Software Engineer — Toronto, ON
Owen Zhu
Software engineer with experience across robotics, fintech, e-commerce, and sports media. I specialize in building reliable mobile and backend systems, leading cross-functional initiatives, and driving operational excellence at scale. Currently at Amazon Robotics, I design event-driven microservices and manage the full SDLC for global fleet services.
Experience
Where I've worked
A track record of shipping high-impact systems across robotics, fintech, e-commerce, and media.
Present
July 2025 – Present
July 2025 – Present
- Owned the end-to-end lifecycle of 6 high-impact productivity and quality-of-life features for workcells, operating autonomously to design, integrate, and roll out features across global Amazon Fulfillment Centers, generating $1.8M in annual savings.
- Authored the deprecation strategy and architecture design for a core data model service, analyzing S3 and SNS dependencies to identify all downstream consumers, map migration paths, and define a zero-downtime execution plan.
- Drove Operational Excellence during on-call rotations, managing up to 10 weekly high-severity incidents (SEV-1/SEV-2) during peak cycles and executing rapid live debugging to minimize production downtime.
- Designed event-driven backend services for robotic fleet management using Kotlin and AWS Lambda, processing high-throughput telemetry via SQS/SNS with idempotent consumers.
Sep 2024 – Dec 2024
Sep 2024 – Dec 2024
- Led the migration to type-safe Compose Navigation, designing a custom routing system to pass complex arguments with optimized serialization, reducing navigation latency by 200ms.
- Authored a comprehensive Engineering Design Document to standardize navigation patterns, researching and implementing type-safe arguments to ensure scalability and developer velocity.
- Engineered the Android frontend for experimental AI features, transforming design concepts into functional implementations to introduce multimodal capabilities for the retailer app.
- Enhanced the custom MVVM architecture using RxJava to streamline reactive data flows, significantly improving code maintainability for complex retailer workflows.
Sep 2023 – Dec 2023, May 2024 – Aug 2024
Sep 2023 – Dec 2023, May 2024 – Aug 2024
- Built the ‘Document Checklist’ widget in Native Android, replacing a legacy WebView to reduce load times from 6.0s to 1.5s, streamlining the document upload flow for 3M+ monthly users.
- Designed and deployed exclusive features (swipe-to-delete, bulk uploads, cloud integration) that increased user conversion rates, validated through production A/B testing.
- Reduced manual testing time by implementing automated UI tests using Appium, leveraging XCUITest (iOS) and UIAutomator2 (Android) to ensure cross-platform stability.
Jan 2023 – Apr 2023
Jan 2023 – Apr 2023
- Delivered enhancements to 10+ screens including the new ‘Teasers’ bet type, leveraging Kotlin and Apollo GraphQL to drive user engagement.
- Refactored legacy code to remove 5000+ unused lines, reducing module compile times by 10% and improving developer velocity.
Apr 2022 – Aug 2022
Apr 2022 – Aug 2022
- Developed a proof-of-concept NFC-based SSO login system, reducing authentication time by 70% and streamlining access for thousands of logistics employees.
- Strengthened security by implementing AES-256 encryption for credential storage and integrating Android’s Keystore system.
Projects
Things I've built
Selected engineering work.
Java Compiler
A compiler written from scratch that translates a subset of Java into MIPS assembly. Implements lexical analysis, parsing, semantic checks, and code generation.
Portfolio Website
This site — a clean, responsive personal portfolio showcasing my engineering experience, projects, and skills.
Arclight
An Android password manager that generates secure customizable passwords, stores existing credentials, and protects them behind user authentication.
Skills
Tools & technologies
The stack I use most often.
Languages
Kotlin
Java
Python
TypeScript
SQL
C/C++
Go
Rust
Swift
AWS / Cloud
Lambda
DynamoDB
AppConfig
ECR
CDK (IaC)
CloudFormation
SQS/SNS
IAM
CloudWatch
Practices & Ops
System Design
Microservices
Operational Excellence
Distributed Systems
CI/CD
Agile
Frameworks & Tools
Spring Boot
React
Node.js
Jetpack Compose
Apollo GraphQL
Docker
Git
Postman
Education
Academic background
University of Waterloo
Bachelor of Computer Science, Honours Co-op
Sep 2020 – Apr 2025
Waterloo, ON
GPA: 3.7/4.0 — Graduating with Distinction
Scholarship
University of Waterloo President’s Scholarship of Distinction (Entrance Scholarship)
Relevant Coursework
Concurrent and Parallel Programming
Data-Intensive Distributed Computing
Data Structures & Algorithms
Compilers Construction
Operating Systems
Database Management Systems
Programming for Performance