Zach Maddox

Senior Software Engineer & Architect

Cloud, data, microservices, and modern JavaScript/TypeScript - augmented by AI, grounded in engineering judgment.

About Me

I’m a seasoned Software Engineer and Architect with nearly two decades of experience building and modernizing systems across government and private-sector organizations. My work spans mainframe to cloud – from COBOL/CICS and DB2 to microservices, containerization, and data platforms on Azure and AWS.

I specialize in designing and delivering secure, scalable, and maintainable systems: cloud-native APIs, data pipelines, and microservices with clear boundaries and strong security. I’m equally comfortable in Java (Spring Boot), .NET / C#, and modern JavaScript/TypeScript — including Node.js, Angular, and React — with deep experience in PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and enterprise integration patterns.

I treat AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement for engineers. I use AI as a capable junior developer — fast and tireless — while I focus on architecture, intent, and correctness. Typing code isn’t the job; engineering reliable systems is.

📄 You can also view my full résumé here →

How I Can Help

  • Cloud modernization: migrate legacy workloads to Azure or AWS with Infrastructure-as-Code, automation, and observability built in.
  • Secure microservices: design clear service boundaries, auth flows, and gateway policies for distributed systems that are easy to reason about and operate.
  • Data & integration: build reliable ETL/ELT pipelines, APIs, and event-driven integrations using ADF, SSIS, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server.
  • Architecture & mentoring: help teams adopt better patterns, tame complexity, and ship systems that are maintainable long after the first release.

AI-Augmented Engineering

I use AI as a capable junior developer — fast, literal, and tireless — while I stay accountable for architecture, security, and correctness. My focus is on using AI to accelerate delivery, not to replace engineering judgment.

If you’re curious about how I think about this in practice, you can read my Principles of AI-Augmented Engineering on my GitHub profile.

Skills

Programming Languages

Java C# Python Kotlin JavaScript TypeScript SQL

Frameworks & Platforms

Spring Boot .NET / ASP.NET Core Node.js / Express Angular React Azure Functions Tailwind CSS Zustand MuleSoft ESB Flask

Database & Storage

PostgreSQL SQL Server DB2 Oracle TimescaleDB MongoDB Redis

Cloud Platforms & Services

Azure Azure ARM AWS AWS Cloud Formation AWS CDK GCP AWS Lambda AWS Fargate AWS EKS Azure AKS Heroku

Eventing & Messaging

Amazon Kinesis Azure Event Hubs RabbitMQ Active MQ Amazon SQS Amazon SNS

DevOps & Automation

Docker Kubernetes Azure DevOps Bitbucket GitHub GitHub Actions GitLab CI Jenkins Trunk-based development Feature flags Blue/green releases

Security & Identity

OAuth2 / OIDC Bearer tokens RBAC CAIA integration FedRAMP High Secure API gateways Hashicorp Vault Azure Key Vault AWS Secrets Manager mTLS PKI management

Architecture & Design

Application architecture Cloud architecture Microservice architecture API design Event-driven systems Observability Maintainability

Data Engineering & Analytics

Azure Data Factory SSIS ETL orchestration SQL optimization Schema design Data modeling Debezium AWS DMS

Work Experience

A detailed version of my career history — including key projects, leadership, and modernization efforts — is available on my GitHub: View Full Career Archive →

Senior Software Engineer / Architect

2021 – Present · JBS.dev

Consulting across DevOps, backend, and data engineering — with a focus on cloud-first, secure, and reliable systems.

  • Delivered major features for an energy-sector sustainability platform, including emissions tracking, goal modeling, and IoT-driven energy data.
  • Built backend microservices in Java (Spring Boot), with supporting Python services for data ingestion and reporting.
  • Migrated the client’s stack to AWS ECS, introducing full containerization and one-click CI/CD automation.
  • Designed and implemented real-time reporting APIs and dashboards backed by PostgreSQL, including advanced indexing and performance tuning.
  • Led microservice security initiatives with bearer token–based auth, RBAC, and consistent API gateway policies.
  • Designed and maintained Azure Data Factory (ADF) pipelines, SSIS packages, and CI/CD automation for ADF-driven ETL.
Java 17 / Spring Boot TypeScript / Node.js AWS ECS PostgreSQL Azure Data Factory CI/CD

Architect / Team Lead

2016 – 2021 · U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Led modernization of public-facing federal financial systems and identity platforms, bridging mainframe, Java, and Azure.

