SDE, Responsible AI

Amazon is hiring an SDE, Responsible AI in Seattle, United States. It pays $144k-$194k 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 software engineer role: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Claude, Cursor and Claude Code.
Level classifies it as a senior role.
Level lists 20,000+ other open roles at Amazon.

AI in this role

Build platforms and compliance pipelines to govern thousands of AI systems across Amazon's infrastructure.

ClaudeCursorClaude CodeDistributed SystemsCompliance Tooling

ai-safetyresponsible-aicompliancegovernancesoftware-developmentdistributed-systems

AI is transforming every corner of Amazon — and with that transformation comes the responsibility to get it right. The Amazon Responsible AI (RAI) team is building the systems that ensure Amazon's AI is fair, safe, transparent, and compliant with emerging global regulations. We are looking for a Software Development Engineer who wants to work at the frontier of AI governance — building the platform that gives Amazon real-time visibility into the compliance posture of thousands of AI systems across the company.

No one has solved AI governance at this scale before. Today, tracking thousands of AI systems against evolving regulatory frameworks, internal expectations, and voluntary commitments is a problem that's impossible to manage manually. You'll build the platform that makes it possible — automating what would take an army of auditors, and giving builders the tools to do the right thing without slowing down. This is a greenfield opportunity on a small, senior team building from scratch alongside Amazon Scholars, Principal Applied Scientists, and policy experts. You'll own the architecture and shape the product direction.

As an SDE on the Responsible AI team, you will design and build systems that discover AI workloads across Amazon's fleet, classify them against regulatory risk frameworks, streamline compliance evidence collection through paved-path tooling, and surface actionable insights to both builders and leadership. You'll collaborate closely with Applied Scientists developing AI-powered classification agents, privacy engineers, and policy experts navigating a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.

This role is for builders who are energized by ambiguity, excited to define the technical direction of a new product, and motivated by the societal impact of ensuring AI systems are developed responsibly.

Key job responsibilities
- Design, develop, and operate distributed services that automatically discover and catalog AI systems across Amazon's infrastructure
- Build classification and risk-assessment pipelines that map AI systems to regulatory frameworks and internal compliance requirements
- Develop self-service tooling and paved-path integrations that help builder teams demonstrate conformance with responsible AI expectations
- Build the infrastructure that hosts and scales ML-powered compliance workflows developed by our Applied Science team
- Partner with Privacy, Legal, and RAI Science to translate evolving regulatory requirements into scalable technical solutions
- Maintain a high operational excellence bar for systems that inform regulatory reporting timelines

About the team
Amazon Responsible AI works to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of AI technology across Amazon. We define responsible AI through core dimensions — Fairness, Safety, Privacy, Security, Veracity, Robustness, Explainability, Transparency, Controllability, and Governance — and we build the tools and programs that help Amazon's builder teams deliver on those dimensions at scale. Our team includes Applied Scientists, Amazon Scholars, Security Engineers, TPMs, and SDEs. We are science-led, independent advisors — and we're building the next generation of AI governance infrastructure from the ground up.

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 non-internship professional software development experience
- 2+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 1+ years of designing and developing large-scale, multi-tiered, multi-threaded, embedded or distributed software applications, tools, systems, and services using: C#, C++, Java, or Perl experience
- 1+ years of Object Oriented Design experience

Preferred qualifications

- 3+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- Knowledge of Machine Learning and LLM fundamentals, including transformer architecture, training/inference lifecycles, and optimization techniques
- Experience developing using AI tooling such as Claude Code, Kiro, or Cursor

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, WA, Seattle - 143,700.00 - 194,400.00 USD annually

How we rate this

SDE, Responsible AI at Amazon rates 70 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

SDE, Responsible AI is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $144k-$194k a year.
The role is based in US, WA, Seattle.
The job was posted on July 23, 2026.
Seniority: senior.
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

AI SafetyResponsible AIComplianceGovernanceSoftware DevelopmentDistributed SystemsClaudeCursor

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python AWS Kubernetes AI agents TypeScript React

Pay

This job starts at: $144k
Typical software engineer job: $167k

This posting starts 14% below the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

How do you think about the risk of an AI system in this kind of role failing silently?
Tell me about a project where responsible ai was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where compliance was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where governance was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where software development was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: AI Safety, Responsible AI, Compliance, Governance, and Software Development. 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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