Principal SDET, Alexa+ International, Alexa Global Quality

Want to be part of the team whose mission is to expand Alexa to new countries languages devices and cultures The Alexa International team makes it happen. Our customers are very diverse in where they live the languages they speak to Alexa the devices they use and the content that matters most. In turn our problems are diverse and need innovative solutions. Alexa International is at the nexus of all other Alexa teams and features such as Smart Home Music News ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) NLU (Natural Language Understanding) Fire TV Skills etc. It collaborates with hardware and software developers within and outside Amazon to build delightful experience for our customers. Were working hard having fun and making history; come join us! 1) This is unbroken ground. As a Principal SDE Test you will define and lead the strategic technical direction and architecture that will decide how we solve hard problem in validations for a large scale complex system powered by latest generative AI capabilities with multiple LLMs in play and serving hundreds of millions of new customers in untapped countries and languages and will help build the next paradigm for voice-first consumption. 2) This is a hard problem. Generative AI bring lot of capabilities but also bring additional challenges to validate architecture which is non deterministic and require new level of thinking to ensure our CX still adhere to high quality bar. Additionally To cater to our international customers we need to understand what language variant they speak (automatic language detection) their accent (over 50 in the British Isles only) their location (required to properly answer whats the weather like in Vancouver with Vancouver BC being only 300 miles from Vancouver WA) their cultural background (where you live or come from isnt always where you currently are) their digital rights (e.g. music video content) the laws that apply to them (features that must be disabled or vary behavior) their network specificities (broadband vs. modem) their local content (local news weather) their local events (holidays disasters sports) etc. and catering to multilingual use cases (>50% of US homes have families that speak more than 1 language) plus other also unseen and unknown challenges in ensuring high quality CX which global Alexa customers will like and trust. 3) This is an important job. We need you to influence Principals Directors VPs and other tech leaders who are partners outside our organization to build the right systems that can scale to the needs of delivering high quality CX at scale with our rapid business growth years down the line. You will also help raise the next generation of amazing engineers ensuring that they build highly available low latency high quality applications. 4) This is an awesome team. This is a big job but its on a great team. We all genuinely like coming to work- not just because this is an awesome problem space because the people we show up for every day really couldnt be better. Youll be surrounded by wicked smart folks who want to work together to build something great. We want the future leaders of Amazon. We want dreamers and builders and people who can make fun of their own great ideas. If this sounds like you we should chat. We cant wait for you to be part of the team.
1) This is unbroken ground. As a Principal SDE Test you will define and lead the strategic technical direction and architecture that will decide how we solve hard problem in validations for a large scale complex system serving hundreds of millions of new customers in untapped countries and languages and will help build the next paradigm for voice-first consumption.
2) This is a hard problem. To cater to our international customers we need to understand what language variant they speak (automatic language detection) their accent (over 50 in the British Isles only) their location (required to properly answer whats the weather like in Vancouver with Vancouver BC being only 300 miles from Vancouver WA) their cultural background (where you live or come from isnt always where you currently are) their digital rights (e.g. music video content) the laws that apply to them (features that must be disabled or vary behavior) their network specificities (broadband vs. modem) their local content (local news weather) their local events (holidays disasters sports) etc. and catering to multilingual use cases (>50% of US homes have families that speak more than 1 language) plus other also unseen and unknown challenges in ensuring high quality CX which global Alexa customers will like and trust.
3) This is an important job. We need you to influence Principals Directors VPs and other tech leaders who are partners outside our organization to build the right systems that can scale to the needs of delivering high quality CX at scale with our rapid business growth years down the line. You will also help raise the next generation of amazing engineers ensuring that they build highly available low latency high quality applications.
4) This is an awesome team. This is a big job but its on a great team. We all genuinely like coming to work- not just because this is an awesome problem space because the people we show up for every day really couldnt be better. Youll be surrounded by wicked smart folks who want to work together to build something great. We want the future leaders of Amazon. We want dreamers and builders and people who can make fun of their own great ideas.
If this sounds like you we should chat. We cant wait for you to be part of the team.



Key job responsibilities
As a Principal SDE Test you will be expected to: Serve as a senior technical lead on our most complex cross-functional projects. Ensure the quality of architecture and design of systems. Functionally decompose complex problems into simple straight-forward solutions. Fully and completely understand system interdependencies and limitations. Possess expert knowledge in performance scalability system architecture and engineering best practices. Contribute intellectual property through patents. Assist in the career development of others actively mentoring individuals and the community on advanced technical issues and helping managers guide the career growth of their team members. Exert technical influence over multiple teams increasing their productivity and effectiveness by sharing your deep knowledge and experience. The ideal candidate will be able to balance technical leadership and savvy with strong business judgment to make the right technology decisions. Youll strive for simplicity and demonstrate significant creativity and incisive judgment.

About the team
Alexa Global Quality (AGQ) org enables Alexa developers to deliver our promises on rich and high quality experiences globally that the customers love to use. AGQ provides quality engineering for 35 Alexa domain teams across feature launches in 20 countries and 30 Rest of the world markets validating Alexa to be culturally relevant linguistically fluent and locally present. The PE will take ownership of the Customer Experience (CX) validation services architecture which include multiple services i.e. Alexa Test orchestrator Global Test Store Validation services (AGVS) Lab Services etc. focusing on accelerating feature launches while maintaining superior quality for international customers.

BS degree or higher in Computer Science or in any other engineering field
12 years of software engineering experience designing and delivering large-scale systems and software products

Masters degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science or related field
Excellence in technical communications with both technical and non-technical peers
Exceptional interpersonal communication skill including verbal written listening and customer relationships
Proven ability to work across teams and organizations delivering results through influence
Proven track record of designing and implementing large-scale highly available low latency high quality systems and software products
Experience mentoring/training an engineering community on complex technical issues

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