Emily Yoshida

About Emily Yoshida

A career spent building and stabilizing complex systems has shaped how I lead: clarity first, reduce unnecessary complexity, and design platforms that scale without drama. Over the years I’ve owned core pieces of IMDb’s architecture—API foundations, identity systems, customer trust frameworks, ML-driven safety workflows, and distributed services that sit behind millions of daily customers.Most of my work centers on stitching together messy technical ecosystems and turning them into something coherent. That includes untangling legacy services, designing cleaner integration patterns, improving operability, and aligning teams around long-term technical direction rather than a patchwork of short-term fixes.What I enjoy most is the intersection of architecture, platform engineering, and AI. Recent work includes introducing AI-assisted developer workflows, building internal agentic tools, helping define IMDb’s approach to applied AI/ML systems, and guiding teams as they adopt new patterns responsibly. When used well, AI becomes a force multiplier—reducing toil, improving design quality, and accelerating decisions. A lot of my leadership now revolves around shaping this shift.I work hands-on with teams, partner closely across organizations, and bring a practical lens to system design. The goal is always the same: build foundations that hold up for years, not quarters.

Experience

1. Senior Software Development Manager, Imdb Platform Engineering

   Amazon

   Dec 2025 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   As Senior SDM for IMDb Platform Engineering, I lead the organization responsible for the horizontal runtime platform, foundational infrastructure services, and developer enablement systems that power every IMDb experience—from Consumer and Pro to Contributors, Advertisers, and third-party data consumers.A core part of the role is building AI platform architecture and AI-assisted engineering capabilities that accelerate delivery while preserving correctness, security, and operational rigor. Platform Engineering exists to eliminate duplicated work and provide secure, scalable building blocks teams can trust—so teams ship faster without reinventing infrastructure.My role spans technical strategy, organizational design, and operational leadership. I oversee platform teams responsible for AI platform foundations and agentic workflows, identity and access management, API gateways and integration infrastructure, web platform foundations, centralized observability, search and discovery services, list management, and ranking data pipelines. These systems operate globally and form the connective tissue that binds IMDb together.A strong emphasis is operational discipline at scale. Platform services are owned end-to-end with defined SLAs, deep observability, documented runbooks, and rigorous incident management. We invest heavily in reliability, security, and clear ownership boundaries so product teams can focus on customer value rather than infrastructure mechanics.I also drive platform modernization—introducing modular architectures, improving developer self-service, reducing time-to-production, and establishing AI-assisted, spec-driven development practices that improve both velocity and correctness. The work is pragmatic and outcome-driven: fewer bespoke solutions, more shared platforms, and sustained velocity over time.

Education

• Solano Community College

  Certificate, Firefighter 1/EMTP

• UC Irvine

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Information and Computer Science

  1997 — 2002

Skills

• Project Management
• Program Management
• Global Client Management
• Third Party Vendor Management
• Cross Functional Team Building
• Portfolio Management
• Quality Assurance
• Regulatory Affairs
• Agile Methodologies
• Agile & Waterfall Methodologies
• Software Engineering
• Software Architectural Design
• Software Solution Architecture
• Enterprise Architecture
• Database Design
• System Testing
• Usability Testing
• User Acceptance Testing
• Performance Testing
• Integration Architecture
• Patents
• Patentability
• Patent Prosecution
• Technical Writing
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Mobile Devices
• Mobile Technology
• Salesforce.com
• Salesforce.com Administration
• Change Management
• Project Planning
• Integration
• Vendor Management
• Business Process
• Enterprise Software
• Testing
• Cloud Computing
• Telecommunications
• Customer Relationship Management (Crm)
• Management