Principal Engineer, AI-Driven Builder Experience

Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 260,000 - 380,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc. in Seattle is seeking a Principal Engineer to set technical direction for platforms and services used by thousands of Amazon builders.

You will tackle ambiguous, large-scale problems and translate them into durable technical strategies, guiding multi-team efforts and mentoring senior engineers. You will influence architectural choices, drive multi-year roadmaps, and partner with product, science, and engineering leaders to deliver scalable, reliable software

Qualifications

• Extensive professional software development experience and ability to design and architect new and existing large-scale systems.
• Experience designing and building large-scale, multi-tiered, distributed, or highly concurrent software systems.
• Deep expertise in software design patterns, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Java, C++, C#, or similar).
• Experience leading technical direction across multiple teams and influencing engineering decisions beyond a single team.

Responsibilities

• Set and drive technical strategy for complex, high-impact platforms and services used across Amazon's engineering community.
• Decompose ambiguous, large-scale problems into simple, scalable, and maintainable solutions, and define multi-year technical roadmaps.
• Lead the design and architecture of distributed systems that operate reliably at massive scale.
• Raise the engineering bar through design reviews, code reviews, and mentorship of senior and principal-track engineers.
• Partner with engineering, product, and science leaders to align technical direction with organizational goals and customer needs.
• Identify and prioritize opportunities to improve how builders develop, test, deploy, and operate software, including AI-focused opportunities.
• Influence engineering standards and best practices across team and organizational boundaries.
• Balance long-term transformation with incremental, measurable delivery of value.

Skills

Large-scale systems design

Distributed systems

Software architecture

Programming languages (Java/C++/C#)

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/Math or equivalent

Job description

Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc. in Seattle is seeking a Principal Engineer to set technical direction for platforms and services used by thousands of Amazon builders.

You will tackle ambiguous, large-scale problems and translate them into durable technical strategies, guiding multi-team efforts and mentoring senior engineers. You will influence architectural choices, drive multi-year roadmaps, and partner with product, science, and engineering leaders to deliver scalable, reliable software