Software Development Engineer II, Leo AI Foundations

Amazon is hiring a Software Development Engineer II, Leo AI Foundations. 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 Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
Tools and skills the posting cites include AWS, S3 and distributed systems.
Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
Level lists 20,000+ other open roles at Amazon.

AI in this role

Software Engineer to build distributed analytics, data lakehouse, and vector database infrastructure supporting agentic AI capabilities.

AWSS3

distributed-systemsdata-lakehousevector-databasesemantic-searchanalytics

Amazon Leo is Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite network. Our mission is to deliver fast, reliable internet connectivity to customers beyond the reach of existing networks. From individual households to schools, hospitals, businesses, and government agencies, Amazon Leo will serve people and organizations operating in locations without reliable connectivity.

This role is for a Software Engineer who will design, implement, and operate globally distributed systems that enable Leo to achieve low single-digit-second query responses within a near real-time analytics layer or lakehouse, and to support agentic AI capabilities on top. You’ll build these systems using the latest AWS technologies and best-in-industry software engineering practices.

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
Architect and implement a scalable, cost-optimized S3-based Data Lakehouse that unifies structured and unstructured data from disparate sources.
Architect and implement a scalable, cost-performance-optimized OLAP-based analytics layer
Establish metadata management with automated data classification and lineage tracking.
Design and enforce standardized data ingestion patterns with built-in quality controls and validation gates.
Architect a centralized metrics repository that becomes the source of truth for all Leo metrics.
Implement robust data quality frameworks with staging-first policies and automated validation pipelines.
Design extensible metrics schemas that support complex analytical queries while optimizing for AI retrieval patterns.
Develop intelligent orchestration for metrics generation workflows with comprehensive audit trails.
Lead the design of semantic data models that balance analytical performance with AI retrieval requirements.
Implement cross-domain federated query capabilities with sophisticated query optimization techniques.
Architect a globally distributed vector database infrastructure capable of managing billions of embeddings with consistent sub-100ms retrieval times.
Design and implement hybrid search strategies combining dense vectors with sparse representations for optimal semantic retrieval.
Establish automated compliance validation frameworks ensuring data handling meets Amazon's security standards.

A day in the life
This role is for a Software Development Engineer who will build new cloud services and APIs that facilitates and orchestrates simulation of software on Leo devices such as satellites, ground gateways, and customer terminals. You will be building low-latency, highly scalable architecture that are critical to getting high quality internet service to customers.

Basic qualifications

- 3+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 3+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 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, Redmond - 143,700.00 - 194,400.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Software Development Engineer II, Leo AI Foundations at Amazon rates 65 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

●●●● 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 II, Leo AI Foundations is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $144k-$194k a year.
The role is based in US, WA, Redmond.
The job was posted on July 14, 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 SystemsData LakehouseVector DatabaseSemantic SearchAnalyticsAWSS3

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python LLM Java Kubernetes AI agents TypeScript

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 data lakehouse was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where vector database was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where semantic search was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where analytics was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Data Lakehouse, Vector Database, Semantic Search, and Analytics. 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.
Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

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