  • Led development of the Savings Bond Valuation & Verification (SBVV) tool, built on C# / .NET Azure Functions, Angular, and Azure SQL for financial institutions nationwide.
  • Served as lead architect/developer for the Treasury Check Verification System (TCVS), a fraud prevention platform on Azure Functions, Azure SQL, and Angular.
  • Modernized a legacy Java Applet–based savings bond image viewer with a Spring Boot backend and HTML5 Canvas UI, integrated with CICS and IBM MQ.
  • Integrated multiple applications with CAIA (Common Approach to Identity Assurance) using standards-based OIDC and strong MFA.
  • Pioneered Azure adoption within the bureau — designing, operating, and governing its first production Azure environment, including ARM-based IaC and FedRAMP High controls.
  • Championed MuleSoft ESB adoption, leading design and integration of reusable enterprise APIs.
Azure Functions Spring Boot Angular Azure SQL MuleSoft ESB CAIA / OIDC

Developer / Senior Developer

2007 – 2016 · U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Built and maintained core Treasury systems across mainframe and Java stacks.

  • Developed and maintained COBOL/CICS applications with DB2 backing high-value federal financial workflows.
  • Enhanced Java EE/WebSphere applications integrating with mainframe systems via IBM MQ.
  • Delivered recurring releases for TreasuryDirect.gov, including MFA, LexisNexis IDV, and tax reporting enhancements.
  • Implemented utilities and services to digitize and serve savings bond images with rich metadata for customer service teams.
COBOL / CICS DB2 Java EE TreasuryDirect.gov

High-Impact Contributions

Savings Bond Valuation & Verification (SBVV)

C# / .NET Azure Functions • Angular • Azure SQL • ARM • FedRAMP High

Led the design and delivery of the Savings Bond Valuation & Verification (SBVV) tool for financial institutions nationwide. Built on Azure using serverless compute, Angular, and Azure SQL, SBVV enables tellers to instantly value and validate savings bonds and detect invalid or fraudulent instruments.

Treasury Check Verification System (TCVS)

C# / .NET Azure Functions • Azure SQL • Azure API Management • Angular

Served as lead architect and developer for the Treasury Check Verification System (TCVS), created to combat fraud around U.S. Treasury checks, including COVID-era relief payments. Implemented a real-time verification API and web experience that helps financial institutions validate checks before acceptance, preventing large-scale fraud.

Azure Cloud Platform Leadership @ Fiscal Service

Azure App Service • Azure Functions • Azure SQL • ARM • Governance • FedRAMP High

Pioneered Azure adoption within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, designing, operating, and governing its first production Azure environment. Migrated billions of savings bond records from DB2 to Azure SQL, implemented Infrastructure-as-Code with ARM, and managed platform security, access, and policy under FedRAMP High requirements.

Energy-Sector Sustainability Platform & AWS Migration

Java 17 / Spring Boot • AWS ECS • PostgreSQL • CI/CD • IoT & reporting

For an energy-sector client, delivered major features for a sustainability and emissions tracking platform, including emissions goal modeling, rate calculations, and real-time meter data ingestion. Led the migration of the platform to AWS ECS with full containerization and one-click CI/CD, and designed PostgreSQL-backed reporting APIs with significant performance tuning.

Personal Projects & Homelab

Chunking Collector — Open Source Java Library

Java 8+ • Stream API • Maven Central • Zero Dependencies

Chunking Collector is a small, focused Java library that makes it easy to turn streams and iterables into fixed-size chunks, sliding windows, and weighted batches — without pulling in a framework or runtime dependency.

