Open to New Opportunities

Kennedy
Mesfun

Software Engineer | Distributed Systems | Cloud Platforms

Backend and platform engineer with 5+ years building reliable, cloud-native systems at Google Microsoft Yahoo

View My Work Resume GitHub
5+Years Exp.
3Engineering Teams
30%Fewer Incidents
40%Faster Delivery
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About Me

Kennedy Mesfun
kmess024@gmail.com LinkedIn GitHub

I build backend systems that stay reliable under real production pressure.

My background spans YouTube education products, Microsoft enterprise web platforms, and Yahoo trust-and-safety infrastructure. I focus on engineering work that hiring teams can trust: migration planning, incident reduction, deployment velocity, cloud architecture, and pragmatic automation.

Recently, I led platform migrations and event-driven AWS work across moderation systems, using Docker, ECS, Lambda, SQS, SNS, EventBridge, Terraform, and CloudFormation to improve reliability and shorten delivery cycles.

I also use Cursor AI as part of my engineering workflow to accelerate delivery: breaking down implementation plans, generating first-pass scaffolds, optimizing repetitive refactors, and tightening tests and documentation while keeping code review and production judgment human-led.

30% fewer critical incidents after platform migration
40% faster deployment lead time with canary releases
Millions of users reached through YouTube product work
AI Cursor-assisted delivery workflows for faster implementation and review

Core Technologies

Languages
PythonJavaTypeScript JavaScriptSQLC#
Cloud / DevOps
AWS LambdaECSSQS/SNS EventBridgeGCPAzure DockerKubernetesTerraform CloudFormation
Frameworks & Tools
ReactNode.jsgRPC REST APIsCI/CDCanary Deploy Cursor AIAI-Assisted Delivery
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Projects

Selected public work spanning developer tooling, AI applications, data products, and full-stack engineering.

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Experience

Y!

Software Engineer

Yahoo Inc. · Mountain View, CA
Most Recent
  • –30% incidents Led migration of 3 critical platforms (Radar, LV2, Cozy) from RHEL7 → AlmaLinux 9/RHEL8 using Docker, AWS ECS, Terraform, CloudFormation.
  • –30% response time Designed event-driven serverless notification system (AWS Lambda, SQS, SNS, EventBridge) with automated retry/recovery flows.
  • –40% lead time Accelerated deployment bi-weekly → weekly using canary deployments with zero downtime.
  • Implemented PDNA hash and regex-based search for high-volume datasets with per-content-type stats tracking (image, video, text, PDF).
  • Built security proxy layer standardizing media ingestion between moderation products and third-party cloud storage.
AWS LambdaECSSQSSNS EventBridgeDockerTerraformCloudFormation

Software Engineer

YouTube (Google) · Mountain View, CA
  • Launched SupeX (YouTube's supervised experience for minors) for K-12 users during the Q3 2021 EdUniTube release, shipping a feature touching millions of students globally.
  • Implemented view-count logic for YouTube videos embedded in Twitter and WhatsApp, extending cross-platform analytics reach.
  • Automated build rollouts for a gRPC toolchain while shipping core feature additions.
  • Migrated legacy test suites to new backends, increasing test coverage and fixing related backend defects.
gRPCYouTube APIBackendTesting

Software Developer Engineer – Full Stack

Microsoft · Redmond, WA
  • Engineered comprehensive test suites that prevented multiple critical production bugs, substantially improving code stability.
  • Reduced Sev1 incidents by aggressively addressing technical debt and resolving high-priority customer issues via IcM/GitHub.
  • Formalized cross-component communication framework enabling reliable sender/receiver messaging between web parts operating within iFrames.
C#TypeScriptAzureiFrame MessagingTesting

B.A. Cognitive Science — Computational Modeling

University of California, Berkeley · Class of 2017

Cognitive Science with a focus on Computational Modeling — an unusual combination that shaped my engineering philosophy. I don't just optimize for throughput; I think about how systems behave under adversarial conditions and how they interact with humans at scale.

2017–2019: Post-graduation project work and independent study deepening software engineering foundations before joining Microsoft in 2019.

Artificial Intelligence
Advanced Data Structures & Algorithms
Machine Learning
Networks

Professional Development

Machine Learning — Coursera Google Cloud Verified (4-Part) — Coursera AI-Assisted Engineering Workflows — Cursor AI
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Resume

Download PDF Get In Touch

Kennedy Mesfun

Software Engineer

kmess024@gmail.com LinkedIn GitHub

Results-driven Software Engineer with 5+ years at Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Deep expertise in high-availability distributed systems, cloud-native architectures (AWS/GCP), platform reliability engineering, developer productivity tooling, and Cursor AI-assisted workflows that accelerate delivery without compromising code quality.

Technical Skills
LanguagesPython, Java, TypeScript, JavaScript, SQL, C#
Cloud / DevOpsAWS (Lambda, SQS, SNS, ECS, Aurora), GCP, Azure, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CloudFormation
FrameworksReact, Node.js, gRPC, REST APIs
CI/CD & ToolsCI/CD Pipelines, Git, Canary Deployments, EventBridge, Cursor AI, AI-assisted refactoring and test generation
DatabasesAWS Aurora, MySQL, NoSQL
Experience Highlights
–30%Critical incidents at Yahoo
–40%Deployment lead time
3Enterprise engineering teams
5+Years of production engineering
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Let's Connect

Exploring software engineering opportunities focused on reliable platforms, cloud services, and efficient delivery. Reach out to discuss how I can contribute to your team.

Emailkmess024@gmail.com
LinkedInkennedy-mesfun
GitHub@kmesfun