Hi, I’m Joseph Lai, a software engineer based in Chicago. I design and deliver full‑stack solutions supporting dark web data collection and intelligence operations, build production web data tools, and contribute to browser automation and user-facing apps. I’ve mentored teammates, refactored legacy components, and helped teams move fast with clean, idiomatic code. I enjoy turning complex problems into reliable systems—extending the capabilities of data-driven pipelines, creating internal developer tools, and shipping tools that accelerate analysis. I’m passionate about open‑source, continuous learning, and sharing knowledge through code reviews, documentation, and approachable coaching.

Joseph Lai

Hi, I’m Joseph Lai, a software engineer based in Chicago. I design and deliver full‑stack solutions supporting dark web data collection and intelligence operations, build production web data tools, and contribute to browser automation and user-facing apps. I’ve mentored teammates, refactored legacy components, and helped teams move fast with clean, idiomatic code. I enjoy turning complex problems into reliable systems—extending the capabilities of data-driven pipelines, creating internal developer tools, and shipping tools that accelerate analysis. I’m passionate about open‑source, continuous learning, and sharing knowledge through code reviews, documentation, and approachable coaching.

Available to hire

Hi, I’m Joseph Lai, a software engineer based in Chicago. I design and deliver full‑stack solutions supporting dark web data collection and intelligence operations, build production web data tools, and contribute to browser automation and user-facing apps. I’ve mentored teammates, refactored legacy components, and helped teams move fast with clean, idiomatic code.

I enjoy turning complex problems into reliable systems—extending the capabilities of data-driven pipelines, creating internal developer tools, and shipping tools that accelerate analysis. I’m passionate about open‑source, continuous learning, and sharing knowledge through code reviews, documentation, and approachable coaching.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Software Engineer at CACI International Inc
August 1, 2025 - August 1, 2025
Designed and delivered full-stack solutions to support dark web data collection and intelligence operations, spanning backend services, browser automation, and user-facing web tools. Built foundational infrastructure for dark web data acquisition using a modular Scrapy-based spider framework powering hundreds of vital production data extraction tools across various targets, contributing over 9 billion records to Elasticsearch across 367,000+ unique domains spanning Tor, I2P, and Freenet networks. Developed and maintained a Django-based internal web application used by analysts to schedule scrapes, manage targets, and review collected data across platforms like Gab, Twitter, and Telegram. Engineered a browser-integrated Chrome extension for App Stream using JavaScript, enabling on-demand, context-aware data scrapes within sandboxed environments to accelerate analysis and reduce manual overhead, reducing setup time by 80% and saving an estimated $100K+ in annual analyst hours. Improved d

Education

Bachelor's degree at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
January 1, 2016 - January 1, 2020

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree
January 1, 2016 - January 1, 2020

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Professional Services