  • Fluent Stream API collectors for fixed-size chunks, sliding windows, boundary-based grouping, and weighted chunks.
  • Convenience helpers for primitive streams: IntStream, LongStream, and DoubleStream.
  • Zero dependencies, Java 8+ compatible, and designed to be dropped into batch jobs, ETL flows, and microservices.

Compose Reorderable Grid - Open Source Jetpack Compose Library

Kotlin • Jetpack Compose • Android • Maven Central

Compose Reorderable Grid is a production-grade, long-press drag-and-drop grid for Jetpack Compose. It provides smooth, predictable reordering with auto-scroll support and stable gesture handling, extracted and refined from a real shipping Android app.

  • Silky-smooth drag-and-drop: natural item displacement with no flicker, snapping, or gesture cancellation.
  • Production-tested: tuned on physical devices and large scrolling grids.
  • Compose-correct: avoids pointer restarts, stale lambdas, and recomposition storms.
  • Small, focused API: designed to be easy to reason about and safe to adopt.

Score Card — Observability-Driven Distributed Transaction Engine

Java 17 • Spring Boot • JMS / ActiveMQ • REST API • OpenAPI • PostgreSQL • Docker

Score Card is a research project and working prototype that explores a new way to manage complex, cross-service transactions without relying on heavyweight orchestration, 2PC, or tightly coupled saga coordinators. Instead of forcing microservices to participate in a global transaction, Score Card uses observability, correlation, and dependency-aware authorization to reconstruct and reason about multi-step workflows as they unfold.

At its core, Score Card models a transaction as a graph of actions across independent services. Each service performs its work autonomously and reports status updates back to the Score Card engine, which assembles a real-time view of the end-to-end flow. This enables failure detection, auditing, recovery, and compensation without sacrificing service autonomy or scalability.

  • Explicit workflow modeling: services, actions, dependencies, and transaction blueprints definable via REST or UI.
  • Loose coupling: microservices stay independent; Score Card coordinates using messages and correlation IDs.
  • Real-time observability: action states, timestamps, metadata, and outcomes tracked in PostgreSQL.
  • Resilience & recovery: compensating transactions (e.g., reversing a financial debit) triggered from observed failures.
  • Developer UIs included: a model portal and a live scoreboard for monitoring transaction execution.
  • Example microservices: including a banking transfer scenario demonstrating sequencing, retries, and compensation.

ActionWatch — GitHub Actions Monitoring & Insights

TypeScript • C# / .NET 9 • React • Docker • Tailwind • JWT • OAuth • GitHub API • PostgreSQL

ActionWatch is a full-stack platform that visualizes GitHub Actions workflow activity in real time. It provides authenticated, TOTP-secured dashboards and live event streaming for CI visibility and troubleshooting.

Homelab & Self-Hosted Cloud

Linux • Docker • Docker Compose • WireGuard • Nextcloud • Pi-hole

I operate a personal Linux server hosting a suite of containerized services, including Nextcloud, Pi-hole, WireGuard VPN, and monitoring tools. This homelab serves as a sandbox for experimenting with container orchestration, networking, automation, and secure self-hosting — and keeps my personal infrastructure fully under my control.

Let’s Talk

If you’re working on cloud modernization, data platforms, or secure microservices and want to compare notes or explore how I approach these problems, I’m always open to a good engineering conversation.

📧 [email protected]
💼 Connect on LinkedIn

Certifications

☕ Azul PartnerConnect

Certified OpenJDK Migration Services Partner (2024)
Certified OpenJDK Migration Advisory Partner (2024)
Platform Prime Certified Partner Engineer (2024)
Platform Core Certified Partner Engineer (2024)

☁️ Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (2023)
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (2023)

🌀 Scrum Alliance

Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) (2019)

Education

Master of Information Systems Management

2009 · Keller Graduate School of Management

Focused on information systems strategy, management, and the alignment of technology with business goals.

Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems

2007 · DeVry University

Emphasis on software development, object-oriented programming, and web technologies.

Associate of Applied Business in Computer Systems/Programming

2004 · Washington State Community College

Foundation in programming, databases, and business computing.