About Me
Hi, I'm Gavin Sonntag! I build backend infrastructure and research how to make runtime systems faster.
I'm a second-year undergraduate at UCLA studying Computer Science & Engineering (expected June 2028). See my full coursework here if you're curious!
Last summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to join Amazon Web Services as a Software Development Engineer Intern on the Key Management Service (KMS) team in Seattle, WA. I got this opportunity through the Amazon Future Engineer scholarship and internship program. During this internship, I developed an internal tool that is now in use by all AWS service teams that interface with KMS, while learning from top engineers in the industry at a Fortune 1 technology company.
At school, I help organize LA Hacks, Southern California's largest hackathon. On the Technology team, I’ve helped create our new hackathon management platform on a modern Next.js, TypeScript, and Supabase stack. I developed core parts of the applicant experience, from resume uploads, to autosaving for the application flow. I also built internal tooling used by the team to review and manage 8,000+ applicants at scale, such as the grading workflow, decision-management actions, and acceptance tooling. I also shipped logistics features for admitted hackers, including RSVP and travel reimbursement flows, waiver and budget fixes, and a QR-based event check-in system.
I am also currently a researcher in the Programmable Software Systems Lab at UCLA, advised by Prof. Konstantinos Kallas. I am researching remembering JIT optimizations across different serverless instances in the JVM.
My interests include systems programming, applied AI, and programming languages. I'm always open to build something if a good opportunity comes around. Check out my LinkedIn and GitHub, or shoot me an email at [email protected]!
Fun fact: I've won something at every hackathon I've attended except for LA Hacks, which I became an organizer for ;) One win at each of