Open to opportunities

Kenny Hwu

@kennyhwu

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Senior software engineer focused on scalable systems, product impact, and mentorship.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I seek roles building scalable backend systems where I can mentor engineers, drive product impact, and use analytics to inform decisions.

I am a senior software engineer with a strong background in business analytics and a proven track record of driving product development, expansion, and optimization. I specialize in building resilient, large-scale distributed systems and learning new technologies quickly to solve complex problems.

Across multiple roles, I have led engineering teams and cross-functional projects that delivered measurable business outcomes, including increased bookings, higher monthly active orders, and significant revenue improvements. I emphasize clear communication, API design, testing, and observability.

Technically, I bring hands-on experience with Python, Ruby on Rails, Golang, JavaScript, GraphQL, SQL databases, and cloud/container tooling such as AWS and Docker. I pair technical execution with analytics-driven decision making, having implemented A/B tests and statistical models earlier in my career.

I am passionate about mentoring peers and juniors on engineering best practices and career growth, and I prioritize shipping reliable, maintainable systems that directly impact product metrics and customer experience.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Senior Software Engineer

Current

Lyft

Feb 2025 - Present (9 months)

Optimized backend ride-offerings API to deliver customized UX emphasizing discounts, increasing ride bookings by 0.5% and documented system structure; supervise a team of 4 engineers to improve API design, testing, and observability for on-time product launches.

Python API Design Microservices Observability Testing Distributed Systems Docker AWS Team Leadership

Senior Software Engineer

Instacart

Aug 2022 - Feb 2024 (1 year 6 months)

Built and scaled automated async batch jobs evaluating category eligibility for 500M+ products, increasing GTV run rate by $50M and integrated RPCs to ML feature store to drive retention and raise monthly active orders by 10+%.

Golang Python Message Queues RPC Protobuf Twilio Sendgrid Distributed Systems

Software Engineer II

Instacart

Feb 2021 - Aug 2022 (1 year 6 months)

Led a 3-engineer team to migrate order ratings from monolith REST to domain-specific GraphQL, increasing feedback coverage for 800K+ daily orders by 55% and improved NPS by 14% via cross-repo Protobuf/RPC integrations.

GraphQL REST Protobuf RPC Python Architecture Design & QA Monitoring Cross Functional Collaboration

Software Engineer

Zenefits

May 2019 - Jan 2021 (1 year 8 months)

Integrated Django backend with third-party tax engine servicing 3,400+ recurring clients and processing $180M+ in taxes monthly; automated XML generation for quarterly returns saving 100+ manual hours per quarter.

Django Python API Integration & QA Automation XML Data Validation & Compliance

Senior Manager, New Product Development

LendingClub

May 2017 - Aug 2018 (1 year 3 months)

Performed statistical analysis to define a balance transfer product that increased loan conversion by 60% and partnered with engineering to launch optimizations that grew incremental loan volume from $10M to $50M/month.

Product Development Statistical Analysis A B Testing Stakeholder Management SQL Roadmapping Team Leadership

Strategy Analytics Manager

Oportun

Jul 2015 - Apr 2017 (1 year 9 months)

Built regression models to forecast loan production, managed direct mail acquisition programs with A/B testing and targeting models, and led a team of 2 analysts to support digital marketing and telesales strategies.

Regression Modeling A B Testing SQL Tableau Team Management Marketing Analytics

Senior Strategy Analyst

Oportun

Oct 2013 - Jun 2015 (1 year 8 months)

Designed and maintained a comprehensive SQL data repository for direct mail campaigns to improve targeting and drive loan generation; automated DM reporting in Tableau to meet executive needs.

SQL Tableau Data Warehousing Targeting Data Visualization

Senior Business Analyst

Capital One

Aug 2012 - Sep 2013 (1 year 1 month)

Developed a risk strategy that generated $100M annual NPV by optimizing credit limit timing and analyzed customer behavior to inform sustainable credit policies for optimal exposure.

Risk Modeling NPV Forecasting SQL Policy Design Financial Analysis

Business Analyst

Capital One

Feb 2011 - Aug 2012 (1 year 6 months)

Forecasted marketing response and optimized outbound solicitation volumes using population segmentation and NPV distributions to achieve quality account bookings at scale.

Forecasting Segmentation NPV Marketing Analytics SQL Data Analysis & Strategy

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

University of Pennsylvania

Bachelor of Science, Biomedical Engineering; Economics (Finance Concentration)

Completed dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Biomedical Engineering (School of Engineering & Applied Science) and Economics with a Finance concentration (Wharton School).

Rithm School

Coding Bootcamp Certificate, Full-Stack Web Development

2018 - 2019

Completed a 17-week in-person immersive full-stack web development bootcamp covering computer science fundamentals, data structures, algorithms, and project-based application development.