AmazonSenior Software Development Engineer, Software Defined Network Control Plane, Amazon Leo
Amazon is hiring a Senior Software Development Engineer, Software Defined Network Control Plane, Amazon Leo. It pays $168k-$227k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
- Pay on this posting starts in line with the typical software engineer posting on Level.
- The posting mentions Rust, software defined networking and distributed systems among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a senior role.
- Amazon has 21,000+ other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
Design and develop high-throughput software-defined networking control plane services for a low earth orbit satellite constellation.
Export Control Requirement:
Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
Key job responsibilities
- Design and deliver scalable, high-throughput, low-latency services for the SDN control plane, defining conventions and technical solutions that guide the team's engineering direction.
- Build link planning, routing, and control plane delivery services in Rust for network nodes spanning satellite and terrestrial infrastructure.
- Develop highly available control plane services along with the operational tooling, dashboards, and observability features needed to monitor and maintain system health.
- Collaborate with hardware teams, scientists, embedded software engineers, mission planning, and mission operations to ensure the control plane integrates cleanly across the broader Leo network.
- Drive software quality across the full lifecycle — from technical design and code review through testing, deployment, and on-call operational support — while mentoring other engineers on best practices.
A day in the life
Your week balances focused, heads-down engineering with regular collaboration. You participate in standups, design reviews, operations reviews, and weekly demos where the team shares progress and gathers feedback. Between those touchpoints you work independently on roadmap-driven projects — designing control plane features, writing and reviewing code, or building observability tooling that keeps the network running smoothly. Because the SDN sits at the center of the Leo network, you regularly connect with partner teams in hardware, embedded software, and mission operations to align on interfaces and resolve cross-system challenges.
About the team
The SDN Control Plane team builds and operates the brain of the Leo network. We own the distributed systems that route traffic across a growing constellation of LEO satellites, customer terminals, gateways, and terrestrial links. Our work directly determines the quality of service our customers experience.
We are a collaborative, roadmap-driven team that values thoughtful design and operational rigor. You will receive guidance from peers and engineering leadership, and you will have the opportunity to grow your technical leadership skills by setting architectural direction and influencing decisions that span multiple teams.
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.
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, Redmond - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
How we rate this
Senior Software Development Engineer, Software Defined Network Control Plane, Amazon Leo at Amazon rates 0 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Little AI. AI is not part of the work.
- ●●●● 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
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $168k
- Typical software engineer job
- $167k
This posting starts close to the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where software defined networking 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?
- Tell me about a project where control plane was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where low latency services was part of your work. What did you do?
- Walk me through how you've used Rust in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Software Defined Networking, Distributed Systems, Control Plane, Low Latency Services, and Rust. 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.
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