Richard Thai

software engineer @ amazon (leo) | ex unicorn, edtech, space, and intelligence | ex founder

Los Angeles, California, United States

About

hi, i’m a software engineer that loves digging into challenging problems. able to wear many hats and have an eye for biz and product. prev full-time exp with full-stack and mobile. prev intern exp with full-stack, artificial intelligence (nlp + nlu), and embedded. prev bootstrapped a minecraft server hosting company @ 16 (hosted hundreds of servers including 2 of the top 5 mc servers with hundreds of concurrent players) door is always open to chat, esp for fellow banana slugs

Experience

  • Software Engineer at Amazon
    Aug 2025 - Present · 11 mos

    🛰️ Project Kuiper / Amazon Leo

  • Software Engineer at Prime Video & Amazon Studios
    Nov 2022 - Aug 2025 · 2 yrs 10 mos

    👷‍♂️🚧🏗️ Worked on PV Channels + Sports. Languages and Technologies Used: • Java, Python, Javascript (Typescript), and Datapath (Amazon-internal) • AWS, React, and Redux Emphasis in full-stack development.

  • Software Engineer at Amazon Music
    Feb 2022 - Nov 2022 · 10 mos

    👷‍♂️🚧🏗️ Worked on launching (beta & GA) a new initiative - Amp. Languages and Technologies Used: • Java, Python, Javascript (Typescript), and Swift • AWS Emphasis in backend and mobile software development.

  • Health and well-being at Career Break
    Sep 2021 - Jan 2022 · 5 mos

    I decided to take five months off after graduating and completing my subsequent internship to explore my hobbies and travel. During this time, I also tutored and mentored students.

  • Software Engineer Intern at Relativity
    Jun 2021 - Sep 2021 · 4 mos

    I contributed to the Search vertical within our Core product, responsible for making billions of documents searchable for our clients in their mission to discover the truth and act on it. During my internship, I added new functionality and assisted in the transition to the OpenTelemetry framework. Highlights: • Owned the development of a new feature that simplified management of queued search jobs and reduced the number of required interventions by customer support (~10-15 related incidents per month; >50% reduction) Languages and Technologies Used: • C# and Visual Basic • NUnit, Mock, .NET, MSSQL, Postman, and OpenTelemetry Emphasis in full-stack software development.