AmazonSr. Software Dev Engineer, Leo AI Foundations
Amazon is hiring a Sr. Software Dev Engineer, Leo AI Foundations. It pays $168k-$227k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include AWS, S3 and distributed systems.
- Level classifies it as a senior role.
- Level lists 20,000+ other open roles at Amazon.
AI in this role
Architect distributed data lakehouses and vector database infrastructure to support real-time analytics and agentic AI capabilities for Amazon Leo.
This role is for a Sr. Software Engineer who will design, implement, and operate globally distributed systems that enable Leo to achieve low single-digit-second query responses within a near real-time analytics layer or lakehouse, and to support agentic AI capabilities on top. You’ll build these systems using the latest AWS technologies and best-in-industry software engineering practices.
Export Control Requirement:
Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
Key job responsibilities
- Architect and implement a scalable, cost-optimized S3-based Data Lakehouse that unifies structured and unstructured data from disparate sources.
- Architect and implement a scalable, cost-performance-optimized OLAP-based analytics layer
- Establish metadata management with automated data classification and lineage tracking.
- Design and enforce standardized data ingestion patterns with built-in quality controls and validation gates.
- Architect a centralized metrics repository that becomes the source of truth for all Leo metrics.
- Implement robust data quality frameworks with staging-first policies and automated validation pipelines.
- Design extensible metrics schemas that support complex analytical queries while optimizing for AI retrieval patterns.
- Develop intelligent orchestration for metrics generation workflows with comprehensive audit trails.
- Lead the design of semantic data models that balance analytical performance with AI retrieval requirements.
- Implement cross-domain federated query capabilities with sophisticated query optimization techniques.
- Architect a globally distributed vector database infrastructure capable of managing billions of embeddings with consistent sub-100ms retrieval times.
- Design and implement hybrid search strategies combining dense vectors with sparse representations for optimal semantic retrieval.
- Establish automated compliance validation frameworks ensuring data handling meets Amazon's security standards.
A day in the life
This role is for a Software Development Engineer who will build new cloud services and APIs that facilitate and orchestrate the Leo AI Foundations—enabling intelligent software operation across Leo devices such as satellites, ground gateways, and customer terminals. You will design and deliver low-latency, highly scalable architectures that are critical to providing high-quality internet service and AI capabilities to customers.
About the team
Leo AI Foundations builds the intelligent cloud backbone that powers AI-driven decision making across Amazon’s Leo constellation — from satellites and ground gateways to customer terminals. Our team designs and operates large-scale data and compute systems that enable training, inference, and agentic intelligence for optimizing network performance, routing, and user experience in real time. We combine expertise in distributed systems, data lakehouse architectures, and applied machine learning to deliver scalable, low-latency AI capabilities that integrate seamlessly with Leo's software-defined space and ground systems. We move fast, innovate boldly, and work across boundaries to make global connectivity smarter and more efficient.
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, WA, Redmond - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
How we rate this
Sr. Software Dev Engineer, Leo AI Foundations at Amazon rates 80 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.
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.
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 distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where data lakehouse was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where vector database was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where semantic search was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where data engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Data Lakehouse, Vector Database, Semantic Search, and Data Engineering. 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.
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