Dolphin6 logo Dolphin6 Joseph C. Pichette

I build secure AI + SaaS platforms that ship faster and scale cleanly.

Strategic Solutions Architect. I design secure, scalable systems across AWS/Azure/GCP. Strategic Solutions Architect. I work with CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Security leaders, and platform teams modernizing cloud and AI systems. Cloud, application networking, and AI platform architecture across AWS, Azure, and GCP — with strong presales leadership and hands-on delivery.

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AWS Azure GCP Terraform ECS Kubernetes Django FastAPI

Proven Results

Measurable impact across industries and technology stacks.

🧭

Architecture clarity

Executive + engineering alignment

Turn complex platforms into a decision-ready blueprint with risks, options, and a path to delivery.

🛡️

Zero‑trust by design

Identity, API security, policy

Service mesh + API management patterns that reduce blast radius and improve auditability.

⚙️

Automation that sticks

Terraform + GitOps + CI/CD

Repeatable environments, safer deployments, and operable runbooks teams actually use.

🧠

LLM/RAG in production

Secure retrieval + guardrails

Embeddings, vector DBs, multi‑tenant isolation, and custom inference APIs integrated into apps.

Professional Journey

25+ years building and securing modern application platforms — from enterprise infrastructure to cloud-native AI systems.

2023 – Present

Independent Cloud & AI Architect

Self‑Employed (Dolphin6)

  • Design LLM/RAG architectures and secure multi‑tenant AI pipelines (embeddings, vector DBs, custom inference APIs).
  • Build cloud‑native application components with Kubernetes/containers, NGINX, and modern API patterns.
  • Deliver AWS architecture reviews, prototypes, and modernization guidance for AI‑driven workloads.
AWS Kubernetes RAG Terraform
2024

Cloud Security Architect

Varonis Systems

  • Designed cloud security architectures across AWS, Azure, and GCP: identity, data protection, workload hardening, API security.
  • Partnered with account teams to run demos, PoVs, and executive/engineering briefings.
  • Streamlined deployments using CloudFormation and automation workflows.
Zero Trust IAM API Security CloudFormation
2022 – 2024

Solutions Architect – Office of the CTO

GreyMatter.io

  • Designed service mesh, API management, and automation aligned with zero‑trust principles in multi‑cloud environments.
  • Led PoCs validating policy enforcement, traffic controls, and secure application networking.
  • Authored whitepapers and delivered enablement for customers and field teams.
Service Mesh API Management GitOps NIST
2018 – 2022

Senior Solutions Engineer / Solutions Architect

F5 (Aspen Mesh)

  • Designed and deployed Kubernetes service mesh architectures with mTLS identity, L7 traffic control, policy, and observability.
  • Created reference architectures and deployment patterns used across global F5 teams.
  • Delivered demos, PoCs, and training for customers, partners, and internal teams.
Istio Envoy mTLS Observability
2015 – 2018

Senior Solutions Architect / Solutions Manager

Dell EMC

  • Designed hybrid cloud and data-engineering architectures integrating analytics pipelines, Splunk, virtualization, and automation.
  • Supported discovery, modernization planning, and customer workshops with engineering and sales teams.
Hybrid Cloud Splunk Automation
2000 – 2015

Senior Solutions Architect / Integration Engineer

Oracle (Sun Microsystems / StorageTek)

  • Architected high-availability Oracle RAC, SAN, and clustered storage solutions for mission‑critical workloads.
  • Led scalability and performance optimization initiatives and supported enterprise presales design sessions.
Oracle RAC HA/DR Enterprise Storage

How I Think

"Start from the business outcome."

"Automate what slows teams down."

"Security and observability are features."

"Operational excellence is a feature."

"Complexity is debt; simplicity is leverage."

"Ship incrementally, measure ruthlessly."

How I work

  • Discover: clarify business goal, constraints, and non-negotiables.
  • Design: propose 2–3 viable architectures with tradeoffs and cost/risk profile.
  • Deliver: implement incrementally with IaC, CI/CD, and operational guardrails.
  • Transfer: leave runbooks, diagrams, and enablement so teams can operate confidently.

What I Deliver

End‑to‑end expertise from architecture to implementation.

Architecture Review (2–3 weeks)

Decision-ready blueprint: risks, options, costs, and a prioritized delivery plan.

Platform Modernization Sprint (4–8 weeks)

IaC + CI/CD + observability to stabilize releases and reduce operational load.

AI Enablement (3–6 weeks)

Secure RAG/inference integration with guardrails, multi-tenant isolation, and production hardening.

☁️

Cloud Architecture & Security

Design and implement secure, scalable cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP with defense‑in‑depth strategies.

🌲

Terraform/IaC & CI/CD

Build reproducible infrastructure with Terraform, automate deployments with GitOps, and create self‑service platforms.

📦

Container Platforms

Architect and operate container orchestration on ECS, EKS, or Kubernetes with proper networking, security, and observability.

🔒

API & App Security

Implement authentication, authorization, secrets management, and security scanning throughout the development lifecycle.

🧠

AI/LLM Integration

Build retrieval‑augmented generation pipelines and secure inference APIs, integrate with AWS Bedrock, and deploy AI features with guardrails, isolation, and observability. No fine‑tuning unless it’s justified by measurable business impact.

👥

Fractional Architecture

Retainer‑based support for teams needing strategic guidance, architecture reviews, and hands‑on implementation help.

Selected Work

Product + platform builds that show how I connect cloud architecture, security, and AI into systems teams can run.

Dolphin6 Consulting

Architecture reviews, platform blueprints, and hands‑on delivery for cloud‑native SaaS and AI‑enabled workflows.

AWS Terraform Kubernetes Zero Trust
Engage Capabilities

DreadForged Games (DFG)

Flagship product studio: a multi‑tenant world‑building platform that pairs SaaS dashboards with AI generation and retrieval.

Django PostgreSQL RAG AWS
Request a demo In progress

ShelterOps

AI‑powered operations platform: dashboards + analytics + an adoption assistant that plugs into real shelter workflows.

Django FastAPI pgvector ECS Fargate
How it works Discuss

The Difference It Makes

A representative engagement snapshot (details generalized).

A growing SaaS company was struggling with manual deployments, inconsistent environments, and frequent production incidents. By implementing infrastructure as code, automated CI/CD pipelines, and comprehensive observability, we transformed their engineering velocity and reliability.

Manual Hours Weekly

120+ 8

Deployment Time

4 hrs 12 min

Production Errors

15/mo 1/mo

Let’s build your next platform upgrade.

Ready to automate, secure, or scale your infrastructure? Let’s talk.

No sales pressure. The first call is a technical discovery to confirm fit, scope, and success criteria.

Book an Architecture Review
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