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Staff Software Engineer

Josh Magness

Sites adopting the design system in year one
100+
Reduction in partner development costs
70%+
Accessibility scores across adopter sites — up from below 40%
90%+
Commits in a production Laravel codebase built 100% with Claude
1,800+

Summary

Staff engineer with 15+ years building web platforms in TypeScript, React, Web Components, Node.js, and GraphQL — design systems, accessibility, and the tooling other engineering teams build on. At the University of Maryland I serve as Principal Architect of the open-source design system now live on 100+ of the university's 1,680+ websites, lead a 3-year technical roadmap with a 5-year vision, and led a cross-functional team of 9 through the 18-month initiative behind it.

Hands-on depth where the frontend is won or lost: accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA, 65% reduction in violations), performance (90%+ Lighthouse scores, Core Web Vitals), and reliability (80% reduction in production incidents, 99.9% uptime) — backed by AWS, Node.js microservices, and CI/CD underneath. I apply an agentic engineering practice as a first-class discipline — agents that build software, and agents shipped in it — redirecting delivery-velocity gains into design reviews, architectural documentation, and engineer mentorship.

Alongside full-time work, I run side ventures end-to-end: CTO of Macro Meals (2016 bootstrap meal-delivery startup, profitable in year one on 20% margins before exit), and founder of Draft Slot — a multi-sport draft-prediction game I’ve evolved from a graduate-school thesis (2019) into a production platform whose Laravel codebase is 100% built with Claude across 1,800+ commits and 347 Pest tests, running on Laravel Vapor with seasonal scaling profiles.

Core Expertise

  • Agentic Engineering:

    Production agents at UMD — LLM alt-text and marketing-copy generation on Google's Python ADK — plus an agentic engineering practice that built Draft Slot's Laravel codebase 100% with Claude: 10x delivery with the same review, security, and testing discipline as any other code

  • Design Systems & Platform Architecture:

    Principal Architect of UMD's open-source design system — 50+ Web Components consumable across React, Angular, Vue, and Salesforce host frameworks, published as 9 independently versioned NPM packages from a Lerna/pnpm monorepo so teams consume exactly the abstraction level they need

  • Accessibility:

    WCAG 2.2 AA with a 65% reduction in violations through automated testing — ARIA patterns, keyboard navigation, and screen reader support as core platform features, on a practice that started with Section 508 federal compliance work

  • Performance Optimization & Scalability:

    Achieve 90%+ Lighthouse scores and Core Web Vitals targets through code splitting, lazy loading, caching, queueing, and autoscaling. Architected burst-traffic platform on AWS for national televised contest

  • Reliability Engineering & Observability:

    Champion operational excellence through Jest testing, visual regression automation, and monitoring infrastructure. Reduced production incidents 80% while maintaining 99.9% uptime for business-critical applications

  • Technical Roadmaps & Mentorship:

    Own a 3-year technical roadmap with 5-year vision and translate it into tangible 1-year goals. Led a cross-functional team of 9 through an 18-month initiative and raise the bar on design reviews, engineering standards, and engineer mentorship

Skills

  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript (ES6+)
  • React
  • Web Components
  • Node.js
  • GraphQL
  • REST
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Agentic Engineering
  • LLM Agents
  • Claude
  • Google ADK
  • Python
  • PHP
  • Laravel
  • AWS
  • Docker
  • CI/CD Pipelines
  • Jest
  • Storybook
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA)

Work Experience

October 2021 - Present

The University of MarylandCollege Park, Maryland

  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Web Components
  • Node.js
  • GraphQL
  • AWS
  • Python
  • Jest
  • CI/CD
  • Claude
  • Google ADK

