Software Development Engineer, AWS GuardDuty

Amazon is hiring a Software Development Engineer, AWS GuardDuty 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

On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
The posting mentions AWS, distributed systems and cloud security among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a mid-level role.
Amazon has 20,000+ other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Design and operate scalable distributed systems for AWS GuardDuty's platform, collaborating with applied scientists and security engineers.

AWS

distributed-systemscloud-securitysoftware-developmentscalability

Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that continuously monitors, analyzes, and processes AWS data sources and logs to identify unexpected, potentially unauthorized, and malicious activity within customer AWS environments. GuardDuty combines machine learning, anomaly detection, and malicious file discovery, using both AWS and third-party sources to help protect workloads and data across AWS accounts.

We are looking for a Software Development Engineer II to join the GuardDuty team. In this role, you will design, build, and operate highly available, scalable distributed systems that power GuardDuty's billing and usage platform, metadata services, and runtime agent provisioning. You will work on challenging problems at the intersection of cloud security, distributed systems, and customer experience — building platforms that serve both internal teams and millions of external AWS customers.

You will be a hands-on engineer contributing to the full software development lifecycle — from requirements gathering and system design through implementation, testing, deployment, and operations. You will collaborate closely with security engineers, applied scientists, and product managers to deliver features that protect millions of AWS customers. This is a high-impact role where your work directly contributes to the security posture of AWS customers worldwide.

Key job responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain highly available, scalable distributed systems for GuardDuty's billing and usage platform
- Build and operate metadata services that enrich data for internal GuardDuty teams
- Own and evolve the runtime agent provisioning and agent coverage platform across AWS compute services
- Own features end-to-end across the full software development lifecycle — from design through deployment and operations
- Write high-quality, testable code and participate in design and code reviews
- Troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues, driving root cause analysis and operational excellence
- Collaborate with security engineers, applied scientists, and product managers to define technical solutions
- Mentor junior engineers and contribute to team-wide engineering best practices
- Contribute to operational excellence through on-call rotations, runbook development, and system monitoring

A day in the life
As an SDE II on this team, you spend your time designing, building, and operating distributed systems that run at massive scale. On any given day, you might be writing a design document for a new feature, diving deep into code, reviewing a teammate's pull request, or debugging a production issue. You collaborate with engineers across GuardDuty to understand their needs and build the right solutions. You participate in operational reviews, contribute to sprint planning, and find time to mentor teammates along the way. The work is varied, fast-paced, and high-impact — every line of code you ship helps protect AWS customers.

About the team
Our team owns three critical platforms for GuardDuty: the billing and usage platform that accurately meters and charges GuardDuty usage across millions of AWS accounts, metadata services that enrich data and provide internal GuardDuty teams with the context they need to build better detections and customer experiences, and the runtime agent provisioning and coverage platform that deploys GuardDuty's security agent across AWS compute services and tracks coverage health. We work at the intersection of security, distributed systems, and customer experience — building platforms that are foundational to how GuardDuty operates and scales.

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
- Experience programming with at least one modern language such as Java, C++, or C# including object-oriented design
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent
- Experience contributing to the architecture and design (architecture, design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and current systems

Preferred qualifications

- Master's degree or equivalent
- 3+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
- Experience with full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations

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, AWS GuardDuty at Amazon rates 20 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, AWS GuardDuty 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 11, 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

Distributed SystemsCloud SecuritySoftware DevelopmentScalabilityAWS

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python Kubernetes TypeScript React Docker JavaScript

Pay

This job starts at: $144k
Typical software engineer job: $167k

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 distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where cloud security was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where software development was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where scalability was part of your work. What did you do?
Walk me through how you've used AWS in your day-to-day work.

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List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Cloud Security, Software Development, Scalability, and AWS. 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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