Sr Software Development Engineer, ADC2S

Amazon is hiring a Sr Software Development Engineer, ADC2S in Denver, United States. 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 software engineer role is Uses AI ●●○○: an ordinary role that requires AI tools.
Pay on this posting starts in line with the typical software engineer posting on Level.
The posting mentions AWS, cloud architecture and control plane among its tools and skills.
Amazon has 21,000+ other open roles on Level.
Posted within the past week.

AI in this role

Lead architecture and technical direction for EC2 control-plane services in air-gapped government regions.

aws

cloud-architecturecontrol-planesecuritydistributed-systems

Application deadline: Oct 28, 2026

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is looking for a Software Development Engineer III to lead the architecture and technical direction for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) control-plane services in air-gapped regions. This is a high-impact opportunity to define how government cloud infrastructure evolves, helping governments implement secure cloud solutions at scale.

In this role, you will serve as a technical leader within a team of engineers who build and operate software for EC2's control plane, fleet health, and capacity operations in air-gapped cloud environments. You will drive the architecture of the services and tooling that power these systems, shape how the team approaches complex trade-offs, and set the technical direction that enables the organization to deliver at scale. Because commercial tooling frequently does not exist in isolated regions, you will define what we build rather than what we configure, and you will drive the technical vision that guides those decisions.

The candidate selected must obtain and maintain a security clearance at the TS/SCI with polygraph level. Upon start, the selected candidate will be sponsored for a commensurate clearance for each government agency for which they perform AWS work.

Key job responsibilities
- Architect and define the technical direction for EC2 control-plane services, fleet health automation, and capacity tooling across air-gapped cloud environments, driving system design decisions that reduce blast radius and improve fleet reliability.
- Own end-to-end design of deployment pipelines and deployment orchestration for disconnected, isolated regions, including defining deployment strategies, monitoring standards, and incident response frameworks.
- Influence cross-team roadmaps and align multiple teams on shared infrastructure goals, data quality standards, and tooling strategy while partnering with cross-functional stakeholders across the air-gapped partition ecosystem.
- Mentor and develop engineers across the team, conduct design and code reviews, and raise the technical bar for the organization.
- Evaluate opportunities to integrate generative artificial intelligence tools and techniques to improve automation, code quality, and team productivity.

A day in the life
You might start the morning leading an architecture review for a new capacity orchestration system, then review a design document proposing a major change to how instance lifecycle events are processed in a disconnected region. After lunch, you meet with partner teams to align on a shared deployment pipeline, then spend the afternoon pairing with an engineer who is ramping on the control plane. As a technical leader, you set direction as much as you ship code. When engineers propose new approaches to automate capacity and remediation workflows, it is your role to evaluate those proposals, push them further, and make the call on where the team invests.

About the team
We own the software that keeps EC2 running in the air-gapped partitions: control-plane services, fleet-health automation, and the capacity tooling our government customers depend on. We operate what we build, so the engineers who design a remediation workflow are the ones it pages. Because the commercial tooling for a problem frequently does not exist in an isolated region, you build the thing rather than configure it. The team defaults to written design documents and clear ownership boundaries, and you will work alongside engineers who are passionate about solving hard infrastructure problems in the most demanding regulated cloud environments.

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.

AWS Infrastructure Services (AIS)
AWS Infrastructure Services owns the design, planning, delivery, and operation of all AWS global infrastructure. In other words, we’re the people who keep the cloud running. We support all AWS data centers and all of the servers, storage, networking, power, and cooling equipment that ensure our customers have continual access to the innovation they rely on. We work on the most challenging problems, with thousands of variables impacting the supply chain — and we’re looking for talented people who want to help.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Basic qualifications

- Bachelor's degree, or CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional)
- 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

- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience

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, CO, Denver - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Arlington - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Herndon - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Sr Software Development Engineer, ADC2S at Amazon rates 45 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Uses AI (AI Level 2 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Uses AI. An ordinary role that requires AI tools.

●●●● 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

Sr Software Development Engineer, ADC2S is an open job at Amazon.
Level rates this role AI Level 2 of 4: Uses AI.
The listed salary is $168k-$227k a year.
The role is based in US, CO, Denver.
The job was posted on October 23, 2026.
Seniority: senior.
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

Cloud ArchitectureControl PlaneSecurityDistributed SystemsAWS

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Python Java React TypeScript Kubernetes C++

Pay

This job starts at: $168k
Typical software engineer job: $168k

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 cloud architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where control plane was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where security 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?
Walk me through how you've used AWS in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Cloud Architecture, Control Plane, Security, Distributed Systems, and AWS. 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.
Put the AI tool in a bullet point about what you did, not just in a skills list. This role treats it as a required part of the job.

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