AmazonPrincipal, Senior, Distinguished Engineer, AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services, AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services
Amazon is hiring a Principal, Senior, Distinguished Engineer, AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services, AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services in Vancouver, Canada. It pays CAD 185k-CAD 310k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include SageMaker.
- Level classifies it as a lead role.
- Level lists 21,000+ other open roles at Amazon.
- The role was posted in the last few days.
AI in this role
AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services is redefining how the world stores, serves, and reasons over data in the age of AI. Our vision is to make every byte of enterprise data instantly durable, infinitely scalable, and intelligent by default — so that organizations of any size can turn their data into insight and action. We pair decades of hard-won operational experience with relentless curiosity to build the foundational services the rest of the cloud is built on: object storage (Amazon S3), block storage (Amazon EBS), archival storage (Amazon S3 Glacier), analytics and database engines (Amazon Redshift, EMR, SageMaker), and the ultra-high-performance caching layers that make generative AI and analytics fast and trustworthy at enterprise scale. We're hiring Principal and Senior Principal Engineers across the org to own technical direction for some of our hardest problems: building a new cache product purpose-built for GenAI and analytics — delivering ultra-low-latency, ultra-high-throughput access to S3 data at exponential scale; setting architecture for S3 storage at the exabyte tier; and driving the engineering direction of SageMaker, Redshift, EMR, and AWS Database Services. These are deep, high-ownership systems roles — some remote-eligible, others anchored to hubs like Seattle, Irvine, and Berlin — for engineers who have led org-wide technical strategy and want to see it run in production. If you want to build systems that operate at planet scale — where durability, availability, latency, and failure-mode ownership are first-class concerns measured in eleven nines — this is the team.
What You'll Do
This is a rare chance to own and ship the foundational services the rest of the cloud is built on — not features on top of a platform, but the storage, data, and caching layers that everything else depends on, operating at a scale no one else in the industry touches. You'll architect systems that store and serve exabytes of the world's most critical data, where a single design decision ripples across hundreds of millions of customers and millions of applications.
The problems here are unlike anywhere else. How do you deliver eleven nines of durability while adding net-new capabilities to a service that already stores hundreds of trillions of objects? How do you build a new cache product that serves S3 data at ultra-low latency and ultra-high throughput for GenAI and analytics workloads growing exponentially? How do you evolve block, object, and archival storage — and the analytics and database engines on top of them — without ever compromising the durability, availability, and latency guarantees customers have bet their businesses on? These are deep systems challenges solved in production, at a scale where the usual playbooks break down. You help write the new ones.
The systems you build here don't sit in a backlog — they're load-bearing for the internet: S3, EBS, and Glacier storing the data behind modern AI and analytics; Redshift, EMR, and SageMaker turning that data into insight; and the next generation of high-performance caching making all of it fast. You'll have direct influence over technical choices, minimal layers between you and decisions, and the opportunity to define what foundational data infrastructure looks like in the AI era.
Key job responsibilities
Deliver strategic technical projects and design new storage, data, and caching systems at massive scale
Lead architecture and engineering strategy for foundational services across S3, EBS, Glacier, and the analytics and database layer (Redshift, EMR, SageMaker, AWS Database Services)
Mentor and guide engineers while solving the hardest durability, availability, and latency problems hands-on
Work cross-functionally with Principal Engineers and teams across AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services
Scout and recruit top technical talent, actively growing the engineering community
Drive a strong engineering excellence and operational culture across all services and teams
Shape technical direction for systems where correctness, durability, and failure-mode ownership are first-class, measured in eleven nines
Balance deep systems expertise with strong analytical skills to make informed architectural decisions at scale
Basic qualifications
-10+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
-Knowledge of object-oriented design, data structures, and algorithms
Preferred qualifications
-Experience designing and building large-scale systems in a multi-tiered, distributed environment (Service Oriented Architecture)
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. As a total compensation company, Amazon's package may include other elements such as sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, basic life & AD&D insurance), Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP), paid time off, and other resources to improve health and well-being. We thank all applicants for their interest, however only those interviewed will be advised as to hiring status.
CAN, BC, Vancouver - 185,400.00 - 309,600.00 CAD annually
CAN, ON, Toronto - 185,400.00 - 309,600.00 CAD annually
How we rate this
Principal, Senior, Distinguished Engineer, AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services, AWS Foundational Data & Storage Services at Amazon rates 63 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.
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.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Questions you could be asked
- What's a project where you used SageMaker hands-on?
- 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: SageMaker. 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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