Josh Auriemma
Engineering Leader | AI Consultant | Published Researcher
Engineering leader specializing in team building, 0-to-1 product development, and scaling organizations in highly regulated industries. AI consultant helping organizations implement practical ML solutions. Passionate about technology leadership and creating things that matter.
Professional Journey
I build and lead teams of incredibly talented engineers. Over the past decade, I've had the privilege of scaling engineering organizations from single-person operations to teams of 300+ engineers across multiple disciplines.
As Head of Engineering at Barstool Sportsbook & Casino, I led the creation of the product from zero to a top-tier platform. Combined with my work in the sports betting space at Fanatics Betting & Gaming, I've launched products in over 40 states. This experience taught me the intricacies of both 0-to-1 product creation and 1-to-2 scaling in one of the most heavily regulated industries in technology.
What I'm most proud of is the team culture I've built. I've hired hundreds of engineers throughout my career, building multiple teams from 1 to 300+, and most recently scaling to 100+ engineers. Many of the engineers I've worked with have followed me from company to company, which I consider the highest compliment a leader can receive. Building products is hard; building teams that want to build together is the real challenge.
Currently at Fanatics Betting and Gaming in the sports betting space, I continue to focus on what I love: building exceptional teams, solving complex technical challenges, and shipping products that users love.
Education & Background
I have an unconventional path to engineering leadership, combining deep technical expertise with legal training and real-world software development.
Physics Research
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Physics (with honors) from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, specializing in High Energy and Particle Physics. I was fortunate to spend summers at Fermilab and CERN, where I tested detector hardware and coded particle detection software to track particles produced in accelerator collisions. During the school year, I worked as an Army contractor coding radar data algorithms to identify military targets in the field.
Legal Career
After physics, I earned my Juris Doctor from Penn State University. My legal career included serving as a Summer Fellow at Stanford Law, where I represented artists and documentary filmmakers in intellectual property matters. I later led the appellate division of a mid-sized Pennsylvania law firm, regularly arguing before the state Supreme Court and writing petitions to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Return to Technology
While practicing law, I realized what truly drives me: making stuff. That's what gets me out of bed in the morning. I had been doing freelance app development in my spare time, but I knew I needed to fully commit to building products and leading teams that create things people love.
This unique combination of physics research, legal training, and engineering leadership gives me a distinctive perspective on building products in regulated industries. Understanding particle physics teaches you to think in systems; law school teaches you to argue and communicate; and engineering leadership teaches you that the best products come from the best teams.
Research & Publications
Beyond building products, I'm passionate about understanding how people interact with technology. I've published research in human-computer interaction and behavioral psychology:
- ▹CHI '16 Conference: "Make it Simple, or Force Users to Read?" - Research examining EULA design, user comprehension, and the psychology of digital agreements.
- ▹Cyberpsychology (2015): Research on avatar customization and health behavior motivation, exploring how digital identity influences real-world decisions.
AI Consulting & Creative Development
Beyond engineering leadership, I'm passionate about artificial intelligence consulting and development. I help organizations understand and implement AI/ML solutions, from generative AI applications to practical ML integrations that solve real business problems.
My commitment to AI thought leadership is demonstrated through several side projects showcased in my Projects portfolio, including AI-powered applications like Cigarista (AI cigar identification and recommendations), MindFeed (intelligent RSS aggregation with AI curation), and the Fellowship Program Analyzer (AI-driven comparative analysis for medical programs). These projects demonstrate hands-on AI/ML implementation expertise across diverse domains.
This site also showcases my AI art experiments, exploring the creative possibilities of tools like Stable Diffusion and other generative models. I believe the future of creativity lies at the intersection of human imagination and machine capabilities.
I'm also a woodworking enthusiast, creating custom cutting boards as gifts and even modernizing an open-source cutting board design tool. Whether it's code, teams, AI systems, or physical objects, I love the process of building things from scratch.
Beyond Work
I live outside Doylestown, Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Philadelphia. When I'm not working, you might find me gaming, reading, hiking, or exploring the latest developments in AI and machine learning. I'm also interested in spirituality and meditation—practices that help maintain balance in the fast-paced world of technology leadership.
Whether it's building software, exploring AI applications, or creating physical objects, I'm driven by the fundamental joy of making things and solving interesting problems.