Principal Engineer , Quick – Structured Data Stack

Amazon; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 271,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSUs

Health insurance

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Job summary

Amazon is seeking a Principal Engineer to own the full structured data stack powering agentic AI, from connectivity to query engines to the agents that operate across it all. This live production system serves millions of customers, demanding strong leadership across architecture, reliability, and multi-team coordination.

You will drive multi-year technical strategy, ship production code at scale, and balance ongoing stability with large-scale architectural transformation while advancing

Qualifications

• 10+ years of non-internship professional software development experience.
• 8+ years of programming with at least one modern programming language experience.
• 8+ years of leading design or architecture of new and existing systems.
• Experience operating and evolving large-scale distributed systems in production.
• Experience as a technical leader, driving architecture and engineering excellence across multiple teams.

Skills

Software development

Distributed systems

Architecture leadership

Production experience

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Job description

Principal Engineer , Quick – Structured Data Stack

Job ID: 10541858 | Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc.

We are looking for a Principal Engineer to own the full structured data stack powering agentic AI — from connectivity to query engines to the agents that operate across it all. This is a large, live production system serving millions of customers, not a greenfield build. You will provide full-stack technical leadership, balancing a major architectural transformation (agents replacing dashboards as the primary interface) with the stability and reliability that our existing customer base depends on. You will diagnose deep systemic problems, shape product direction, define multi-year technical strategy, and drive execution across teams — all while operating at a scale where correctness and performance directly determine customer trust. You will also drive the modernization of how the team builds software — advancing AI-native engineering practices including AI-assisted development, automated testing, and LLM-driven code generation. This role requires a leader who thrives in ambiguity, can move fluidly between low-level system diagnosis and high-level architectural vision, and has a proven track record of evolving large-scale production systems without disrupting the customers who rely on them. You don’t just architect — you ship. We need someone who takes unscoped problems end-to-end, from defining the approach to landing production code.

About the team

Amazon Quick is AWS’s agentic AI platform — an AI teammate that helps enterprises work across data, documents, and workflows. Within Quick, Amazon QuickSight powers the structured data and business intelligence layer: the semantic models, query engine, and governed enterprise data that AI agents reason over. QuickSight provides unified intelligence across all enterprise data sources and bridges the critical last-mile gap between insights and action. With built-in agents for research and automation, users explore data conversationally, take actions directly from dashboards, and leverage 40+ application integrations — all while maintaining enterprise-grade security and governance. Within Quick’s structured data stack, the Agentic Data organization is driving one of the most consequential shifts in how enterprises consume data: the transition from dashboards to AI agents. At the center of this transformation is the structured data stack — connectivity and connectors, query engine, semantic layer, and the agents that operate across every layer. This stack processes billions of queries per month for millions of active customers, and the architecture decisions made here determine how the next generation of users will interact with their data.

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
• 8+ years of programming with at least one modern programming language experience
• 8+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability, and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
• Experience operating and evolving large-scale distributed systems in production (this is not a theoretical or greenfield role)
• Experience as a technical leader, driving architecture and engineering excellence across multiple teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Full-stack data systems experience spanning connectivity, query engines, and semantic layers
• Background in data warehousing, lake houses, or query processing at scale
• Experience with agentic AI or AI-powered data interfaces
• Familiarity with semantic layers or BI platforms at scale (e.g., QuickSight, Tableau, Looker, Power BI)
• Track record of balancing existing-system stability with large-scale architectural transformation
• Experience at companies such as Databricks, Snowflake, Google (BigQuery/Looker), or Elastic
• 10+ years of full software development life cycle experience, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations
• 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&DD 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, Seattle - 200,100.00 - 270,600.00 USD annually