Senior Software Engineer, Managed Streaming Kafka (MSK)

Amazon Web Services (AWS); Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 227,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc. in Seattle is seeking engineers to help build the future of data streaming with Amazon MSK. You will work across the stack, designing features, improving performance, and shipping code that directly serves customers.

You’ll collaborate with engineers and senior leaders to shape the roadmap, including upstream platform changes for Kafka compatibility. We value curiosity, shipping, and systems thinking in candidates with a passion for large-scale distributed

Qualifications

• 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience.
• 5+ years of programming with at least one software language.
• 5+ years of leading design or architecture of systems.
• Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team.

Responsibilities

• Design features and ship code that serves customers directly.
• Improve performance and prototype solutions across the stack.
• Collaborate with engineers and leaders to shape the roadmap.
• Mentor teammates and lead design/architecture discussions.

Skills

Software development

System design

Distributed systems

Mentoring/leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or equivalent

Job description

Description

Come build the future of data streaming with the Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK) team.

Description

Come build the future of data streaming with the Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK) team.

We're looking for builders who want to work on one of the fastest-growing services in AWS. Amazon MSK is a fully managed Apache Kafka service, and if you care about data streaming, open source, and operating at scale, this is the team.

You’ll work across the full stack: the control plane APIs, the Kafka platform itself, and the tooling that makes Kafka easier to run for everyone. Upstream compatibility is a core tenet. Your changes to Kafka ship back to open source. That's the deal, and it's a good one. You get to build inside AWS and contribute to one of the most widely adopted open-source platforms in the world.

Day to day, you’ll design features, improve performance, prototype solutions, and ship code that serves customers directly. You’ll collaborate with engineers across the team and work with senior leaders to shape the roadmap, including identifying what needs to change in the upstream platform to unlock what customers need next.

We're looking for people who've built large-scale distributed systems, who enjoy hard problems, and who can reason about tradeoffs at the intersection of performance, reliability, and cost. Experience with Kafka, Kinesis, Flink, or Spark is a plus. What matters more is that you’re curious, you ship, and you think in systems.

Recent MSK Innovations

• MSK Replicator for External Clusters (April 2026): Replication from external Apache Kafka clusters to MSK Express Brokers and back, enabling migration and multi-cloud distribution.
• Topic Management APIs (February 2026): New CreateTopic, UpdateTopic, and DeleteTopic APIs with console integration, eliminating the need to maintain Kafka admin clients.
• Apache Kafka 4.1 Support (October 2025): Queues as a preview feature, a new Streams Rebalance Protocol in early access, and Eligible Leader Replicas (ELR).
• 5x More Partitions on Express Brokers (July 2025): Partition-bound workloads can now be hosted on fewer brokers, simplifying cluster sizing.
• Seamless Certificate Renewals (May 2025): Brokers receive updated encryption certificates without restarts.
• Express Brokers (re:Invent 2024): Up to 3x more throughput per broker, 20x faster scaling, 90% faster recovery, and hands-free unlimited storage.
• KRaft Mode (May 2024): Clusters run without ZooKeeper, supporting up to 60 brokers.
• Tiered Storage (2023): Decouples compute from storage to optimize cost and scalability.

Learn More About Amazon MSK

• AWS re:Invent 2024: Express Brokers for Amazon MSK
• AWS re:Invent 2023: How Rivian builds real-time analytics from electric vehicles
• AWS re:Invent 2021: How Coinbase uses Amazon MSK as an event store for applications
• AWS re:Invent 2020: How Goldman Sachs uses an Amazon MSK backbone for Transaction Banking Platform
• AWS re:Invent 2020: How New Relic is migrating its Apache Kafka cluster to Amazon MSK
• AWS re:Invent 2018: Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK) Launch
• MSK Tiered Storage: Optimize cost and improve Kafka scalability.

Utility Computing (UC)

AWS Utility Computing (UC) provides product innovations from foundational services such as Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2 to consistently released new product innovations that continue to set AWS apart in the industry. As a member of the UC organization, you’ll support the development and management of Compute, Database, Storage, Internet of Things (IoT), Platform, and Productivity Apps services in AWS, including support for customers who require specialized security solutions for their cloud services.

About The Team

ABOUT AWS:

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.

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.

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 flexible work hours and arrangements are part of our culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud.

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 and AmazeCon conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness.

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.

Basic Qualifications

• 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

• 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
• 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&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, WA, Seattle - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

Company

Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc.

Job ID: A10450459