Software Development Engineer, Transactional Services (Database & Distributed Systems)

Amazon is hiring a Software Development Engineer, Transactional Services (Database & Distributed Systems) 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.
Tools and skills the posting cites include distributed systems, database and software engineering.
Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
Level lists 20,000+ other open roles at Amazon.

AI in this role

Design and develop novel distributed and highly available database technologies for AWS transactional services.

distributed-systemsdatabasesoftware-engineeringscalability

As AWS and Amazon.com continue to grow, to serve more customers, and to support more products, the foundational technologies of AWS also need to evolve and support new use cases and larger scale than ever before. The AWS Transactional Services team is building distributed systems and database technologies that offer innovative solutions to this growth. Our customers are a range of AWS services, each of them looking for technology solutions that help them to meet their customer needs.

We are seeking a Software Development Engineer to work on an in-house distributed database system the serves some of the most demanding needs of AWS services. This system pioneered database concepts that are now considered state-of-the-art innovations within the field. In this role you will continue to innovate for Amazon and support AWS’ ever-increasing needs and scale. Your responsibilities will include designing and developing novel, distributed, highly available, and scalable database technologies. You will be working with a team of highly passionate and knowledgeable SDEs, participating in design, code reviews, and engaging in problem-solving. You will engage with customers to understand their needs and support them operationally. While maintaining current technical knowledge to support rapidly changing technology, you will look out for new technologies and work with the team to adapt and improvise. Candidates will have the opportunity to work with senior engineers who have built deep knowledge in distributed systems and database technologies.

Key job responsibilities
Our engineers collaborate across diverse teams, projects, and environments to have a firsthand impact on our global customer base. You’ll bring a passion for innovation, data, search, analytics, and distributed systems.

You’ll also:
- Solve challenging technical problems, often ones not solved before, at every layer of the stack.
- Design, implement, test, deploy and maintain innovative software solutions to transform service performance, durability, cost, and security.
- Build high-quality, highly available, always-on products.
- Research implementations that deliver the best possible experiences for customers.

A day in the life
As you design and code solutions to help our team drive efficiencies in software architecture, you’ll create metrics, implement automation and other improvements, and resolve the root cause of software defects.

You’ll also:
- Build high-impact solutions to deliver to our large customer base.
- Participate in design discussions, code review, and communicate with internal and external stakeholders.
- Work cross-functionally to help drive business decisions with your technical input.
- Work in a startup-like development environment, where you’re always working on the most important stuff.

About the team
Our team is dedicated to supporting new members. We have a broad mix of experience levels and tenures, and we’re building an environment that celebrates knowledge-sharing and mentorship. Our senior members enjoy one-on-one mentoring and thorough, but kind, code reviews. We care about your career growth and strive to assign projects that help our team members develop your engineering expertise so you feel empowered to take on more complex tasks in the future.

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

- Bachelor's degree or equivalent
- 2+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 3+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- Experience programming with at least one software programming language

Preferred qualifications

- 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
- Experience with distributed database systems, including familiarity with concepts such as ACID transactions, consensus protocols, durability guarantees, replication, and storage engine architecture.

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, Transactional Services (Database & Distributed Systems) 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, Transactional Services (Database & Distributed Systems) 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 May 1, 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 SystemsDatabaseSoftware EngineeringScalability

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python Java C++Kubernetes TypeScript React

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 database was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where software engineering 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?

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List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Database, Software Engineering, and Scalability. 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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