Director, HW Engineering, AWS EC2

Amazon Inc.; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 288,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc. is seeking a Director, Hardware Development to own a server product family end to end — from hardware design and system integration through volume manufacturing to deployment in a global fleet.

You will lead multiple engineering teams through their managers, set multi‑year technical and product strategy, manage ODM partners, and collaborate with firmware, software, and operations teams to deliver reliable, scalable infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer/Mechanical Engineering or equivalent.
• 10+ years hardware development experience.
• 8+ years engineering management experience.
• Experience delivering complex hardware systems from design through volume manufacturing.
• Experience owning the full product lifecycle: NPI, design validation, launch, manufacturing ramp, sustaining.
• Experience partnering with product/program management and operating hardware at scale.

Responsibilities

• Own a server product family end to end: hardware design, system integration, and system engineering, from NPI and design validation through launch, manufacturing ramp, and in‑fleet sustaining.
• Own hardware quality and velocity for the product line, accountable for manufacturing yield and throughput, and for resolving defects.
• Lead multiple engineering teams through their managers; hire, grow, and develop managers and engineers to scale the organization.
• Set multi‑year technical and product strategy for the product line and make long‑term engineering decisions balancing innovation and reliability at scale.
• Manage strategic relationships with ODM design and manufacturing partners (domestic and overseas).
• Own fleet‑reliability outcomes for products (annualized failure rate, unsellable reduction, proactive defect remediation).
• Partner across hardware, firmware, software, operations, and supply chain; drive roadmaps with partner teams.

Skills

Hardware development

Engineering leadership

NPI

ODM management

Cross‑functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or commensurate experience

Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in a relevant engineering discipline

Job description

Job ID: 10573828 | Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc.

Amazon EC2 Hardware Engineering designs and builds the servers that power Amazon Web Services. We take the silicon our partners create and design the boards, servers, and racks around it, then own the full lifecycle: new product introduction (NPI), design validation, launch, manufacturing ramp, and in-fleet sustaining engineering across compute, storage, networking, edge, and accelerator products.

We are looking for a world‑class engineering leader (Director, Hardware Development) to own a server product line end to end. This is a hands‑on hardware‑engineering leadership role: your organization owns the hardware design, system integration, and system engineering for a product family, and is accountable for delivering it from design through volume manufacturing and into a large‑scale global fleet that must run reliably for years.

This is a leadership role with exceptional surface area. The space is broad, and the depth is multilayered: you will lead multiple teams through their managers, set multi‑year technical and product strategy for your product line, operate deep in the engineering when it matters, and work externally with ODMs and vendors at a detailed technical level to drive roadmaps and secure supply. You will partner with the component and firmware teams your products depend on, and with Principal and Distinguished Engineers and senior leaders across AWS. The problems are hard, the scale is among the largest in the world, and the work is visible to the most senior leaders at AWS.

Key job responsibilities

• Own a server product family end to end: hardware design, system integration, and system engineering, from NPI (New Product Introduction) and design validation through launch, manufacturing ramp, and in‑fleet sustaining.


• Own hardware quality and velocity for your product line, and be accountable for manufacturing yield and throughput targets and for resolving manufacturing‑engineering defects.


• Lead multiple engineering teams through their managers; hire, grow, and develop managers and engineers, and scale the organization to meet an aggressive roadmap.


• Set the multi‑year technical and product strategy for your product line and make long‑term engineering decisions that balance innovation with reliability at scale.


• Manage strategic relationships with ODM design and manufacturing partners (domestic and overseas)


• Own fleet‑reliability outcomes for your products (annualized failure rate, unsellable reduction, proactive defect remediation).


• Partner across hardware, firmware, software, operations, and supply chain, and drive external roadmaps with partner teams.

A day in the life

You will work on problems that do not have textbook answers and where the questions themselves may not even be known. How do you take a new accelerator, compute, or storage server from a concept through qualification and ramp at an ODM, and into a global fleet that fails less than a fraction of a percent of the time over a ten‑year life? How do you re‑architect a design to hit manufacturing throughput targets for hundreds of thousands of units with minimal waste? How do you qualify a second source for a critical component to de‑risk supply without slipping a launch? You will take hardware from a whiteboard sketch through design, manufacturing, and deployment at a scale almost nowhere else can offer.

About the team

EC2 Hardware Engineering is organized along a vertical (product) and horizontal (component and firmware) axis. Vertical teams own whole server products end to end; the horizontal teams own the cross‑cutting components and firmware every product depends on. This role leads one of the vertical product organizations. We invest in bringing new members up to speed, and we think about each engineer’s growth when we assign work.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or commensurate experience


• 10+ years of hardware development experience


• 8+ years of engineering management experience


• Experience delivering complex integrated hardware systems (servers, racks, or comparable electro‑mechanical/compute systems) from design through volume manufacturing


• Experience owning the full product lifecycle: NPI, design validation, launch, manufacturing ramp, and in‑field sustaining


• Experience partnering with product/program management and operating hardware at scale

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing and delivering datacenter server and/or rack systems at hyperscale


• Deep experience in one or more of: board/system design, PCIe and high‑speed signal integrity, power delivery and thermal, accelerator (GPU) systems, x86/ARM compute, or storage (HDD/SSD) systems


• Design‑for‑manufacturing expertise; experience managing ODM partners (domestic and overseas) and component multi‑sourcing/qualification


• Experience operating a hardware fleet at scale: telemetry, real‑time health, annualized‑failure‑rate reduction, and sustaining engineering


• Experience with taking new greenfield technology initiatives or cutting‑edge development to large scale production of integrated systems


• Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in a relevant engineering discipline

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, Cupertino - 287,500.00 - 350,000.00 USD annually

USA, WA, Seattle - 250,000.00 - 338,200.00 USD annually