Software Development Manager III, S3 Vectors

Amazon is hiring a Software Development Manager III, S3 Vectors in Seattle, United States. It pays $185k-$250k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
The posting mentions AWS S3, Vector Store and software development among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a lead role.
Amazon has 22,000+ other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Leads an engineering team building serverless vector storage solutions for cloud-scale AI applications.

aws-s3vector-store

software-developmentteam-managementdistributed-systems

S3 Vectors is a new (launched re:Invent 2025) serverless vector store that lets you store and query millions of vector embeddings directly within cloud object storage at up to 90% cost savings compared to traditional vector databases. As an SDM on S3 Vectors, you will lead a team of engineers driving fast-paced green field development of foundational services related to this new offering.

S3 Vectors: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon-s3-vectors-now-generally-available-with-increased-scale-and-performance/

As an SDM in Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3), you will solve exciting problems at incomparable scale. You will help build systems that manage trillions of objects in storage, retrieve them in milliseconds, across tens of thousands of hosts, all while maintaining 99.999999999% (you didn’t read that wrong, that’s 11 nines!) of data durability. Amazon S3 powers businesses, nonprofits, and transformative organizations across the globe that make the lives of people better daily. As an SDM in S3, you will lead and develop teams of talented engineers and leaders to deliver changes to our system that delight our customers, and in turn improve the lives of their customers.

Key job responsibilities
Key job responsibilities
Innovating on lightweight processes to allow for quick iteration in a highly ambiguous space.

Driving the day to day sprint work as well as roadmap for your area

Collaborating with other engineering leaders to find solutions to brain-contorting problems

Developing the careers of your people, actively mentoring them

A day in the life
You will cultivate a culture of fast-paced innovation with lightweight processes. You will collaborate with product and partner with teams within AWS to deliver product features. The services you will own and build are the foundation of S3 and you will tackle some of the most difficult problems in S3 head-on. In AWS, if you build it, you own it. This means we hold a high bar for test automation, verification, design, and code reviews to ensure our systems meet high standards we demand in service of our customers.

Our team puts high value on work/life balance. We recognize that the circumstances of our team members vary, and we balance work across the team so that we’re all able to maintain high standards on behalf of our customers, as well as allow for rich and happy personal lives. We maintain a regular on-call rotation across our teams with engineers and managers all taking part to resolve the inevitable issues that arise. We don't like getting paged outside of work hours so we work to ensure our systems are fault tolerant. When we do get paged we work together to resolve root cause so that we don't get paged for the same issue twice.

Upon joining S3, every employee is paired with a peer buddy who will help you to quickly come up to speed in understanding the technology we’re building, the tools we use and the business problems we’re trying to solve. We hire exceptional people and we recognize the importance of coaching others. We have a formal mentor search application that lets you find a mentor that works best for you based on location, job family, and job level.

About the team
ABOUT AWS:
Diverse Experiences
Amazon 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.

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 flexible work hours and arrangements are part of our culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud.

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 and AmazeCon conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness.

Mentorship and 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.

Basic qualifications

- 3+ years of engineering team management experience
- 7+ years of working directly within engineering teams experience
- 3+ years of designing or architecting (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 8+ years of leading the definition and development of multi tier web services experience
- Knowledge of engineering practices and patterns for the full software/hardware/networks development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, certification, and livesite operations
- Experience partnering with product or program management teams

Preferred qualifications

- Experience in communicating with users, other technical teams, and senior leadership to collect requirements, describe software product features, technical designs, and product strategy
- Experience in recruiting, hiring, mentoring/coaching and managing teams of Software Engineers to improve their skills, and make them more effective, product software engineers

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 - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Software Development Manager III, S3 Vectors at Amazon rates 70 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. Open the description and count.

Key facts

Software Development Manager III, S3 Vectors is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $185k-$250k a year.
The role is based in US, WA, Seattle.
The job was posted on May 27, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
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

Software DevelopmentTeam ManagementDistributed SystemsAWS S3Vector Store

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 team management was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
What's a project where you used AWS S3 hands-on?
Walk me through how you've used Vector Store in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Software Development, Team Management, Distributed Systems, AWS S3, and Vector Store. 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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