Kaan Aksoy

I work on autonomous and mission-critical systems, moving between software, hardware, and design. I believe the best products come from these three disciplines complementing each other, not compensating for one another.

I've learned by building, breaking, and rebuilding, usually guided by two questions: how do I build the best product, and which compromises can I make without damaging it? That process shaped how I think: product first, systems second, details third, edge cases always.

I'm drawn to problems where reliability matters, where failure isn't abstract, and where a Swiss cheese alignment of failures cannot happen. I care about craft and its heritage, and about understanding things deeply enough to simplify them.

Most of my work has been on autonomous vessels and counter-UAS platforms — the OCU, the vessel architecture, and the operator software that makes these systems usable under pressure. I've spent a lot of time talking to vessel operators, which taught me more about the gap between engineering assumptions and operational reality than any document.

I'm also a licensed skipper and a lifelong sailor, which shapes how I think about maritime systems and the unforgiving environment in a way analyses wouldn't.

Outside work: I drive a 1976 Mercedes 450SL that I got running during COVID and haven't stopped since, six years as a daily driver, with occasional holidays in the hands of mechanics more qualified than me. I shoot film and infuse my own liqueurs.

I was born in the US, grew up between Istanbul, Miami, Venice and Doha, and have spent the last eight years in Qatar. My family is about as multinational as it gets, which mostly means I feel at home in a lot of places.

Always happy to talk, do drop me a line.