Joshua Thomas
Bright Northwest coastal waterline near a weathered pier

jtlabs.io · Seattle based field lab

Joshua Thomas

Engineering Leader. Professional Nerd.

A personal lab for product-minded engineering, platform craft, and useful experiments.

Pacific Northwest Product + Platform Nerd by default

What I am about

Pragmatic leadership and sharp engineering standards with a healthy positive vibe.

I've been taking things apart to see how they work for as long as I can remember: PCs, home networks, code, eventually organizations. Growing up in Washington state, I fell into software development through curiosity and never really left. My career has wound through early-stage startups, consulting, and senior leadership at companies like Expedia, Alaska Airlines, and Clear Channel Outdoor. It was never a straight line, which is probably why I like it.

I've genuinely loved this work from the start. I approach new challenges the way I approach a mountain: the constraints are part of what makes it interesting, and getting there fast was never really the point. Right now I'm a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Integrate Space Corporation, building cloud-native systems for aerospace and government programs. Still having fun with it.

  • Curiosity Over Dogma

    Staying curious is the job. Asking why, being honest when something isn't working, and being willing to change course when better information shows up. That's what separates good judgment from just following a playbook.

  • Servant Leadership

    My job is to make my team's job easier and their growth possible. Do that consistently, and the outcomes follow.

  • Equitable Opportunity

    Success should come down to talent and effort, nothing else. If someone can't do their best work because they're missing a resource or fighting an uneven playing field, that's on me to fix.

  • Meaningful Impact

    People do their best work when they understand why it matters and have the space to do it right. Creating clarity and protecting that space is part of the job. Grinding people out doesn't produce anything worth shipping.

  • Sustainability as a Feature

    Reliability, security, and cost-efficiency aren't things you bolt on later. They're decisions you make from the start, and skipping them doesn't save time or effort; it only increases risk.

Impact

Where strategy met delivery and teams shipped work that mattered.

Senior Staff Software EngineerIntegrate Space Corporation · Nov 2025 to Present

I design and deliver scalable, cloud-native microservices and applications that enable real-time collaboration and multi-player project management for complex aerospace government programs.

  • Redesigned deployment pipelines using GitOps principles to increase automation and security.
  • Architected and delivered a scalable, cloud-native virus scanning solution for content payloads crossing authorization boundaries in secure, multi-tenant environments.
Head of Product DevelopmentClear Channel Outdoor · Dec 2020 to Aug 2025

I steered the digital transformation of an out-of-home advertising portfolio, evolving legacy systems into nimble, cloud-native services and crafting powerful buyer-facing APIs.

  • Architected a multi-year Google Cloud and Kubernetes migration, steering print and digital assets toward a modern, GitOps-governed future.
  • Productized open APIs across inventory, availability, and pricing, unlocking new channels and purchasing models.
  • Introduced AI-powered workflows leveraging RAG solutions with FastAPI, LangChain, and Gemini to deliver actionable real estate intelligence.
  • Harnessed an AI/ML-driven approach to significantly optimize our Real-Time Bidding (RTB) platform yield.
Director, E-commerce Software EngineeringAlaska Airlines · Aug 2019 to Dec 2020

Leading 17 Agile teams, I oversaw the re-platforming of alaskaair.com and its native mobile apps to a microservices architecture. This transformation significantly improved platform resiliency and accelerated delivery speed to enhance the overall customer experience.

  • Decomposed legacy commerce monoliths into scalable, containerized services running on Kubernetes.
  • Implemented CI/CD pipelines aligned with Twelve-Factor practices, shortening release cycles and boosting deployment confidence.
  • Partnered with product, design, and portfolio leaders to stabilize digital experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and the airline's entry into the oneworld Alliance.
  • Championed modern architecture practices and coached engineering leaders to foster a culture of technical excellence and adaptability.
Senior Vice President, Head of TechnologyOctave Group (TouchTunes + PlayNetwork) · Jun 2017 to Mar 2019

I led the delivery of next-generation media platforms powering over 120,000 IoT devices across 74 countries. Serving as CTO for PlayNetwork during a major merger, I oversaw the global technology strategy and subsequently guided all R&D, Corporate IT, and Business Solutions teams for the combined entity.

