Bio

Short Bio

Josh Kaplan is a software architect with over 15 years of experience across aerospace, defense, finance, and cloud technology. He specializes in distributed systems and team enablement, with a focus on aligning architecture and culture for long-term success. Currently work as a software architect in the finance sector, Josh has previously held roles at Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, and his own consultancy. He holds degrees from UCF and Johns Hopkins, and teaches as adjunct faculty at UCF.

Long Bio

Josh Kaplan is a software architect with over 15 years of experience spanning aerospace, defense, financial services, and cloud technology. He specializes in designing distributed systems, enabling high-performing engineering teams, and helping organizations align architecture, operations, and culture for long-term success.

He currently works in cloud security technologies in the finance sector, with a focus on scalable and intelligent systems. His recent work has included building event-driven and serverless systems.

Previously, Josh worked at Amazon, on both Project Kuiper and AWS Networking where he developed a passion for the Rust programming language. His roles spanned embedded and cloud development, large-scale observability, and secure networking for satellite communications. Prior to that, he led engineering strategy and delivery at his own consultancy, Triple Dot Engineering, delivering solutions in aerospace, manufacturing, and early-stage startups.

Josh has also held technical leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase and Lockheed Martin, where he helped deploy DevOps practices at scale, led cyber and aerospace R&D efforts, and built data platforms for model-based engineering.

He is particularly interested in the intersection of architecture and culture - how technical systems succeed or fail depending on the leadership, trust, and psychological safety within the teams that build them. His writing and speaking explore these themes through the lens of long-term technical health, sustainable operations, and systems thinking.

Josh holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Central Florida and an M.S. in Space Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He also teaches as adjunct faculty at UCF, where he advises engineering capstone teams and lectures on project management and system design.