Senior Software Development Engineer, Amazon MSK

Socket.dev; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 168,100 - 227,400; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Amazon is seeking an experienced engineer for the Managed Streaming for Kafka (MSK) team in Seattle. The role involves designing and building features for the AWS MSK service, contributing to APIs and core components that handle millions of transactions per second.

The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of software development experience, proficiency with streaming data technologies such as Apache Kafka, and understanding of distributed systems. The position offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• 5+ years designing or architecting new or existing systems at scale.
• Experience leading teams, mentoring, or serving as a tech lead.

Responsibilities

• Design and build new features for the AWS MSK service.
• Contribute to APIs, workflows, and core components supporting millions of transactions.
• Prototype, implement performance improvements, and test changes.

Skills

Software development

System design

Team leadership

Apache Kafka

Apache Spark

Distributed systems performance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Job description

Description

Join the Amazon Managed Streaming for Kafka (MSK) team to build the future of data streaming. MSK is a fully‑managed service that simplifies building and running applications that use Apache Kafka for streaming data. As an engineer, you will work on the entire stack—from APIs and workflows to the core Kafka platform and stand‑alone tools—contributing to both open‑source and Amazon‑internal software.

Responsibilities

• Design and build new features for the AWS MSK service and the underlying Apache Kafka platform.
• Contribute to APIs, workflows, and core components that support millions of transactions per second.
• Collaborate with open‑source communities and upstream maintainers to release code back to Apache Kafka.
• Prototype, implement performance improvements, and test and review changes to deliver an exceptional customer experience.
• Work with senior leaders to define the team roadmap and identify design and code changes needed in the underlying open‑source platforms.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• 5+ years designing or architecting new or existing systems at scale.
• Experience leading teams, mentoring, or serving as a tech lead.
• Proficiency with streaming data technologies such as Apache Kafka, Amazon Kinesis, or equivalent.
• Experience with open‑source data processing frameworks (Apache Spark, Flink, or Storm).
• Understanding of scaling, reliability, and performance in distributed systems.
• Experience handling the full software development life cycle—including coding standards, code reviews, source control, build processes, testing, and operations.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent (preferred).

EEO Statement

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary range: $168,100 – $227,400 USD annually (US, WA, Seattle). Compensation includes sign‑on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Benefits include health, dental, vision, life insurance, 401(k) matching, paid time off, parental leave, and more.