Software Development Engineer, Amazon S3 Index

Amazon is hiring a Software Development Engineer, Amazon S3 Index 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

Level rates this software engineer role Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Distributed Storage, software engineering and distributed systems.
Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
Level lists 20,000+ other open roles at Amazon.

AI in this role

Build high-scale distributed storage systems and key-value metadata index software for AWS S3.

Distributed Storage

software-engineeringdistributed-systemskey-value-storescloud-computingtest-automation

Amazon Web Services' Cloud Storage, AWS S3, is one of the largest distributed storage systems in the world. Managing trillions of objects in storage, retrieving them in sub-x ms, building software that deploys to tens of thousands of hosts, building applications serving billions of transactions per second, achieving 99.999999999% (you didn’t read that wrong, that’s 11 nines!) durability. These are just a few of the numbers that give you a sense of the scale of the exciting problems you will find every day working in Simple Storage Service (S3). Amazon S3 powers businesses across the globe that make the lives of consumers better daily. As a Software Development Engineer in S3, you get to deliver these capabilities and delight our customers through teams of talented engineers and leaders.

With trillions of objects to manage, keeping track of what is in S3 is hard. S3 Index develops software responsible for durability and availability of key-value metadata. We tackle some of the hardest computer science problems. We build systems that can handle wildly varying access patterns and unprecedented load by our customers. Managing this growth auto-magically, without the need for customers to provision capacity, is what puts the "Simple" in Simple Storage Service (S3).

S3 Index is looking for a passionate software engineer to build the next generation of S3 Index systems.

In AWS, if you build it, you own it. S3 is a highly available 7x24 worldwide service requiring dedicated support from our engineering teams. We pride ourselves on a high level of ownership in the work we do. This means we hold a high bar for test automation, verification processes, design and code reviews to ensure that our systems meet the exacting standards our customers demand. We maintain a regular on-call rotation across our teams with engineers and managers all taking part to resolve issues that arise. We work hard to minimize getting paged in the middle of the night as we recognize that a well-rested employee is a productive employee.

Upon joining S3, every employee is paired with a peer buddy who will help you to quickly come up to speed in understanding the technology we’re building, the tools we use and the business problems we’re trying to solve. We hire exceptional people and we recognize the importance of coaching others. We have a formal mentor search application that lets you find a mentor that works best for you based on location, job family, and job level. On our internal “Broadcast” video streaming website, you’ll find countless presentations by some of the brightest minds in computing discussing solutions to many of the exciting problems we’re solving in AWS today with new live-streaming videos added every week.

Creating a reliable, scalable, and flexible web service requires exceptional technical expertise, a sound understanding of the fundamentals of Computer Science, and practical experience building large-scale distributed systems. You should be somebody who enjoys working on complex system software, is customer-centric, and feels strongly not only about building good software but about making that software achieve its goals an operational reality. Come join us and help solve a challenging set of problems in a space packed full of opportunities.

Utility Computing (UC)
AWS Utility Computing (UC) provides product innovations — from foundational services such as Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), to consistently released new product innovations that continue to set AWS’s services and features apart in the industry. As a member of the UC organization, you’ll support the development and management of Compute, Database, Storage, Internet of Things (Iot), Platform, and Productivity Apps services in AWS, including support for customers who require specialized security solutions for customers who require specialized security solutions for their cloud services.

About the team
About AWS
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
- 2+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 1+ years of software development engineer or related occupational 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
- Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
- Experience programming with at least one software programming language

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

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

Software Development Engineer, Amazon S3 Index 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 Development Engineer, Amazon S3 Index 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, WA, Seattle.
The job was posted on July 30, 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 EngineeringDistributed SystemsKey Value StoresCloud ComputingTest AutomationDistributed Storage

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python Kubernetes TypeScript React JavaScript Docker

Pay

This job starts at: $144k
Typical software engineer job: $168k

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

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 distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where key value stores was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where cloud computing was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where test automation was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Software Engineering, Distributed Systems, Key Value Stores, Cloud Computing, and Test Automation. 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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