AWS Security is seeking a seasoned Senior Systems Development Engineer to join our team building next-generation infrastructure solutions for Amazon Dedicated Cloud (ADC). ADC extends the full power of AWS cloud infrastructure to customers, countries, and organizations with the most stringent security, compliance, and data sovereignty requirements - including government, defense, and regulated industries.
This is a high-impact, high-visibility role where your systems expertise and architectural decisions will directly shape the reliability, scalability, and security of infrastructure operating at global scale.
As a Senior Systems Development Engineer, you will own the design, implementation, and operational excellence of the systems and automation platforms that power Amazon Dedicated Cloud (ADC). You'll lead complex infrastructure initiatives end-to-end - from ambiguous problem definition through architecture, build-out, and long-term operability. You'll partner closely with software engineers, security engineers, and product teams to translate demanding customer and compliance requirements into robust, automated, and scalable infrastructure solutions. You'll also serve as a technical anchor for your team: mentoring engineers, driving systems engineering best practices, and raising the bar on automation, reliability, and operational rigor.
Our Engineering Philosophy
At AWS, we "work backwards" - we start with the customer and work our way back to the technology. Senior engineers at this level are expected not just to execute, but to define what needs to be built and why. We're looking for systems engineers who can synthesize complex operational and compliance requirements into clear infrastructure strategies, move fast with high judgment, and continuously raise the bar for what's possible in some of the world's most demanding environments.
This position requires that the candidate selected must be a US Citizen and currently possess and maintain an active TS/SCI security clearance with polygraph. The position further requires the candidate to opt into a commensurate clearance for each government agency for which they perform AWS work.
Key job responsibilities
- Architect, deliver, and operate large-scale infrastructure automation and deployment pipelines for ADC environments with a focus on security, availability, and repeatability, repeatability, observability, and fault tolerance
- Drive technical design reviews and alignment across multiple engineering and operations teams
- Define and champion systems engineering standards, tooling, and best practices across the organization
- Proactively identify and resolve systemic infrastructure risks before they become customer-impacting issues
- Mentor and develop junior and mid-level engineers, accelerating their growth and technical effectiveness
Customer Engagement
In this role, you will be a direct representative of AWS to some of our most strategic and demanding customers. You will engage with customers throughout the full lifecycle - from onboarding and solution design through ongoing operations and continuous improvement.
- Serve as a trusted technical advisor to customers, helping them understand ADC capabilities, constraints, and best practices
- Engage directly with customer technical teams to gather requirements, troubleshoot issues, and deliver solutions that meet their operational and compliance needs
- Translate complex customer requirements - including security, sovereignty, and regulatory mandates - into actionable infrastructure designs and implementation plans
- Lead and participate in customer-facing technical reviews, briefings, and working sessions, communicating clearly to both technical and executive audiences
- Act as a customer advocate within AWS, surfacing feedback and emerging needs to product and engineering teams to drive roadmap prioritization
- Support customers during critical operational events, providing hands-on technical guidance and coordinating cross-team response efforts when needed
- Build and maintain strong, trust-based relationships with customer stakeholders, ensuring long-term satisfaction and confidence in ADC solutions
A day in the life
Who You Are
- A challenger and motivator - You embrace hard problems and drive innovative automated solutions. Personal and professional growth is part of your everyday mindset, and you bring that energy to your teammates as well.
- A clear and compelling communicator - You can articulate designs and complex concepts to audiences ranging from interns to directors, through well-documented code, written artifacts, and verbal communication.
- Curious and contrarian when it counts - You're not a path follower by default. You're comfortable taking a contrarian viewpoint when it genuinely serves the customer, and you actively seek out new approaches and perspectives.
- A proactive, long-term thinker - You think critically about growth, scale, and global demand. You consider the full range of choices and outcomes before committing, and you help your team do the same.
- Patient and persistent - You understand that global impact is an iterative process. You operate with an ingrained improvement loop: setting goals based on customer feedback, designing solutions, executing, refining, and continuously raising the bar.
About the team
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 6+ years of development/programming/scripting language (Python/Java/Bash/Perl) 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 with infrastructure as code, ops automation, and configuration management tools such as Chef, Puppet, or Ansible
- Current, active TS/SCI US Government Security Clearance
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Knowledge of web services technologies such as SOAP, HTTP, WSDL, XSD, and REST
- Knowledge of networking protocols such as HTTP(S), DNS, and TCP/IP
- Knowledge of common security-relevant protocols like SSH, TLS, DNS, DHCP, NTP, or ICMP
- Experience leading highly-available and fault-tolerant enterprise and web-scale software deployments
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, VA, Herndon - 151,200.00 - 204,600.00 USD annually
