Open to opportunities

Alex Sjothun

@alexsjothun

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Senior Full-Stack Engineer specializing in React frontends and Python backends for regulated industries.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I seek senior engineering roles building secure, scalable cloud-native systems (React + Python) in collaborative teams that value compliance, observability, and impactful product outcomes.

I am a Senior Full-Stack Engineer with ten years of experience building React/Next.js frontends and Python backends (FastAPI, Django, Flask) across healthcare, commerce, and education platforms. I design cloud-native, secure systems on AWS that meet strict compliance requirements like HIPAA, PCI, and WCAG while improving performance and user experience.

At Amazon I built HIPAA-compliant healthcare analytics and compliance platforms, implemented real-time data pipelines, and automated reproducible infrastructure with Terraform and Helm. Previously, I migrated legacy systems to modern React + TypeScript SPAs, optimized databases and background processing with Celery/Redis, and introduced event-driven architectures using Kafka.

I emphasize observability, testing, and accessibility—driving down incident resolution times, reducing cloud costs, and raising test coverage—while partnering with design and product teams to deliver reliable, maintainable systems that scale.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Senior Full Stack Engineer

Amazon

Sep 2022 - Jun 2025 (2 years 9 months)

Built a HIPAA-compliant healthcare analytics and compliance platform with React/Next.js frontends and FastAPI Python microservices, reducing incident resolution time by 50% and cutting cloud costs by 15% through optimized AWS architectures.

React Next.js TypeScript fastAPI Python AWS Terraform Celery Observability

Senior Full Stack Engineer

Thread

Oct 2020 - Aug 2022 (1 year 10 months)

Developed a digital commerce and customer engagement platform with React + TypeScript frontends and Django/GraphQL backends, reducing bundle size by 30% and lowering query response times by 35%.

React TypeScript Django GraphQL PostgreSQL Redis Celery Stripe Kafka

Backend Developer

Newsela

Oct 2017 - Sep 2020 (2 years 11 months)

Built backend services and teacher-facing features for an educational SaaS platform using Django REST Framework and GraphQL, improving page load times by 22% and increasing student engagement by 15%.

Django Django REST Framework GraphQL React PostgreSQL Elasticsearch Pytest CI CD

Backend Developer

US Tech Solutions

Oct 2015 - Sep 2017 (1 year 11 months)

Supported modernization of internal CRM, billing, and HR systems by migrating legacy apps to Flask and React, improving reporting performance and test coverage through Pytest and containerized deployments.