Manager, Software Development, Helianthus

Amazon is hiring a Manager, Software Development, Helianthus in Seattle, United States. It pays $185k-$250k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.

Level's read on this job

Works on AI ●●●○ is how Level rates this role: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
Tools and skills the posting cites include distributed systems, software security and engineering management.
Level classifies it as a lead role.
Level lists 21,000+ other open roles at Amazon.

AI in this role

Lead software development teams building AWS Security's Helianthus platform integrating intelligent security guidance.

distributed-systemssoftware-securityengineering-management

Do you want to build the future of software security at AWS scale? AWS Security's Helianthus platform transforms how AWS Security builds and delivers to its customers. For AWS builders, Helianthus delivers intelligent security guidance directly into their daily workflows. Rather than waiting days for security review tickets, builders receive instant guidance as they write code, actionable CRs or prompts to fix issues, and automated responses to security findings—all while security teams gain continuous visibility into security posture without manual oversight. For Security Engineers evaluating service teams' architecture, code, and configuration, it provides contextualized evaluation and fixes that meet AWS' security bar.

As a Manager of Software Development for Helianthus, you'll lead the teams that build platform primitives under a single technical vision, transforming a set of working prototypes into production-grade services that operate at AWS scale. You'll drive the architecture that enables these primitives to compose seamlessly: Discovery finds vulnerabilities, Arbiter makes intelligent security evaluation, and Actions delivers fixes. This role blends deep experience in building high-scale distributed systems with security domain expertise and emerging AI capabilities, creating a unique opportunity to shape how AWS secures and protects is customers.

Key job responsibilities
Establish and drive a unified multi-year technical roadmap across the Helianthus primitives, ensuring architectural decisions enable clean composition and seamless integration across the end-to-end software lifecycle.
Lead the transition from prototyping to production by establishing engineering excellence standards, operational readiness practices, and reliability mechanisms required for production-grade services operating at AWS scale
Develop and coach tmanagers, providing strategic project assignments and growth opportunities that increase their leadership impact and prepare them for broader organizational responsibilities.
Own cross-organizational stakeholder engagement by representing Helianthus in leadership forums, driving adoption across AWS Security organizations, and managing technical dependencies with partner platform teams.
Establish scalable mechanisms to audit customer experience, operational performance, and cross-team collaboration, ensuring the primitives operated as a cohesive system rather than siloed components

A day in the life
You'll balance hands-on technical judgment with strategic planning, ensuring your organization delivers both immediate customer value and long-term platform sustainability. Throughout the day, you'll unblock technical dependencies across teams, facilitate roadmap alignment sessions with partner organizations, and maintain relationships with key stakeholders across AWS Security. You'll coach your managers through complex people situations and strategic decisions, review operational metrics to ensure predictable delivery, and identify systemic risks that could impact your teams over the next 1-3 years.

About the team
Diverse Experiences
Amazon Security values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.

Why Amazon Security?
At Amazon, security is central to maintaining customer trust and delivering delightful customer experiences. Our organization is responsible for creating and maintaining a high bar for security across all of Amazon’s products and services. We offer talented security professionals the chance to accelerate their careers with opportunities to build experience in a wide variety of areas including cloud, devices, retail, entertainment, healthcare, operations, and physical stores.

Inclusive Team Culture
In Amazon Security, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Ongoing DEI events and learning experiences inspire us to continue learning and to embrace our uniqueness. Addressing the toughest security challenges requires that we seek out and celebrate a diversity of ideas, perspectives, and voices.

Training & Career Growth
We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, training, and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

Work/Life Balance
We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why flexible work hours and arrangements are part of our culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.

Basic qualifications

- 3+ years of engineering team management experience
- 7+ years of working directly within engineering teams experience
- 3+ years of designing or architecting (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 8+ years of leading the definition and development of multi tier web services experience
- Knowledge of engineering practices and patterns for the full software/hardware/networks development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, certification, and livesite operations
- Experience partnering with product or program management teams

Preferred qualifications

- Experience in communicating with users, other technical teams, and senior leadership to collect requirements, describe software product features, technical designs, and product strategy
- Experience in recruiting, hiring, mentoring/coaching and managing teams of Software Engineers to improve their skills, and make them more effective, product software engineers

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 https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations 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 https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, VA, Herndon - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Manager, Software Development, Helianthus at Amazon rates 65 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Manager, Software Development, Helianthus is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $185k-$250k a year.
The role is based in US, WA, Seattle.
The job was posted on September 29, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Amazon. Apply on Amazon

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Distributed SystemsSoftware SecurityEngineering Management

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where software security was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where engineering management was part of your work. What did you do?
Describe a typical day in a role like this one: which parts run through AI directly?
If you removed AI from this role, what would be left, and how do you decide what still needs a human?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Software Security, and Engineering Management. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

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