Senior Software Development Engineer, Ads Nova

Amazon is hiring a Senior Software Development Engineer, Ads Nova in New York, United States. It pays $193k-$262k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.

AI in this role

Lead the technical strategy and architecture for building AI-powered vertical advertising products using agentic AI models.

python

system-architectureagentic-aitechnical-strategydistributed-systems

Lead the technical strategy for a greenfield startup team building AI-powered vertical advertising products — simplifying full-funnel solutions at internet scale with agentic AI models across strategic verticals including financial services, automotive, and local businesses. There is no known answer or existing pattern to follow — we are defining the space from the ground up.

Amazon Advertising is building this team to diversify demand and transform how vertical advertisers grow on Amazon through specialized, AI-driven advertising experiences. You'll partner closely with Principal Engineers and Scientists to define the engineering roadmap, translating ambiguous business problems into scalable system architectures and making foundational technical decisions that will shape the product for years to come. This is an ambiguous, fast-moving environment where the problems are big, the solutions are yet to be invented, and the impact is immediate. If you're energized by building state-of-the-art products from scratch and shaping the future of AI-driven advertising, this is your team.

Key job responsibilities
- Own the technical strategy and architectural direction for a business-critical initiative — designing, developing, launching, and maintaining AI-powered advertising solutions that simplify the advertiser experience across strategic verticals
- Partner closely with Principal Engineers and Scientists to define the engineering roadmap, translating ambiguous business problems into scalable system architectures
- Design and build end-to-end services and platforms from the ground up, making foundational technical decisions that shape the product for years to come
- Drive cross-functional collaboration across engineering, science, and product teams to deliver integrated solutions that balance advertiser needs with customer experience
- Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies — including agentic AI models — to accelerate product development and unlock new advertising capabilities
- Mentor engineers, establish engineering best practices, and raise the technical bar as the team scales
- Influence the long-term technical vision while delivering iterative, high-impact results in a fast-paced startup environment

A day in the life
You might start your morning reviewing a technical design document, providing feedback that helps a teammate refine their approach. By mid-morning, you're deep in code — prototyping a critical interface or refactoring a component to improve reliability. After lunch, you join a cross-team architecture discussion where you advocate for a pragmatic path forward. Later, you pair with a junior engineer on a tricky problem, helping them break it down into manageable pieces. Throughout the day, you move fluidly between hands-on coding, technical leadership, and collaboration.

About the team
Our team is developing a fine-tuned LLM trained on proprietary ads data to power the next generation of advertiser experiences. The work is highly ambiguous and everyone on the team has the opportunity to lead complex efforts where there are no existing solutions or playbooks to start from.

Basic qualifications

- 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
- 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team

Preferred qualifications

- 5+ 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

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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, CA, Palo Alto - 193,300.00 - 261,500.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually
USA, WA, SEATTLE - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Senior Software Development Engineer, Ads Nova at Amazon rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● 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.

Key facts

Senior Software Development Engineer, Ads Nova is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $193k-$262k a year.
The role is based in US, NY, New York.
The job was posted on October 14, 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

System ArchitectureAgentic AITechnical StrategyDistributed SystemsPython

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python AWS Machine learning C++AI agents Kubernetes

Pay

This job starts at: $193k
Typical software engineer job: $168k

This posting starts 15% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where system architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where agentic ai was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where technical strategy was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Walk me through how you've used Python in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: System Architecture, Agentic AI, Technical Strategy, Distributed Systems, and Python. 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.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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