Software Development Engineer, Amazon Java Runtime

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Parental leave

Adoption reimbursement

Job summary

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seeking a Runtime Engineer for the Java Runtimes Team (JRT) to profile production JVM workloads and identify bottlenecks in the JIT, GC, and runtime subsystems. You will prototype and land improvements that scale across x86 and Graviton fleets, and contribute changes upstream to OpenJDK and Corretto.

You will help build tooling for observability and auto-tuning, and ensure performance gains translate into fleet-wide benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience.
• Experience mentoring, leading design or architecture of systems.
• Experience contributing to OpenJDK, HotSpot JVM, or similar runtimes.

Responsibilities

• Analyze production JVM workloads to identify compiler, GC, and runtime bottlenecks and translate findings into optimizations.
• Design, implement, and benchmark improvements to JIT, GC, and core runtime subsystems.
• Contribute changes upstream to OpenJDK and Amazon Corretto, through code reviews and community processes.
• Tune runtime behavior for performance across x86 and Graviton architectures.
• Build and improve profiling, observability, and auto-tuning tooling for fleet-wide scalability.
• Validate performance and reliability against real workloads before rollout.
• Partner with service teams to drive adoption of runtime improvements and newer JDK versions.

Skills

Java

JVM performance

OpenJDK

GC algorithms

Mentorship / tech lead

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science

Tools

Profiling tools

OpenJDK / Corretto tooling

Job description

Description

The Java Runtimes Team (JRT) owns and advances the Java runtime that powers a large share of Amazon's production services. We work at the intersection of language runtimes, compilers, and hardware — tuning the JVM and its ecosystem so that thousands of services run faster, use less memory, and scale more efficiently across x86 and Graviton (AArch64) fleets. We contribute directly to OpenJDK and our Corretto JDK, and we build the tooling that turns deep runtime expertise into automated, fleet-wide performance gains.

The Java Runtimes Team (JRT) owns and advances the Java runtime that powers a large share of Amazon's production services. We work at the intersection of language runtimes, compilers, and hardware — tuning the JVM and its ecosystem so that thousands of services run faster, use less memory, and scale more efficiently across x86 and Graviton (AArch64) fleets. We contribute directly to OpenJDK and our Corretto JDK, and we build the tooling that turns deep runtime expertise into automated, fleet-wide performance gains. We are hiring a Runtime Engineer to work across three closely-linked areas: the JIT compiler, garbage collection, and systems-level software optimization. You will profile real production workloads, identify runtime bottlenecks, prototype and land improvements in the JVM, and help encode that expertise into tools that scale beyond one-to-one consultation. Key job responsibilities

Key job responsibilities

• Analyze production JVM workloads to identify compiler, GC, and runtime bottlenecks, and translate findings into concrete optimizations.
• Design, implement, and benchmark improvements to JIT compilation, garbage collection, and core runtime subsystems.
• Contribute changes upstream to OpenJDK and to Amazon Corretto, working through code review and community processes.
• Tune runtime behavior for performance and efficiency across x86 and Graviton (AArch64) architectures.
• Build and improve profiling, observability, and auto-tuning tooling so runtime expertise scales across the fleet rather than through manual, per-service consultation.
• Validate performance and reliability of changes against real workloads before broad rollout.
• Partner with service teams to drive adoption of runtime improvements and newer JDK versions.

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
• Knowledge of ARM CPUs
• Experience contributing to OpenJDK, the HotSpot JVM, or another production language runtime.
• Depth in one or more GC algorithms (G1, ZGC, Shenandoah, or generational collectors) and their performance trade-offs.
• Compiler backend or optimization experience (instruction selection, code generation, escape analysis, inlining, or similar).
• A track record of upstream open-source contributions or published performance work.

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: A10558008