Software Dev Engineer II, Zamboni

Amazon is hiring a Software Dev Engineer II, Zamboni in Arlington, United States. It pays $144k-$194k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include AWS Lambda, AWS Step Functions and DynamoDB.
Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
Level lists 22,000+ other open roles at Amazon.
The role was posted within the past two weeks.

AI in this role

Build and operate scalable automation services and operator tooling managing Amazon S3's cold storage physical fleet.

aws-lambdaaws-step-functionsdynamodbsqsjavapythongoaws-cdk

software-engineeringautomationinfrastructuredistributed-systems

Do you want to solve solve business challenges through innovative technology? Do you enjoy working on scalable services where your code has a direct, measurable impact?

The Zamboni team sits at the intersection of software and physical hardware, managing the fleet of custom Glacier storage units that power Amazon S3's cold storage at exabyte scale. As an SDE II on this team, you'll build and operate the NAWS-based automation that keeps 2,000+ Glacier storage units healthy across global regions — from firmware deployment pipelines to break-fix remediation workflows to the operator tooling that other teams rely on every day.

This is hands-on systems work with real stakes. When a Glacier storage unit goes offline in IAD, your code is part of the response. When a firmware rollout needs to scale across a global fleet, your automation makes it safe. You'll work closely to solve problems that span the full stack — from DynamoDB concurrency to custom storage hardware.

At Amazon, we hire engineers who think big and want to define what comes next. Every day brings new challenges, new skills, and the kind of growth that's hard to find elsewhere. If you want your software to directly impact infrastructure that millions of customers depend on, this is the role.

Key job responsibilities
- Design, build, and operate NAWS-based services (Lambda, Step Functions, DynamoDB, SQS) that automate Glacier fleet operations including firmware deployment, library onboarding, hardware monitoring, and break-fix remediation
- Contribute to automation projects that reduce manual operational toil — including automated offline library remediation, drive blocklisting, stuck job workflows, and automated ticket escalation
- Build and maintain operator tooling and Fleet Commander integrations that enable safe, auditable fleet operations at scale
- Collaborate with hardware vendors (BDT, Quantum), DCO technicians, partner with other S3 Keystone and Glacier teams to design solutions that bridge software and physical hardware
- Participate in on-call rotations, respond to operational events, and drive improvements that reduce future toil
- Write high-quality Java/Python/Go code with infrastructure defined in CDK

A day in the life
On any given day you might be debugging why a firmware update stalled on a Glacier storage library in IAD, writing a new step function workflow to automate a remediation path, reviewing a design doc for the next phase of Fleet automation, or working through a tricky DynamoDB concurrency issue. The work spans from low-level hardware interactions to distributed NAWS service design. You'll be on-call, you'll ship real automation, and you'll see the direct impact of your work on Glacier storage fleet availability.

About the team
The Zamboni team, part of the S3 Moirai organization, owns the health and availability of Glacier's custom storage hardware: libraries, firmware, fleet automation, and the operator tooling that keeps Glacier running at 99.95% data availability across 12+ regions worldwide. We operate at the intersection of hardware and software, building NAWS-based services that manage a fleet of 2K+ Glacier storage libraries, collectively storing exabytes of customer data.

Our roadmap is ambitious: automated firmware qualification and deployment, predictive hardware monitoring, self-service tooling, and scaling fleet operations to 2X growth year-over-year. If you want to see your code directly impact a storage fleet at AWS scale, this is the team for you.

AWS values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred 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 AWS? Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Inclusive Team Culture Here at AWS, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Our employee-led affinity groups foster a culture of inclusion that empower us to be proud of our differences. Ongoing events and learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness.

Mentorship & 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, mentorship 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 we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud.

Basic qualifications

- 3+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- Experience programming with at least one software programming language

Preferred qualifications

- 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, VA, Arlington - 143,700.00 - 194,400.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Software Dev Engineer II, Zamboni 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.

Classification

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.

Key facts

Software Dev Engineer II, Zamboni is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The listed salary is $144k-$194k a year.
The role is based in US, VA, Arlington.
The job was posted on October 8, 2026.
Seniority: mid.
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

Software EngineeringAutomationInfrastructureDistributed SystemsAWS LambdaAWS Step FunctionsDynamoDBSqs

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where automation was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where infrastructure 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 AWS Lambda in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Software Engineering, Automation, Infrastructure, Distributed Systems, and AWS Lambda. 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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