AmazonSoftware Development Engineer III, Programming Foundations
Amazon is hiring a Software Development Engineer III, Programming Foundations in Boston, United States. It pays $168k-$227k a year and 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 listed pay starts close to the typical software engineer posting on Level.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include Rust, Git and software development.
- Level lists 21,000+ other open roles at Amazon.
- The role was posted within the past week.
AI in this role
Design and build foundational developer tools, compilers, and libraries with a focus on advancing Rust adoption.
This is a rare opportunity to combine deep systems-programming expertise with company-wide impact. You will evolve foundational toolchains and libraries used by nearly every service at Amazon, contribute directly to open-source projects, and guide the migration of critical workloads to Rust. If you enjoy solving complex problems in broadly distributed software stacks and want your work to make every builder at Amazon more productive, we would love to talk to you.
Key job responsibilities
- Design and build developer tools, compilers, libraries, and frameworks that Amazon engineers rely on daily, with a focus on advancing Rust adoption across the company.
- Lead the architectural direction for shared software components, balancing short-term delivery needs with long-term extensibility, performance, and security.
- Collaborate with engineering teams across Amazon to identify pain points, define technical strategies, and deliver solutions that improve the builder experience at scale.
- Contribute to upstream open-source projects, shaping the direction of the Rust ecosystem and ensuring Amazon's toolchain stays current with industry innovations.
- Mentor engineers on your team and across the organization, raising the quality bar through code reviews, design guidance, and coaching.
A day in the life
You might start your morning reviewing a pull request for a new Rust library integration, then pair with a teammate to debug a tricky compiler issue affecting a partner team's build pipeline. After a design review with engineers from another organization, you spend focused afternoon time writing code for a toolchain improvement that will roll out to thousands of builders. Regular syncs with product and partner teams keep you connected to what engineers actually need, while dedicated blocks of solo coding time let you tackle the hardest technical problems.
Basic qualifications
- 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
- 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team
Preferred qualifications
- 5+ 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, MA, Boston - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Arlington - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
How we rate this
Software Development Engineer III, Programming Foundations 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.
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.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $168k
- Typical software engineer job
- $167k
This posting starts close to the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where software development was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where systems programming was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where compilers was part of your work. What did you do?
- What's a project where you used Rust hands-on?
- Walk me through how you've used Git in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Software Development, Systems Programming, Compilers, Rust, and Git. 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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