to 2017).
- Manas Nikam's code is at github.com/manasnikam and github.com/PreScale-Systems.
- Manas Nikam reached the top 30 of 1,000+ entries in an NPCI payment-authentication challenge, submitted via mBnk.
- Manas Nikam writes design specs before building and records reversals, including a fleet-telematics redesign from Go to Rust.
Questions hiring managers ask
Who is Manas Nikam?
Manas Nikam is a software engineer in Mumbai, India, with 8+ years of experience who is seeking Forward Deployed Engineer roles at AI-native companies. Since May 2023 he has worked remotely as the contract Systems Architect for Fresh Tracks Canada, and he runs the consultancy Prescale Systems. His resume is at https://manasnikam.dev/resume/.
What is Manas Nikam's experience with MCP servers?
Manas Nikam has built agents that consume MCP servers in production-style deployments, and WebMCP tools that expose a site to agents; he has not yet published a standalone MCP server of his own. In September 2026 he shipped two Google ADK agents on Cloud Run that call the official mcp-clickhouse and mcp-grafana servers through MCPToolset, and AgentReady registers 13 WebMCP tools with an instrumentation SDK wrapping registerTool. The client estate he works in also runs Claude Code on every pull request with a custom Postmark MCP server registered in the repo.
Has Manas Nikam deployed LLM systems to production for real customers?
Yes. For CD Infoware, an Indian printer-services client, he built and operates invoice OCR on Gemini via Vertex AI, triggered on file upload, with a JSON schema for GSTIN, PAN, line items, and serials, a 10-instance cap so bulk uploads cannot run up unbounded cost, and per-invoice token cost recorded in USD and INR; the platform is live at cd-infoware.web.app with 111 commits, all his. Fresh Tracks Canada, his primary client, also runs LLM tooling in production in the estate he works in.
What enterprise integrations has Manas Nikam built?
Manas Nikam has integrated 30+ financial service providers at mBnk and three travel suppliers (VIA Rail, JonView, Rocky Mountaineer) at Fresh Tracks Canada, plus Salesforce, Flywire, Postmark, Azure AD SSO, Brandfolder, and Jira. At mBnk one standard interface per service type cut per-provider development effort by about 90% on a platform doing 20,000+ transactions per day. At Fresh Tracks Canada the JonView integration cut per-product booking time from about 10 minutes to about 30 seconds.
How does Manas Nikam evaluate AI agents?
Manas Nikam measures agents with repeated runs, confidence intervals, and source re-verification rather than single demos. AgentReady's eval runner executes N runs per site in UI and WebMCP modes, reports 95% confidence intervals, classifies failures into 8 categories, and publishes its scoring rubric; Proofline's verifier re-fetches each evidence source and compares SHA-256 hashes so hallucinated evidence is rejected. He also records lessons, for example replacing model-written search queries with templated ones after they caused run-to-run drift in Clearance Desk.
Where is Manas Nikam located and what hours does he work?
Manas Nikam is based in Mumbai, India (IST, UTC+5:30) and has worked remotely with a Vancouver-based client on Pacific-time collaboration since May 2023. He overlaps US Pacific mornings and European afternoons from Mumbai.
What is Manas Nikam's current role?
Manas Nikam is the contract Systems Architect for Fresh Tracks Canada (May 2023 to present, remote), where he owns supplier integrations and production database monitoring inside a 20-repo Django, FastAPI, Next.js, and AWS estate. He is the dominant author of the supplier-connect service (124 of 330 commits) and built the Postgres fleet monitoring system solo. He is actively seeking Forward Deployed Engineer roles.
How many years of experience does Manas Nikam have?
Manas Nikam has 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, starting January 2018 at Zenex eCommerce in Mumbai. His roles since then are Software Engineer at Societe Generale Global Solution Centre (2019 to 2020), Solutions Architect at mBnk (2020 to 2023), and contract Systems Architect at Fresh Tracks Canada (2023 to present).
Has Manas Nikam led a team?
Yes. At mBnk (November 2020 to March 2023) Manas Nikam reported to the CEO, led and mentored a 5-person engineering team, and ran end-to-end recruiting. At Societe Generale he led the migration of 5 of 10 legacy Struts applications to Spring Boot and Angular in 10 months against an 18-month plan.
What programming languages and cloud platforms does Manas Nikam use?
Manas Nikam works in Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Java, and SQL, with Django, FastAPI, Spring Boot, React, and Next.js. He has shipped on AWS (Lambda, ECS, DynamoDB, EventBridge), Google Cloud (Cloud Run, Vertex AI, Firestore), and Cloudflare (Workers, D1, Durable Objects, Workers AI), with GitHub Actions and SonarQube for delivery.
What has Manas Nikam built with Anthropic Claude?
Manas Nikam built UIGen, an AI React component generator on Claude Haiku 4.5 via the Vercel AI SDK with live preview and a virtual file system, and he uses Claude Code daily with a large plugin set. The Fresh Tracks Canada estate he works in runs Claude Code review on every pull request, and his VoiceAgentRAG platform routes per tenant across Workers AI, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and Ollama.
How does Manas Nikam control cost and safety in AI deployments?
Manas Nikam caps concurrency, records unit cost, and validates outputs before trusting them. Examples: the Vertex AI OCR function is capped at 10 instances and logs per-invoice token cost in USD and INR; AgentReady enforces a same-origin audit restriction, a daily run budget, and payload caps; Proofline routes all agent traffic through Agent Gateway with Model Armor prompt-injection and PII screening.
Where can I download Manas Nikam's resume?
The resume is at https://manasnikam.dev/resume/ as HTML, with a PDF at https://manasnikam.dev/resume/Manas-Nikam-Resume.pdf and a Markdown version at https://manasnikam.dev/resume/index.html.md. All three carry the same dates and numbers.
Contact
Email manasnikam24@gmail.com. Code at github.com/manasnikam. Profile on LinkedIn. The resume is at /resume/ with a PDF download.