Software Development Engineer II, Rufus Engineering

Amazon is hiring a Software Development Engineer II, Rufus Engineering 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

Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this software engineer role: the job is building AI systems.
The posting mentions Distributed Systems, Generative AI and prompt engineering 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

Build and scale generative AI-powered shopping experiences and features on Amazon Search.

Distributed SystemsGenerative AI

prompt-engineeringsoftware-engineeringdistributed-computingmachine-learningprototyping

Rufus is a generative AI-powered shopping assistant in the Amazon Shopping app designed to help answer a variety of shopping-related questions. Rufus makes it easy for customers to find and discover the best products to meet their needs by helping with product research, providing comparisons and recommendations, answering specific product questions, and more. We are searching for engineers passionate about technology, innovation, and customer experience to join the Rufus team.

If you are thrilled about creating customer experiences that will be used by millions of people worldwide and are eager to tackle technical challenges that have never been addressed before, then this is the perfect opportunity for you.

As a Software Engineer in this role, you will build and scale AI-powered shopping experiences on Amazon Search. Your work ships to millions of customers and must be fast, reliable, and secure. You will own features end-to-end. You will improve latency, quality, and monetization in partnership with science and engineering teams. You move from idea to experiment to launch. You will have the opportunity to design and lead the development of a unique and engaging feature for millions of customers. You will be an integral part of a passionate and creative team that encourages experimentation and innovation on behalf of our customers. You will play an active role in building quick prototypes or proofs of concept in partnership with other technology leaders within the team. You will tackle challenging, novel situations every day and have the opportunity to work with multiple technical teams at Amazon. Along the way, you’ll learn a lot, have fun and make a positive impact on millions of people.

We are looking for a talented Software Developer with a strong technical background, customer obsession and bias for action with a track record of leading and delivering robust solutions quickly. Strong judgment and communication skills, long-term technical vision, and continuous focus on engineering and operational excellence are essential for success in this role. You will be expected to be proficient technically, mentor and grow junior developers, encourage software development best practices, and iterate quickly.

Key job responsibilities
• Collaborate with experienced cross-disciplinary Amazonians to conceive, design, and bring innovative products and services to market.
• Design and build innovative technologies in a large distributed computing environment and help lead fundamental changes in the industry.
• Build LLM based content generation workflows.
• Partner will Applied Scientist to perform prompt tuning and evaluations.
• Design and code the right solutions starting with broadly defined problems.
• Work in an agile environment to deliver high-quality software.

A day in the life
The challenges SDEs solve for at Amazon are big and influence millions of customers, sellers, and products around the world. We are looking for individuals who are passionate about creating new products, features, and services from scratch while managing ambiguity and the pace of a company where development cycles are measured in weeks, not years.

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
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- 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
- Knowledge of professional software engineering & best practices for full software development life cycle, including coding standards, software architectures, code reviews, source control management, continuous deployments, testing, and operational excellence

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 II, Rufus Engineering at Amazon rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● 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, Rufus Engineering is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $144k-$194k a year.
The role is based in US, WA, Seattle.
The job was posted on August 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

Prompt engineeringSoftware EngineeringDistributed ComputingMachine learningPrototypingDistributed SystemsGenerative AI

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python C++Machine learning AWS AI agents Kubernetes

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

How do you structure and test a prompt to get consistent output from a language model?
Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where distributed computing was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where prototyping was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Prompt engineering, Software Engineering, Distributed Computing, Machine learning, and Prototyping. 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.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

Get your CV reviewed before you apply

Send your CV and the role you want next. Your review arrives by email within 3 days.

Get a free CV review Check your resume with the ATS resume checker