Nitish Kundala

Software Engineer

San Jose, California, United States7 yrs 9 mos experience
Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

  • Expert in building scalable AI systems.
  • Proven track record in backend engineering.
  • Skilled in optimizing high-throughput architectures.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Backend Engineer specializing in AI/ML solutions for consumer applications.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Ai/mlBackend & ScaleSearch & DataMobile Development

Other Skills

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)Large Language Models (LLMs)AWS SageMakerContext injectionBackend developmentData analysisJavaMicroservicesGDPR complianceData ProtectionElasticsearchCQRSEvent sourcingAutomation solutionsRisk Management

About

I build intelligent systems that operate at the scale of billions. Currently, as an SDE-II at Amazon, I’m focused on making Alexa smarter through Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). My work revolves around teaching AI to learn from context and past interactions—essentially giving voice assistants a "memory" to reduce friction and improve customer satisfaction. Throughout my career, I’ve navigated the complexities of high-throughput architectures, from managing Java microservices that handle 300,000 TPS to designing GDPR-compliant systems at SAP Labs. I thrive at the intersection of robust backend engineering and cutting-edge AI. Whether it’s optimizing search times to 30ms or architecting LLM-facing APIs, I am passionate about writing code that is not just functional, but scalable, secure, and cost-efficient. Core Competencies: AI/ML: LLM Fine-tuning, RAG, Prompt Engineering, BERT, AWS SageMaker. Backend & Scale: Java, Microservices, AWS (EC2, DynamoDB, Lambda), Kubernetes, Kafka. Search & Data: Elasticsearch, CQRS Pattern, Distributed Systems.

Experience

7 yrs 9 mos
Total Experience
1 yr 11 mos
Average Tenure
4 yrs 6 mos
Current Experience

Amazon

2 roles

Software Development Engineer II

Promoted

Mar 2023Present · 3 yrs 2 mos · Sunnyvale, California, United States

  • Building Personalization solutions for the new (LLM powered)Alexa+ to make Audio playback experiences on Alexa feel more frictionless, faster and unique.
  • 1. Designed and Built a learning pipeline using a combination of ML models deployed on AWS Sagemaker and series of LLM inferences via AWS Bedrock to parse through >1 billion customer interactions daily and successfully learn customer corrections/preferences.
  • 2. Designed and implemented backend that powered Context injection (RAG) of past customer corrections/preferences to increase customer satisfaction with music requests to Alexa+.
  • 3. Built evaluations for Alexa+ (LLM powered) to ensure any changes to core instructions does not regress features owned by us.
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)Large Language Models (LLMs)AWS SageMakerContext injectionBackend developmentAI/ML+1

Software Development Engineer - I

Nov 2021Mar 2023 · 1 yr 4 mos · Sunnyvale, California, United States

  • Alexa Music Playback Experience Team

Sap

2 roles

Software Development Engineer

Jan 2021Nov 2021 · 10 mos · Newport Beach, California, United States

  • Shielded SAP Labs from regulatory penalties of upto € 20 million by designing and implementing Data Protection and Privacy (GDPR) solution in a microservice based architecture.
  • Working on JAVA based microservices that are deployed as Knative applications, to deliver integration layer functionality between SAP’s S/4HANA system and a new product designed to receipt reconciliation.
JavaMicroservicesGDPR complianceData ProtectionBackend & Scale

Software Engineer Intern

May 2020Aug 2020 · 3 mos · Newport Beach, California, United States

  • 1. Reduced search time to 30-60 ms by designing a schema on Elasticsearch; enabling autocomplete and implementing search feature to tackle massive SAP customer data
  • 2. Improved availability of the master data store by 50%; designing and implementing CQRS and Event sourcing pattern in the microservice architecture, collaborating with lead architects
ElasticsearchCQRSEvent sourcingSearch & Data

Carnegie mellon university - school of computer science - institute for software research

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Aug 2020Dec 2020 · 4 mos · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Ubs

