Job description

As a Principal Engineer in Amazon Software Builder Experience (ASBX), you will be one of the most senior technical leaders in the organization, setting technical direction for platforms and services that thousands of Amazon builders depend on. You will tackle ambiguous, large-scale problems that span multiple teams and systems, and translate them into clear, durable technical strategies. Principal Engineers at Amazon are hands-on technologists and force multipliers. You will combine deep technical expertise with broad influence — writing and reviewing designs, raising the engineering bar, mentoring senior engineers, and partnering with engineering leaders to make the right long-term architectural and investment decisions. Your work will directly shape developer experience, software quality, delivery velocity, and operational safety at Amazon scale. Key job responsibilities - Set and drive technical strategy for complex, high-impact platforms and services used broadly across Amazon's engineering community. - Decompose ambiguous, large-scale problems into simple, scalable, and maintainable solutions, and define multi-year technical roadmaps. - Lead the design and architecture of distributed systems that operate reliably at massive scale. - Raise the engineering bar through design reviews, code reviews, operational excellence practices, and mentorship of senior and principal-track engineers. - Partner with engineering, product, and science leaders to align technical direction with organizational goals and customer needs. - Identify and prioritize the highest-leverage opportunities to improve how Amazon builders develop, build, test, deploy, and operate software — including opportunities created by Generative AI and agentic development. - Influence engineering standards and best practices across team and organizational boundaries. - Balance long-term transformation with incremental, measurable delivery of value. A day in the life You spend your time where the hardest technical problems are. You dive deep into architecture, write and critique design documents, and get close to the technology to understand root causes. You are frustrated by inefficiencies that make building software unnecessarily difficult, and you channel that into durable solutions. You move fluidly between hands-on technical work and high-leverage influence — unblocking teams, aligning stakeholders, and mentoring the next generation of technical leaders. You think in terms of systems and in terms of the builder's experience, and you consistently simplify complexity rather than add to it. About the team Amazon Software Builder Experience (ASBX) is the AWS organization dedicated to improving the experience of software builders across Amazon. ASBX owns the foundational platforms, tools, and services that Amazon's engineering community uses to design, build, test, deploy, and operate software — at a scale measured in millions of operations every day. Amazon builders are both our customers and our proving ground: the systems ASBX creates are used by thousands of engineers to ship features for Amazon's customers worldwide. Our teams work across the full software development lifecycle — source control, build systems, continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), testing and verification, developer tooling, and the broader developer productivity ecosystem. We are operating at an inflection point. Generative AI and coding agents are fundamentally reshaping how software is created, reviewed, and released. ASBX is at the forefront of reimagining developer tooling for an AI-native future — where both human and AI builders collaborate to produce software faster, more safely, and at greater scale than ever before. This creates a rare opportunity to influence the direction of software engineering practice across one of the world's largest and most sophisticated development communities. - Extensive professional software development experience, including significant experience designing and architecting new and existing large-scale systems. - Demonstrated experience designing and building large-scale, multi-tiered, distributed, or highly concurrent software systems and services. - Deep expertise in software design patterns, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence. - Proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Java, C++, C#, or similar). - Experience leading technical direction across multiple teams and influencing engineering decisions beyond a single team's scope. - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. - Experience as a Principal Engineer or equivalent senior technical leadership role at scale. - Experience building developer-facing platforms, tools, or services (e.g., source control, CI/CD, build systems, testing/verification, or developer productivity tooling). - Experience applying Generative AI or agentic approaches to software development, tooling, or developer productivity. - Experience building services on AWS. - Track record of mentoring senior engineers and growing technical leaders. - Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to make complex technical trade-offs clear to both technical and non-technical audiences. Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status. Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit amazon.jobs for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner. The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at amazon.jobs . USA, CA, Cupertino - 230,100.00 - 311,200.00 USD annually USA, CA, Santa Clara - 230,100.00 - 311,200.00 USD annually USA, NY, New York - 220,100.00 - 297,700.00 USD annually USA, VA, Arlington - 200,100.00 - 270,600.00 USD annually USA, VA, Herndon - 200,100.00 - 270,600.00 USD annually USA, WA, Seattle - 200,100.00 - 270,600.00 USD annually

Requirements

Must-haves

Key job responsibilities
Set and drive technical strategy for complex, high-impact platforms and services used broadly across Amazon's engineering community.
Decompose ambiguous, large-scale problems into simple, scalable, and maintainable solutions, and define multi-year technical roadmaps.
Lead the design and architecture of distributed systems that operate reliably at massive scale.
Raise the engineering bar through design reviews, code reviews, operational excellence practices, and mentorship of senior and principal-track engineers.
Partner with engineering, product, and science leaders to align technical direction with organizational goals and customer needs.
Identify and prioritize the highest-leverage opportunities to improve how Amazon builders develop, build, test, deploy, and operate software — including opportunities created by Generative AI and agentic development.
Influence engineering standards and best practices across team and organizational boundaries.
Balance long-term transformation with incremental, measurable delivery of value.
A day in the life
About the team
Extensive professional software development experience, including significant experience designing and architecting new and existing large-scale systems.
Demonstrated experience designing and building large-scale, multi-tiered, distributed, or highly concurrent software systems and services.
Deep expertise in software design patterns, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
Proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Java, C++, C#, or similar).
Experience leading technical direction across multiple teams and influencing engineering decisions beyond a single team's scope.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Experience as a Principal Engineer or equivalent senior technical leadership role at scale.
Experience building developer-facing platforms, tools, or services (e.g., source control, CI/CD, build systems, testing/verification, or developer productivity tooling).
Experience applying Generative AI or agentic approaches to software development, tooling, or developer productivity.
Experience building services on AWS.
Track record of mentoring senior engineers and growing technical leaders.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to make complex technical trade-offs clear to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Nice-to-haves

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Application prep

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Keywords to mirror

aiawsci/cdjava

Platform: amazon
Effort: medium

Benefits

Benefits detected in the listing.

Health Insurance

Dental

Vision

401(K)

Paid Time Off

Parental Leave