Joshua Kirkes is Head of Technology and AI at Emergence Capital, where he leads the firm's technology, cybersecurity, and AI initiatives. He architects solutions across systems integration, identity management, and workflow automation, and partners closely with the investment team, operations, and finance to bring AI directly into how Emergence sources, evaluates, and supports companies.

Joshua takes a builder's approach to the role. He cares as much about the daily experience of the team — how quickly a new hire gets onboarded, how cleanly tools talk to each other, how confidently the firm can defend against a fast-evolving threat landscape — as he does about the AI systems that compound the firm's edge. He's known for being hands-on and pragmatic, with a bias toward practical outcomes over abstractions.

Joshua brings two decades of experience leading technology for the investment community. Before Emergence, he spent a decade as Director of Technology and Cybersecurity at Horsley Bridge Partners, where he built and ran the firm's infrastructure, security, and operations programs. Earlier, he founded AwesomeJar Consulting, working with 50+venture capital, hedge fund, and private equity firms to design and manage their technology roadmaps. He served as Chief Technology Officer at Eastbourne Capital Management, and began his post-military career in financial-services systems engineering at Eze Castle Integration and Bloomberg.

Joshua started his career in the U.S. Navy, where he served as a Rescue Swimmer and Aviation Warfare Systems Operator before transitioning into systems administration. He is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Merritt College Cybersecurity Program and serves on the boards of VCPEIT and the Community of Information Systems Executives, where he supports the next generation of technology and cybersecurity leaders. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, where they raised three children.