  • Built and launched Apple Music for Business, a licensed and branded in-store media streaming product.
  • Rolled out cloud-based content management and distribution capabilities tailored for global retail, dining, and hospitality partners.
  • Established post-merger operating rhythms that balanced innovation, governance, and dependable delivery across a combined product portfolio.
Director of Development & Software ArchitectExpedia Group · Jul 2010 to Dec 2012

I focused on scaling cross-brand travel platforms by delivering robust supplier APIs, innovative private-label commerce tools, and re-platforming sales and service systems critical for millions of annual customer interactions.

  • Directed multiple agile teams to successfully launch the Destination Experiences supply API and private-label storefronts for global partners.
  • Architected cross-brand sales and service tooling, aligning over 20 downstream services to support more than 12 million customer interactions annually.
  • Established an internal media asset management service, enabling multi-channel content reuse across all Expedia brands.
Software ArchitectAncestry.com (MyFamily.com) · Mar 2007 to May 2010

I led the backend architecture for social networking features, focusing on boosting developer throughput and improving key delivery metrics for a high-scale, family-oriented sharing platform.

  • Delivered business and data layer components that powered community features for millions of members.
  • Instituted development processes and tooling that significantly improved release cadence, reduced change failure rates, and minimized Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR).
  • Mentored engineering teams on scalable .NET patterns and data access strategies, accelerating feature delivery.

Experiments

Open source artifacts, utilities, and prototypes built for real-world use.

simple-socks

Open source SOCSK5 proxy server that has had over 5,700 weekly downloads and 280+ GitHub stars.

Open artifact
node-chess

Open source algebraic notation chess engine for Node.js with 425+ weekly downloads and 145+ GitHub stars.

Open artifact
clouddns

Dynamic DNS utility for synchronizing on-prem IPs with Google Cloud DNS managed zones, deployable on Raspberry Pi or home servers.

Open artifact
runner-gateway

HTTPS/TLS gateway for securing Ollama open model access using the OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow.

Open artifact

Life Off the Keyboard

Trail miles, mountain weather, and a brain that still wants to tinker.

When I'm not building things, I'm usually outside. Skiing, trail running, backpacking, climbing. Fair warning: I don't get a runner's high. It just hurts, and my joints have opinions about long descents. I do it anyway, partly because not quitting when things get uncomfortable is a useful habit to keep. Same reason I ski moguls when the groomed runs are right there.

Chasing Winter Lines

A bluebird powder day lapping bowls - legs burning, grin permanent.

Coastal Waterfall

Oswald West. One of those trails that reminds you why you live here.

Serene Morning Waters

Breakfast at Goat Lake. Everything tastes better at elevation.

Ocean Exposure

Salt air and full exposure along the northern Oregon coast. One of my favorite stretches of coastline anywhere.

Clear Skies

Summit view at Schweitzer. You forget about the cold lifts once you get up here.

Cascade Peaks

Cascade peaks through the trees near Frog Mountain. Washington keeps showing off.

Mountainous Beard

Herman Saddle. The North Cascades don't mess around.

Puget Sound Sun

Paddleboarding on Puget Sound in summer. The winters make a lot more sense when you get days like this.

Origin

Founding, consulting, and platform years that built my operating style.

Startup & Founding RootsSite Plot · Thomas Online Productions · 1997 to 2001

My entry into professional tech involved founding and eventually exiting early web design, development, and hosting ventures. I built customer management systems and crafted full-stack experiences, establishing a strong, entrepreneurial foundation that later funded my transition into enterprise consulting.

Infrastructure & Platform FundamentalsCyberworld Internet Services · Maplewood Software · 1998 to 2003

I managed mission-critical Windows infrastructure and led a database software development consulting team serving clients like Microsoft and regional businesses. This period grounded my later leadership in the fundamentals of operational excellence and robust platform engineering.

Consulting CatalystTwo Degrees Consulting · Avanade · Ramp Technology Group · 2004 to 2007

Serving as a proving ground for enterprise-level impact, I delivered multi-million dollar .NET solutions and mentored fellow consultants with a flawless delivery record. This role honed my skills in estimation, stakeholder management, and technical documentation, focusing entirely on consistently shipping real value.

Say Hello

If you are building meaningful things, I'd love to connect. Sign in with Google or GitHub to send a note, and if you are curious you can toggle over to the chess experiment after login.

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