JPMorgan Chase’s Seattle tech hub grows amid broader industry cooldown

Five years after opening in Seattle, JPMorgan Chase’s tech hub in the downtown business district has now surpassed 320 people. The nation’s largest bank has benefitted in part from greater availability of engineering talent in the region over the past year as Amazon, Microsoft, and other tech companies have cut jobs. “Two years back, we were fighting with big companies in Seattle,” said Rao Lakkakula (above), senior director of security engineering, who oversees the Seattle tech hub. “We are seeing more candidates applying to JPMC from other big companies. It’s gotten easier for us to hire.” Read the story. 

A newly formed coalition of companies from e-commerce, travel, employment and other sectors plans to work together against a common problem across their industries: fraudulent online reviews. Read more. 

The University of Washington’s troubles with a massive IT upgrade is sparking commentary on why cloud-based migration projects often go wrong.

Blue Origin unveils new spacecraft platform: The multi-use, multi-mission way station called Blue Ring would provide services that span hosting, transportation, refueling, data relay, logistics, and more, in Earth orbit and beyond. Read more.

Last call for GeekWire Summit tickets: Don’t miss our annual technology conference on Thursday in Seattle at the former Cinerama theater. We’re assembling some of the top names in artificial intelligence for the half-day event, titled “AI Gets Real.” More info here.

Hot Links:

• Microsoft games chief Phil Spencer joined the company as an intern in 1988. He just led the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. (CNBC)

• Jeff Bezos overtook French tycoon Bernard Arnault as the world’s second richest person as the Amazon founder’s fortune has swelled to $156 billion. (Insider)

• Seattle biotech startup Lumen Bioscience won a $16.2 million award from the Department of Defense to further develop its drug that treats a bacterial infection. (Lumen)

• Netflix has plans to open brick-and-mortar stores where fans can shop and eat and immerse themselves in the worlds of their favorite TV shows (Bloomberg). Blockbuster, which learned a bit about physical retail over the years, weighed in. (X)