Josh Magness

Software Engineer

443.619.0627

Profile

Innovative full-stack engineer with 15+ years transforming complex technical challenges into scalable solutions that drive millions in business value. Currently leading design system architecture at the University of Maryland, where I built the institution's first unified component ecosystem serving 50+ departments and thousands of applications.

Core Expertise:

Platform Architecture: Designed enterprise systems supporting $1B+ in e-commerce transactions and unified content distribution across decentralized organizations
Frontend Excellence: Expert in React, TypeScript, and Web Components with proven ability to optimize performance and reduce bundle sizes
Technical Leadership: Led 9-person cross-functional teams while maintaining hands-on contribution (2,000+ commits), establishing engineering practices adopted institution-wide
Open Source Innovation: Created MIT-licensed design system with 50+ components, comprehensive documentation, and external community adoption

Proven Impact:

Reduced UI development time: 60% through reusable component architecture
Saved millions annually: by automating content operations and eliminating redundancy
Transformed legacy codebases: reducing bugs by 70% and API calls by 40% through systematic refactoring
Implemented no-code tools: within design system enabling designers to build prototypes and functional applications without writing code, reducing onboarding time by 70%
Accelerated development velocity: by 40% using AI-assisted development practices

Passionate about building accessible, performant applications that empower both developers and end-users. Seeking staff engineering roles where I can leverage my expertise in design systems, platform architecture, and technical leadership to mentor teams and drive organizational transformation.

Work Experience

Staff Software Engineer

Oct 2021 - Present

The University of Maryland

College Park, Maryland

The University of Maryland is a prestigious institution of higher education in the United States, celebrated for its distinguished research and computer science programs that are recognized worldwide. Consistently ranked among the nation's top educational establishments, UMD is also acclaimed for its commitment to inclusivity, being recognized as a leading college for LGBTQ+ students.

Architected platform-agnostic design system using Web Components with JSS tokenization for universal styling abstraction that seamlessly integrates with any JavaScript framework, server-side rendering, and static sites while serving 50+ departments and reducing user interface development scope by 60%
Engineered scalable distribution infrastructure with TypeScript monorepo architecture across 4 packages, automated NPM publishing, and versioned CDN deployment strategy supporting both module imports and script tags, enabling zero-downtime updates for thousands of applications
Transformed developer and author experience with intuitive visual editing tools, real-time preview capabilities, and self-service component playground, reducing onboarding time by 70% and enabling non-technical users to build compliant interfaces independently
Built comprehensive open-source ecosystem with 50+ Web Components achieving over 95% Lighthouse scores, interactive Storybook documentation, 70% test coverage using Jest and Testing Library, and MIT licensing that attracted external community adoption while reducing vendor costs by 60%
Led 9-person cross-functional team through 18-month journey from concept to production, personally contributing 2,000+ commits while establishing coding standards, review processes, and architectural patterns that became institutional best practices
Designed enterprise-scale GraphQL API services unifying content distribution across decentralized ecosystem of 50+ departments, building parser microservice to normalize diverse data formats from campus partners, automating repetitive content syndication through event-driven architecture and saving millions annually by eliminating redundant operations
Built accessibility-first architecture ensuring WCAG 2.2 compliance through Shadow DOM implementation with automated Lighthouse CLI testing and Storybook 9 accessibility addon integration, while creating platform-specific integration examples that reduced implementation time from days to hours
Leveraged AI-assisted development across component creation, testing frameworks, documentation generation, and build automation, accelerating development velocity by 40% while maintaining code quality standards and enabling rapid prototyping of complex UI patterns

Staff Frontend Engineer

July 2020 - Oct 2021

Transformed legacy React codebases from prop-drilling anti-patterns to clean Redux/Context API architectures with GraphQL data layers, incrementally refactoring while maintaining production stability, reducing API calls by 40% and bugs by 70%
Optimized React performance through code splitting, lazy loading, and memoization strategies, achieving sub-3 second load times and 75%+ Lighthouse scores while reducing bundle sizes by 65% via tree-shaking and dynamic imports
Built comprehensive testing architecture with Jest and React Testing Library achieving 50%+ coverage across unit tests, Redux reducers, GraphQL resolvers, and accessibility testing that prevented 40% of WCAG violations pre-production
Established frontend best practices including atomic design patterns, custom hooks library, and shared component documentation, reducing code duplication by 50% and accelerating feature development by 30%

Software Engineer

July 2019 - June 2020

Under Armour

Baltimore, Maryland

Under Armour is a globally recognized leader in sports apparel, known for its commitment to innovation and performance-driven products. With over two decades of industry experience, the company leverages cutting-edge technology, including React, Scala, and Node.js, to drive its advanced digital framework and deliver exceptional user experiences across its platforms.

Contributed to enterprise B2B/B2C e-commerce platform using React/TypeScript with Apollo GraphQL client, implementing complex Redux state management for cart/checkout flows while leveraging Ramda for functional data transformations, supporting $1B+ in annual transactions across 80+ languages
Built comprehensive Storybook component library with 20+ TypeScript components, establishing type-safe contracts between designers and engineers while documentation implementation patterns, reducing user interface bugs by 60% and maintaining 95%+ Sentry performance scores
Created functional CSS-in-JS layout library using React and Ramda's composition utilities, providing declarative positioning components for responsive mobile-first designs that integrated seamlessly with existing Redux/Apollo data flows and reduced layout bugs by 70% across teams
Collaborated on Scala microservices backend with PostgreSQL, implementing multiple GraphQL resolvers for dynamic product catalog management across seasonal promotions, enabling rapid A/B testing of pricing strategies and promotional layouts through iterative deployment cycles
Integrated Contentful CMS with React/Apollo frontend, building dynamic marketing components that consumed real-time content updates via GraphQL, enabling marketing teams to deploy campaigns without engineering support

Developer, UX Designer

November 2011 - March 2019

ALEX+TOM

Baltimore, Maryland

Alex+Tom is a prestigious digital agency with a proven track record spanning over twenty-five years. Renowned in Baltimore for its unwavering commitment to excellence, the agency offers a comprehensive suite of services, including design, development, usability testing, and marketing. For over two decades, Alex+Tom has been recognized as a leading usability agency, consistently delivering high-quality digital solutions and maintaining a reputation for exceptional service and expertise.

Evolved development practices from vanilla JavaScript to modern frameworks (React, Ember, Angular) across 8-year tenure, implementing continuous deployment workflows and build tools (Webpack, Rollup) for clients including Department of Treasury and National Park Service, delivering award-winning digital transformations
Pioneered rapid iteration development cycles using UX-driven testing methodologies, conducting A/B testing and eye-tracking usability studies that informed weekly sprint deployments, reducing time-to-market from months to weeks for marketing campaigns and product launches
Built full-stack applications transitioning from traditional PHP to Ruby on Rails and Node.js backends with MySQL and MongoDB databases, implementing RESTful APIs while establishing CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions that automated testing and deployment for over 20 production applications
Led technical workshops on emerging JavaScript frameworks, modern build tools, and automated testing practices, mentoring teams through the transition from jQuery-based sites to component-driven architectures using React and state management patterns
Architected scalable infrastructure on AWS using automated deployment scripts and configuration management with GitHub Actions workflows, evolving from manual FedRAMP-compliant server maintenance to Infrastructure as Code practices across CentOS, RedHat, and Amazon Linux environments
Developed real-time contest platforms for Stronach Group using WebSocket connections and React frontends, handling thousands of concurrent users during live events while maintaining sub-second response times through optimized build processes and CDN distribution