Software Development Engineer, Data Center Builder Tools

Amazon is hiring a Software Development Engineer, Data Center Builder Tools in London, United Kingdom. Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.

Level's read on this job

Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this software engineer role: aI is not part of the work.
The posting mentions C, Rust and Embedded Systems among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a senior role.
Amazon has 20,000+ other open roles on Level.
Posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

Software development engineer designing real-time middleware and controls platforms for AWS data centers.

CRustEmbedded Systems

distributed-systemsreal-time-systemsmiddlewareindustrial-control-systemssoftware-architecture

The Data Center Builder Tools team is looking for a seasoned, self-directed Software Development Engineer (SDE II) to help define AWS next generation real-time middleware and controls platform that powers industrial control systems across AWS Data Centers worldwide. Contribute to Amazon's vision of developing the safest, most secure, reliable, and efficient data centers on Earth.

As a Software Development Engineer on this team, you will set the technical direction for the software that sits between industrial hardware and the cloud, a unified, real-time data plane that lets control applications, device drivers, and cloud services exchange data reliably on industrial computing hardware. This is deep systems work at the boundary of software and hardware: you will own the architecture of the controls, the communication layer, and the protocol and cloud integrations that the entire platform is built on, and you will be the engineer others turn to for the hardest problems in real-time, distributed, and embedded systems.

Key job responsibilities
As an SDE II on this team, you are a technical leader accountable for the architecture and long-term health of the controls and middleware platform, not just individual components. You will operate across multiple workstreams and teams, make the consequential design decisions, and remain deeply hands-on where it matters most.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

* Architecting the platform, not just components: owning the end-to-end design of the controls and real-time middleware across embedded/edge controllers and the cloud, making the durable decisions on type systems, serialization, memory layout, schema evolution, and communication patterns that everything else depends on.

* Owning real-time correctness at system scale: reasoning about latency budgets, throughput, determinism, and failure modes across a distributed system adjacent to physical control loops, and setting the standards that keep those guarantees intact as the system grows.

* Raising the engineering bar broadly: establishing standards for testing (unit, integration, and on-hardware validation), performance benchmarking, operational excellence, and code quality, and holding the team to them through design and code review.

* Growing engineers: mentoring Junior SDEs, developing their technical judgment, and contributing as a strong interviewer and bar raiser in hiring.

* De-risking the hardest problems: personally diving into the highest-ambiguity, highest-impact technical challenges (new protocol integrations, performance-critical paths, cross-language data exchange) and bringing them to a proven, maintainable end state.

The ideal candidate is a software engineer with a track record of owning the architecture of complex software systems and delivering them to production. You have depth across several of: real-time or embedded systems, industrial automation platforms and hardware protocols, distributed systems, middleware/messaging (pub/sub, RPC), and cloud communication and the breadth to reason about how all of these fit together into a coherent platform. You are comfortable working close to the metal (memory, concurrency, serialization, timing) and setting direction at the system and organizational level. You influence beyond your own team, make sound decisions under ambiguity and hardware/timing constraints, and lift the engineers around you. Experience with Rust, C/C++, or Python, and with technologies such as industrial automation platforms, OPC-UA, DDS/Zenoh or similar real-time middleware, is a strong advantage.

A day in the life
AWS Infrastructure Services (AIS) owns the design, planning, delivery, and operation of all AWS global infrastructure. In other words, we’re the people who keep the cloud running. We support all AWS data centers and all of the servers, storage, networking, power, and cooling equipment that ensure our customers have continual access to the innovation they rely on. We work on the most challenging problems, with thousands of variables impacting the supply chain — and we’re looking for talented people who want to help.

About the team
The Data Center Builder Tools team develops tooling for device frameworks, and device lifecycle management in AWS Data Centers. This includes both frontend and backend services use by internal development teams and on-site customers. Our tools power the industrial controls systems deployed in our data centers.

Diverse Experiences
AWS values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the 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

- Experience (non-internship) in professional software development
- Experience in embedded development in C/C++
- Experience programming in at least one modern language such as Python, Ruby, Golang, Java, C++, C#, Rust
- Experience leading the architecture and design (architecture, design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and current systems, or experience in development in the last 3 years
- Proficiency in embedded development in Rust; alternatively, strong modern C/C++ embedded experience with demonstrated willingness and ability to work in Rust

Preferred qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- Experience with full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations
- Experience writing low level drivers
- Experience with developing Industrial Protocols stacks (Ethernet/IP, EtherCAT, Profinet and OPC-UA).
- Experience with gRPC, Protocol Buffers, Flatbufers, or similar RPC/serialization frameworks
- Experience with middleware (ROS2, Zenoh)
- Experience with simulation / visualization tools (Omniverse, Foxglove).

Amazon is an equal opportunities employer. We believe passionately that employing a diverse workforce is central to our success. We make recruiting decisions based on your experience and skills. We value your passion to discover, invent, simplify and build. Protecting your privacy and the security of your data is a longstanding top priority for Amazon. Please consult our Privacy Notice (https://www.amazon.jobs/en/privacy_page) to know more about how we collect, use and transfer the personal data of our candidates.

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.

How we rate this

Software Development Engineer, Data Center Builder Tools 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, Data Center Builder Tools is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The role is based in GB, London.
The job was posted on November 11, 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

Distributed SystemsReal Time SystemsMiddlewareIndustrial Control SystemsSoftware ArchitectureCRustEmbedded Systems

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Kubernetes TypeScript React JavaScript Docker Azure

Pay

Typical software engineer job: $167k

This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical software engineer figure when pay comes up. 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 real time systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where middleware was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where industrial control systems was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where software architecture was part of your work. What did you do?

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List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Real Time Systems, Middleware, Industrial Control Systems, and Software Architecture. 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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