# John B. Kwak

> Senior Frontend Engineer at Socotra

Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/johnbkwak

I am passionate about creating user-centered solutions, empowering teams, and contributing to a culture that values creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement. All in all, I love to solve problems and build impactful applications.

## Work Experience
### Senior Frontend Engineer @ Socotra
Jan 2026 – Present

### Lead Software Engineer @ Chase Travel Corporate Solutions
Jan 2023 – Jan 2025
- Led the modernization of a large-scale legacy travel application, rebuilding the front-end with React (Next.js), TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS, significantly improving performance, maintainability, and developer velocity.
- Partnered with product managers, design, and engineering leadership to drive product direction and shape the UI/UX of internal booking tools, creating intuitive, visually polished experiences that streamlined workflows for travel agents.
- Delivered an internal booking platform end-to-end, from requirements through deployment, integrating with Global Distribution System (GDS) partner Atriis, enabling agents to book and manage travel more efficiently.
- Owned cross-functional collaboration and technical design, aligning requirements, setting priorities, and ensuring cohesive delivery across teams.
- Built reusable, scalable front-end components and design systems, while also maintaining Java/Spring Boot Representational State Transfer (REST) application programming interfaces to ensure reliable integrations.
- Mentored junior developers, established code review and documentation practices, and implemented automated testing (React Testing Library + Jest) to raise confidence in releases and improve engineering quality.

### Senior Software Engineer @ Chase Travel Corporate Solutions
Jan 2023 – Jan 2023
- Rewrote an existing application with a modern tech stack using Next.js/Typescript/Tailwindcss
- Designed the UI/UX by collaborating with the product manager and engineer manager to create simple and intuitive user interfaces that enhance user engagement and satisfaction
- Utilized Next.js, React.js, and TypeScript to implement my design concepts into responsive and interactive front-end components.

### Software Developer (First 10 Employees / Early Team) @ Medal.tv
Jan 2018 – Jan 2022 | Long Beach
Medal is a short-form video clipping platform and gaming community with nearly 1M daily active users.

- Worked closely with designers and directly with the gaming community to create a platform that allowed players to capture, share, and relive gaming memories that would have otherwise been lost.
- Took over development of Medal’s first mobile applications (React Native) from the CEO while the team was fewer than 10 people; as the company scaled past 30 employees, transitioned to native mobile and shifted focus toward web and clipping software.
- Built a real-time chat system in our Electron/React application, collaborating extensively with designers and backend engineers to deliver messaging and media-sharing at scale.
- Later transitioned to the web team, where I focused on SEO, UI/UX, and interactive experiences that improved acquisition and retention.
- Thrived in a fast-moving startup environment, consistently adapting to new roles and responsibilities based on company priorities. Shipped frequently under time constraints, balancing speed with quality through well-tested and stable releases.
- Embraced learning and adaptability as core strengths while taking on whatever the company needed most to ensure future growth and success.

### Software Developer @ OptimisCorp
Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | Pacific Palisades
- Develop software programs that allow physical therapists to access evidence-based and clinically proven tools to provide higher quality care for rehab, injury prevention, performance enhancement, weight management, and overall wellness programs.


## Education
### Web Development
General Assembly
Jan 2015 – Jan 2016

### Bachelor Of Science in Finance
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Jan 2009 – Jan 2014

### Ewha University
Jan 2012 – Jan 2012


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kwakiekwak

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Source: https://flows.cv/johnbkwak
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/johnbkwak/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-29