AmazonSDM - Photos Alexa Experience, Amazon Photos On Devices Team
Amazon is hiring an SDM - Photos Alexa Experience, Amazon Photos On Devices Team in Seattle, United States. It pays $185k-$250k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.
AI in this role
Lead software development manager owning the end-to-end voice experience and intent orchestration stack for Amazon Photos and Alexa integrations.
This is more than a management role, it's an opportunity to reimagine architecture that has been optimized for delivery but needs evolution for long-term scalability. You'll drive innovation in how customers interact with their photos across all Alexa endpoints including devices, web, and mobile. Your work will directly impact how customers perceive and interact with their most personal content, making this a stage for breakthrough innovation in voice-enabled experiences.
Key job responsibilities
- Define and execute the technical vision for voice orchestration between Alexa systems, Photos backend services, and Alexa endpoints, ensuring low-latency, deterministic interactions across all customer touchpoints
- Lead the backend modularization initiative to create clear component boundaries, reduce operational overhead, and enable faster feature delivery across the Photos voice experience stack
- Build and nurture a high-performing team of 10+ engineers through strategic hiring, performance management, mentoring, and career development while fostering an inclusive culture of innovation
- Collaborate with Product Managers, Software Development Managers across Photos and Alexa, and Technical Program Managers to balance tactical delivery with strategic architectural improvements
- Drive architectural decisions for end-to-end intent orchestration, partnering with cross-functional teams to migrate APL components and establish unified agent architecture that scales across devices, web, and mobile endpoints
A day in the life
You'll start your day reviewing system metrics and orchestrating priorities across your team of engineers. Mornings often involve design reviews where you challenge technical approaches and guide architectural decisions for voice intent handling. You'll meet with Product Managers to align on roadmap priorities and with peer Software Development Managers from Photos and Alexa teams to resolve cross-team dependencies. Afternoons are dedicated to one-on-ones where you coach engineers on technical growth and career development. You'll also identify resourcing challenges and work with Technical Program Managers to ensure your team has the support needed to deliver high-impact features that enhance how customers interact with their photos through voice.
About the team
Our mission is to enable customers to discover, control, and personalize Photos on devices through fast, reliable voice and direct interactions. We own end-to-end intent orchestration across Alexa and Photos systems, acting as the control plane that routes customer requests from voice, touch, remote, and text inputs to the appropriate backend services. We ensure interactions are low-latency, deterministic, and predictable across all devices.
We're focused on building a unified agent architecture that provides consistent Alexa experiences regardless of endpoint. Our 2026 strategic initiatives include the bcakend modularization effort to create better team autonomy and the migration of APL components into on-device applications. This allows us to invest more deeply in voice orchestration innovation. We collaborate closely with backend, device platform, front-end teams to mitigate dependencies and deliver seamless experiences. Join us in shaping the future of how customers experience their personal content through voice technology.
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
- Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
- Experience with voice interface, natural language or multimodal design
- Experience designing, building, operating, and managing large-scale distributed systems or web services
- Experience shipping software along side embedded or resource-constrained device platforms teams.
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 - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually
How we rate this
SDM - Photos Alexa Experience, Amazon Photos On Devices Team 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.
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. Open the description and count.
Prepare for this job
A free preview built only from this posting: what it asks for, what you could be asked in an interview, and how to adjust your resume.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where software development was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where team management was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where voice ui was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
- Walk me through how you've used Alexa in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Software Development, Team Management, Voice UI, Architecture, and Alexa. 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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