Steven Thwaites

Principal Solutions Engineer | Istio & Ambient Mesh, Kubernetes, Agentic AI | Ex-Docker & AWS Containers GTM

solo.ioex-Docker, Incex-Puppet Labs, Inc.

“

Principal SE with 12+ years in the cloud-native ecosystem -- from infrastructure-as-code at Puppet, through the container revolution at Docker, hyperscale at AWS, and now service mesh and agentic AI at io.

More

I help organizations from startups to Fortune 500s adopt Kubernetes, Istio, and AI infrastructure, and I'm just as comfortable building a PoC in a terminal as presenting architecture to a CTO. Always happy to talk shop. I've had a front-row seat to the container-driven transformation of how software is built and operated. I combine deep hands-on expertise with a track record of building and leading high-performing pre-sales teams, mentoring Solutions Engineers, and shaping product strategy through tight field-product feedback loops. Today, my focus is the intersection of AI and cloud-native infrastructure. At io I work on projects like kagent, agentgateway, and agentregistry -- tools that are changing how teams build and manage AI agents on Kubernetes. That includes: - Architecting solutions for running AI agents at scale on Kubernetes and service mesh - Enabling secure, observable connectivity for AI applications and agent skills - Helping customers build, deploy, and operate AI agents and their supporting platforms in production I'm also a hands-on practitioner -- actively integrating agentic tools like opencode and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) into my own engineering workflows to accelerate PoC development and technical problem-solving. Whether operating as a hands-on Principal IC or as an SE leader, I partner closely with sales, product, marketing, and services to drive adoption and customer success. Specialties: Kubernetes, Istio, Ambient Mesh, API Gateways, Service Mesh, Agentic AI, Containers, AWS, CI/CD, DevOps, Software Supply Chain Security.