Technology Intern

Jul 2018Dec 2018 · 5 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • 1. Developed JAVA based automation solutions for the Risk Management team which has improved the efficiency of their auditing, reporting and dashboard process.
  • 2. One such automation saved 2000 hours of manual effort, thus saving a cost of $0.01 million per year
  • 3. Audited the Design and Operational effectiveness of UBS wide IT applications related to Joiner Mover & Leaver access controls, Password policy compliance and Emergency Production Access Control with reference to SOX (Sarbanes Oxley) regulatory requirements.
JavaAutomation solutionsRisk Management

Redcarpetup.com

Software Engineering Intern (A Google Launchpad & Y Combinator FinTech Start up)

May 2018Jun 2018 · 1 mo · Gurgaon, India

  • 1. Successfully integrated their Android application with the National Biometric Database (AADHAAR) API for biometric e-signing of user documents. This reduced time to authenticate and increased subscription to the product by 100% and reduced subscriber churn by 50%. Led two internal developers, collaborated with third-party API developers and reported project status to the CTO.
  • 2. Migrated the entire code base from JAVA to KOTLIN decreasing crash instances by 90% and reducing number of lines of code by 30%.
Android DevelopmentAPI integrationKotlinMobile Development

Tata consultancy services

Software Engineering Intern

May 2016Jul 2016 · 2 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • Developed three Web Services for a Major National financial Firm with delivering retail & corporate loan products
  • The web service on being consumed returns the required data (Name, ID, Type of Loan, Loan Amount, Interest rate) back to the client after storing the XML data provided by the user in the SQL database.
  • After creating the users in the SQL database the application would generate the Loan ID number & return it back to the client
  • This Web Service cut down a large number of manual steps performed on the application by agents.
  • The Web Services all served to reduce the repetitive entry of data into the application by various people within the client’s organisation.
  • Development of this automation software allowed the customer to skip 4-5 steps of the loan application process. This improved the efficiency of data entry into the application form from the rate of 10/day to 200/day, thus bringing in man-hour efficiency of 36000 man-hours & hence a cost efficiency of $0.09 million per year
Web ServicesSQLXML

Department of visual media, bits pilani

Lead Android Developer

Aug 2015May 2017 · 1 yr 9 mos · Pilani

  • Led the development of industry grade Android Applications for all the three major university fests held in 2015,
  • BOSM 2015 --- The sports app provided live score updates, schedules and results for the all matches for 1000+ participants & students
  • OASIS 2015 --- The cultural fest app provided a live chat room and an event schedule with a feature enabling the user to get the list of events scheduled at that moment for 4000+ participants & students
  • APOGEE 2015 ---- The technical fest app provided details of speakers & the technical subjects they would speak on, an talk/project/paper presentation schedule with a feature enabling the user to get the list of the scheduled events at that moment for 1000+ participants & students
  • Mentoring & Guiding a team of junior team members in the development of the applications for the fests in 2016 & 2017.
Android DevelopmentMobile Development

Tata consultancy services

Software Engineering Intern

May 2015Jul 2015 · 2 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • Worked with the Operations team of a Global telecommunications company’s (India unit) IT support function
  • Developed a Java application to ‘Automate the process of Payments failure Daily Reconciliation’, which performed the following functions
  • Extraction of data from the SQL database,
  • Sorting and arranging the data in an Excel sheet,
  • Attaching this sheet to a Java mail and sending the data to the customer.
  • The jar file was run every day on the system as a CRON job.
  • Development of this application saved 480-520 man hours of effort & hence led to a cost saving of $30,000 per year for the IT support team.
JavaSQLExcel

Education

Carnegie Mellon University

Master's degree

Jan 2019Jan 2020

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani

Bachelor of Engineering - BE — Mechanical Engineering

Jan 2014Jan 2019

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani

Master's degree — Economics

Jan 2014Jan 2019

Maharashtra Board for Higher Secondary Education

High School

Jan 2012Jan 2014

Hiranandani Foundation School

ICSE — Secondary School

Jan 2008Jan 2012

Kendriya Vidyalaya

Primary School

Jan 2002Jan 2008

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