Staff Software Engineer

  • Served as Principal Architect for the design system initiative while in the Staff Software Engineer title — set the SOLID-based package architecture, governance model, and adoption strategy for the open-source design system, with components consumable across React, Angular, Vue, and Salesforce host frameworks as building blocks for 1,680+ sites of differing stacks
  • Accelerated development velocity 10x through an agentic engineering practice, shipping production LLM agents for alt-text and marketing-copy generation with the same review, security, and testing discipline as any other code
  • Architected full-stack tooling including a component library of 50+ Web Components, a GraphQL API layer on AWS, and automated CI/CD pipelines. Built Node.js microservices consuming disparate data sources (CSV, REST APIs, content feeds) with caching infrastructure
  • Designed a layered monorepo using Lerna and pnpm workspaces, publishing 9 independently versioned NPM packages (tokens, icons, utilities, model, builder, styles, elements, feeds, components) so teams can consume the right abstraction level — from low-level design tokens to high-level Web Components — without paying for what they don’t use
  • Led a team of 9 through an 18-month initiative that drove adoption to 100+ sites in the first year, reduced partner development costs 70%+, and lifted accessibility scores from below 40% to above 90%. Consulted with cross-functional partners (designers, developers, content managers), conducting workshops and stakeholder presentations
  • Drove accessibility compliance achieving WCAG 2.2 AA with a 65% reduction in violations through automated testing. Implemented ARIA patterns, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility as core platform features
  • Led performance optimization achieving 90%+ Lighthouse scores. Implemented code splitting, lazy loading, and Core Web Vitals optimization enabling fast, efficient experiences at enterprise scale

July 2020 - October 2021

  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Jest
  • Lighthouse
  • CI/CD

Staff Frontend Engineer

  • Modernized legacy internal applications through TypeScript refactoring and modern React patterns, reducing bugs 70% while maintaining zero downtime for high-availability business-critical systems
  • Established testing infrastructure with Jest and React Testing Library, and created Lighthouse CLI automation in CI/CD pipelines — performance and accessibility standards enforced across internal tools

July 2019 - June 2020

Under ArmourBaltimore, Maryland

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Redux
  • Apollo
  • GraphQL
  • Storybook
  • Ramda
  • Scala
  • PostgreSQL
  • Kubernetes
  • Terraform

Software Engineer

  • Built internal B2B customer service portal enabling support teams to manage orders, process returns, and handle escalations for a $1B+ e-commerce platform. Collaborated with service teams to optimize workflows and reduce ticket resolution time 35%
  • Implemented GraphQL integrations with headless commerce architecture using Apollo and Redux for state management. Built real-time data synchronization handling tens of thousands of concurrent requests with 99.9% uptime
  • Shipped across React, Redux, Apollo, Ramda, PostgreSQL, Scala, Kubernetes, and Terraform to deliver B2B tools on a polyglot platform
  • Established component API standards and prop validation enabling rapid feature rollouts. Mentored junior engineers on TypeScript best practices and modern React patterns

November 2011 - March 2019

ALEX+TOMBaltimore, Maryland

  • JavaScript
  • React
  • Ruby on Rails
  • Django
  • Python
  • Swift
  • Node.js
  • AWS
  • EC2
  • RDS
  • Jenkins

Full Stack Developer, UX Designer

  • Architected a platform handling thousands of concurrent requests for a national televised contest. Designed for burst traffic with caching, queueing, and autoscaling on AWS
  • Architected AWS infrastructure with automated CI/CD using Jenkins. Evolved from manual FedRAMP-compliant deployments to Infrastructure as Code, managing EC2, RDS, and load balancer configurations across multiple environments
  • Developed an internal customer service application for regulated financial services handling credit card offers and support workflows. Implemented secure authentication, authorization controls, and audit logging for sensitive financial data
  • Shipped native iOS applications from concept to App Store deployment, serving as Product Owner across roadmap, release cycles, and cross-functional collaboration with design, engineering, and client stakeholders
  • Drove Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 AA compliance across federal client engagements. Established semantic HTML, ARIA patterns, and keyboard navigation as baseline requirements, and led workshops for designers and developers on inclusive design and usability
  • Built 20+ full-stack production applications including customer support tools, contest platforms, and data aggregation systems. Rapidly prototyped solutions using Ruby on Rails, React, and Python, iterating based on user feedback and business needs

Education

Master of Engineering

Project Management · Graduate Certificate in Robotics

University of Maryland (Expected May 2028)

Master of Science

Applied Information Technology · Certification in Database Management

Towson University

Bachelor of Science

Sports Management

Towson University

Awards

11 Addy and WebAward wins for agency client work, 2011–2019 — including six Gold Addys.

NPS site capture

Park Points 2011

Addy · Gold