Software Development Manager, Amazon Optics, Amazon Optics

Amazon; Maryland; On-site; USD 185,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Job summary

Amazon Optics Analytics is seeking a Software Development Manager to lead ML-powered analytics and automation services for security operations. You will own end-to-end ML system lifecycles, from data pipelines to production serving, and collaborate with security teams to translate needs into scalable, secure solutions.

The role demands rapid learning, cross-group coordination, and a strong ownership mindset to drive real-time security decisions that protect AWS and Amazon assets globally.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of engineering team management experience.
• 7+ years of direct experience within engineering teams.
• 3+ years of designing or architecting large-scale systems.
• 3+ years of building ML models for business applications.
• Knowledge of the software/hardware/networks development lifecycle practices.
• Experience partnering with product or program management teams.
• Experience with ML model architectures, training strategies, evaluation methodologies, and production serving trade-offs.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of engineers and applied scientists building ML-driven analytics and automation services for security operations.
• Own the full lifecycle of ML systems from data pipelines to production serving and evaluation.
• Partner with security operations customers to identify automation opportunities and translate them into scalable solutions.
• Drive technical strategy for analytics services processing security signals in real time.
• Independently own a software architecture or product suite with significant business impact.
• Work backwards from customer needs to define a vision for the product and how it resolves it.
• Mitigate risks proactively and provide the team with end-to-end ownership and best practices.
• Improve engineering excellence through code reviews, design reviews, and operational best practices across API, component, feature, and UI levels.

Skills

Engineering team management

ML/AI knowledge

System design

Cross-team coordination

Job description

Description

The Amazon Optics Analytics team is looking for a Software Development Manager to build and lead services that use Machine Learning and automation to make intelligent security decisions for AWS and Amazon. Our analytics platform transforms raw security data into automated actions that protect all Amazon locations and preserve the trust every Amazon user places in us. You will work with engineers and applied scientists every day who are passionate about building ML-powered systems that are essential tools for keeping Amazon sites secure. The models and automation pipelines you build are used around the world to secure assets for every single AWS customer. Your solutions will impact our customers directly.

This role requires you to hit the ground running. Your ability to learn quickly and manage overlapping priorities across ML development, production operations, and customer delivery will define your success. High-impact production issues often require coordination between multiple Development, Operations, and IT Support groups, giving you a breadth of impact across the organization.

The ideal candidate is proactive, responsive, flexible, strategic, and able to succeed within an open, collaborative peer environment. They combine deep knowledge of Machine Learning and computer science principles with the ability to support customer-facing systems at scale. They demonstrate creative approaches to building analytics services that improve usability and eliminate functional defects in production-level code at the API, component, feature, and UI levels.

In this role, you will have independent technical ownership of new ML-driven customer features and supporting architecture on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis. You will be working on the brain of Amazon Optics, the intelligence layer that automates security decisions for our customer spaces. This role involves working with Optics customers and partners to solve large-scale customer and engineering problems while having fun with a pool of talented and exciting engineers. We do happy hours, demos, and tech talks to show off our work consistently and ensure everyone is growing within their role regularly. You should be passionate about building, improving, and championing the product. A strong sense of ownership is a must.

This job requires you to constantly hit the ground running and your ability to learn quickly and work on disparate and overlapping tasks will define your success. High Impact production issues often require coordination between multiple Development, Operations and IT Support groups, so you get to experience a breadth of impact with various groups.

The ideal candidate is proactive, responsive, flexible, strategic and able to succeed within an open collaborative peer environment. They have a combination of in-depth knowledge of computer science principles and how to support a customer facing system. They demonstrate creative ideas to building services which improve usability and eliminate functional defects in production level code at the API, component, feature and UI levels.

In this role, you’ll have independent technical ownership on new customer features and supporting architecture on a day to day and week to week basis. You’ll be working on the brain of Amazon Optics that is used to secure our customer spaces. This role will involve working with various Optics customers and partners to solve large scale customer and engineering problems and have fun working with a pool of talented and exciting engineers. We do happy hours, demos and tech talks to show off our work consistently and ensure everyone is growing within their role regularly. You should be passionate about building, improving and championing the product and a strong sense of ownership is a must.

Key job responsibilities

• Lead a team of engineers and applied scientists building ML-driven analytics and automation services for physical security operations.
• Own the full lifecycle of ML systems: from data pipelines and model training to production serving and continuous evaluation.
• Partner with security operations customers to identify automation opportunities and translate them into scalable, production-grade solutions.
• Drive technical strategy for analytics services that process and act on security signals in real time.
• You independently own a software architecture, product, or suite of products with considerable business impact. The software is part of a larger business strategy.
• You work backwards from the customer, defining a vision of their need and how the product at hand will successfully resolve it.
• You tackle complex problems and proactively mitigate risks before they become roadblocks.
• You provide your team with the necessary support to take responsibility for their systems end-to-end. Improving engineering excellence through code reviews, design reviews, and operational best practices at the API, component, feature, and UI levels.

A day in the life

Identify areas where new best practices and workflows are needed and develop them

Prioritize and delegate work while clearing roadblocks to success.

Delegate as necessary while maintaining ownership

About the team

The Optics Analytics team builds and operates the intelligence layer of Amazon's physical security platform. We use Machine Learning and automation techniques to automate decisions for our customers, replacing manual processes with intelligent, scalable solutions that operate globally.

Diverse Experiences

Amazon Security values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the 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 Amazon Security?

At Amazon, security is central to maintaining customer trust and delivering delightful customer experiences. Our organization is responsible for creating and maintaining a high bar for security across all of Amazon’s products and services. We offer talented security professionals the chance to accelerate their careers with opportunities to build experience in a wide variety of areas including cloud, devices, retail, entertainment, healthcare, operations, and physical stores.

Inclusive Team Culture

In Amazon Security, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Ongoing DEI events and learning experiences inspire us to continue learning and to embrace our uniqueness. Addressing the toughest security challenges requires that we seek out and celebrate a diversity of ideas, perspectives, and voices.

Training & 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, training, and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

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.

Basic Qualifications

• 3+ years of engineering team management experience
• 7+ years of working directly within engineering teams experience
• 3+ years of designing or architecting (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
• 3+ years of building machine learning models for business application experience
• Knowledge of engineering practices and patterns for the full software/hardware/networks development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, certification, and livesite operations
• Experience partnering with product or program management teams
• Experience with ML model architectures, training strategies, evaluation methodologies, and production serving trade-offs from direct technical involvement (not limited to integrating with ML systems built by others)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in communicating with users, other technical teams, and senior leadership to collect requirements, describe software product features, technical designs, and product strategy
• Experience building large-scale machine learning and AI solutions at Internet scale
• Experience with computer vision, anomaly detection, or time-series ML models applied to production data

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 .

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