Sr. Design Technologist, AWS Search, Security, Observability, Governance
Amazon is hiring a Sr. Design Technologist, AWS Search, Security, Observability, Governance in Seattle, United States. It pays $177k-$240k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.
Level's read on this job
- Works on AI ●●●○ is how Level rates this role: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include Figma, React and TypeScript.
- Level classifies it as a senior role.
- Level lists 21,000+ other open roles at Amazon.
- The role was posted within the past week.
AI in this role
Senior Design Technologist to build interactive prototypes, manage design intelligence agents, and shape AI-native user interfaces.
This is a role for someone who thinks in both design and code and refuses to treat them as separate disciplines. You'll build high-fidelity, interactive prototypes that behave like the real thing — not clickable facades — so we can put genuine experiences in front of customers and learn fast. You'll help extend DesignBrain so that what we learn in Delight Lab becomes reusable intelligence rather than tribal knowledge. And you'll raise the quality of our front-end craft, building the components, patterns, and tooling that let designers and engineers move at the same speed without losing fidelity between intent and implementation.
You should be as comfortable in a design critique as in a pull request. You'll turn ambiguous design ambition into working systems, make our prototypes indistinguishable from product, and help our team prove that design is a competitive weapon — by shipping the evidence.
Key job responsibilities
1. Build high-fidelity, interactive prototypes in real code — experiences that behave like the product, not clickable facades — so the team can put genuine interactions in front of customers and learn fast in Delight Lab.
2. Partner with designers to turn ambiguous design ambition into working systems, closing the gap between design intent and front-end implementation so nothing is lost in handoff.
3. Extend DesignBrain so that what the team proves in Delight Lab becomes reusable, evidence-cited intelligence — codified patterns and components rather than tribal knowledge.
4. Raise the quality and velocity of the front-end experience layer: build the components, design-system primitives, and tooling that let designers and engineers move at the same speed without sacrificing fidelity.
5. Prototype net-new interaction patterns for agentic and AI-native surfaces, where the established pattern language doesn't yet exist and has to be invented and tested.
6. Collaborate daily with design, product, and engineering — translating between disciplines and making technical feasibility a first-class input to design decisions, early rather than late.
7. Instrument prototypes so the team learns from real usage, and feed those findings back into the flywheel.
8. Raise the bar for engineering craft across the team through code review, reusable patterns, and mentorship.
A day in the life
Your morning might start in a design critique, where a teammate's concept sparks a "let me just build that" — and by midday you have a working prototype in real code that answers a question no static mockup could. In the afternoon you pair with a designer to pressure-test an interaction, then commit the pattern into DesignBrain so the whole team inherits it. Later you're deep in the front-end layer, refactoring a component so it's production-quality and reusable, not a one-off. Across the week you move between zoomed-out questions (what should an agentic security surface even feel like?) and zoomed-in craft (is this transition, this default, this micro-interaction right?). You're trusted to decide what's worth building to learn versus building to ship — and you're surrounded by designers and engineers who treat prototyping as thinking, not decoration.
About the team
We're the design team behind AWS SSOG experiences, and we run a design intelligence flywheel: Delight Lab (where we prototype and test in real code), DesignBrain (a knowledge-backed design agent that learns from what we test and holds our evolving library of evidence-cited guidelines), and the front-end experience layer that turns it all into production-quality product. We treat design as a competitive weapon, not a line item — and we prove it by shipping the evidence, not just the mockups. We're a senior, tight-knit group that gives our people genuine ownership, invests in craft and tooling, and cares about raising each other's work. For a technologist who refuses to choose between design and code, there's no better place to do the work.
Basic qualifications
- 6+ years of front-end technologist, engineer, or UX prototyper experience
- Have coding samples in front end programming languages
- Have an available online portfolio
- Experience developing visually polished, engaging, and highly fluid UX prototypes
- Experience collaborating with UX, Product, and technical partners
Preferred qualifications
- Knowledge of databases and AWS database services: ElasticSearch, Redshift, DynamoDB
- Experience with machine learning (ML) tools and methods
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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, CA, Santa Clara - 177,300.00 - 239,900.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 169,600.00 - 229,500.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 154,200.00 - 208,600.00 USD annually
How we rate this
Sr. Design Technologist, AWS Search, Security, Observability, Governance 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.
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.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where prototyping was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where design systems was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where front end development was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where interaction design was part of your work. What did you do?
- Walk me through how you've used Figma in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Prototyping, Design Systems, Front End Development, Interaction Design, and Figma. 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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