Hi, I'm

Sahil Mahendrakar

Building things. Breaking stuff. Humaning around.

Software Engineer at AWS • Former founder & CTO • Building AI learning tools

About

→SDE at AWS — building customer-facing optimization and recommendation experiences
→Former co-founder/CTO — raised $1M, Stanford Blockchain Accelerator
→Building Aristotle & Lyrn Code — AI tools for reading and learning

I’m a product-minded engineer interested in tools for thought that make learning clearer, deeper, and more engaging. I build across the stack, from system design to UI/UX. Lately, I’ve been interested in AI tools that augment our thinking and learning process rather than replace it.

Projects

AI-powered tools I'm building to help people learn and read more effectively.

Aristotle

AI-powered e-reader for deeper understanding

•Spoiler-free contextual Q&A that respects your reading position
•Inline insights and guided exploration for complex passages
•RAG pipeline with embeddings and metadata-aware retrieval

Next.jsTypeScriptPineconeVercel AI SDKFirebase

View Project →

Lyrn Code

AI-powered personalized coding tutor

•Skills matrix with adaptive practice and real-time evaluation
•Agent-driven tutoring with function calling and session memory
•Multi-panel workspace for immersive learning experience

Next.jsTypeScriptLangChainOpenAIFirebase

View Project →

Experience

Columbia University · Bachelor of Science in Computer Science · 4.12/4.0

Software Development Engineer

Sept 2024 – Present

Amazon Web Services

Building customer-facing recommendation and cost optimization experiences.

•Own customer-facing recommendation experiences across Compute Optimizer, Savings Plans/RI console, and Cost Optimization Hub
•Built automation workflows with adoption and savings metrics tracking
•Led React modernization efforts with React Query caching for improved performance
•Expanded services into ADC regions with comprehensive pipelines, alarms, and dashboards

ReactTypeScriptAWSCloudWatch

Software Development Engineer Intern

May – Aug 2023

Amazon Web Services

Built SQL Server license optimization feature for AWS Compute Optimizer.

•Developed rightsizing and edition downgrade recommendations for SQL Server workloads
•Enabled customers to reduce license costs by up to 73%
•Integrated with existing Compute Optimizer infrastructure

JavaAWSSQL Server

Co-founder & CTO

Jun 2022 – Jan 2023

IronMill

Led technical development for blockchain security startup.

•Raised $1M pre-seed funding
•Selected for Stanford Blockchain Accelerator
•Awarded U.S. Patent 12,250,316 B2 for zero-knowledge proof system selection

BlockchainCryptographyPython

Cybersecurity Research Intern

Summer 2020 & 2021

Westlight AI

Conducted cybersecurity research contributing to federal contracts.

•Contributed to USAF SBIR Phase I and Phase II awards
•Co-inventor on U.S. Patent 11,295,029 B1 for filesystem interception and encryption enforcement

CybersecurityResearchPython

Patents

U.S. Patent 12,250,316 B2

Zero-knowledge proof system selection

Method for selecting optimal zero-knowledge proof systems based on application requirements and constraints.

View Patent →

U.S. Patent 11,295,029 B1

Filesystem interception and encryption enforcement

System for intercepting filesystem operations and enforcing encryption policies at the kernel level.

View Patent →

Now

What I'm currently focused on and interested in.

Current Focus

→Building AI reading and learning tools (Aristotle, Lyrn Code)
→Exploring RAG architectures and retrieval optimization
→Developing AI-native interfaces that feel intuitive

Interests

AI-native interfacesRAG systemsLearning toolsDeveloper experiencePerformance UXSystem design

Contact

Feel free to reach out if you're interested in talking. I'm always happy to connect!

Emailsahil.mahendrakar@gmail.com

LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/sahil-mahendrakar

GitHubgithub.com/sahilmahendrakar