Principal Software Engineer

Are you interested in building hyper-scale database services in the cloud Do you want to revolutionize the way databases are built for the cloud Do you want to have direct and immediate impact on hundreds of thousands of users who use AWS database services Amazon Aurora Engine team is looking for experienced technical experts in relational databases who are excited about building large scale database systems that run across thousands of servers across multiple datacenters worldwide. These are core systems development positions where you will own the design and development of significant system software components critical to our industry leading database services architected for the cloud.
Amazon Aurora is an exciting new area of innovation for AWS and the MySQL-compatible and PostgreSQL-compatible editions of Amazon Aurora are built on one of the most active code bases in the Opensource community. We are one of the fastest growing businesses within Amazon Web Services.
As an Amazon Web Services Principal Engineer youll be a technical leader. Youll help establish technical standards and drive Amazons overall technical architecture and engineering practices. Youll work on Amazons hardest problems building high quality architecturally sound systems that are aligned with our business needs. Youll think globally when building systems ensuring AWS builds high performing scalable systems that fit well together. Principal Engineers are pragmatic visionaries who can translate business needs into workable technology solutions. Your expertise is deep and broad; youre hands on producing both detailed technical work and high-level architectural designs.
Utility Computing (UC)
AWS Utility Computing (UC) provides product innovations from foundational services such as Amazons Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) to consistently released new product innovations that continue to set AWSs services and features apart in the industry. As a member of the UC organization youll 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.



Key job responsibilities
Serve as a technical lead on our most demanding 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 enterprise system architecture and engineering best practices.
Leverage knowledge of internal and industry prior art in design decisions.
Effectively research and benchmark Amazon technology against other competing systems in the industry.
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.
You are a leader builder and operator. You have experience leading or contributing to multiple simultaneous product development efforts and/or IT projects and initiatives. You are able to balance technical leadership and savvy with strong business judgment to make the right decisions about technology. Youll strive for simplicity and will demonstrate significant creativity.


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 hasnt followed a traditional path or includes alternative experiences dont let it stop you from applying.

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Mentorship and Career Growth
Were continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earths Best Employer. Thats why youll find endless knowledge-sharing mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.



Bachelors degree in computer science or related technical field
10 years of relevant experience in relational database internals and systems programming in C/C is required
Experience leading the delivery of large-scale systems focused on managing the infrastructure layer of the technology stack
Technical expertise in at least one major technical area: large scale Unix systems engineering building complex distributed systems building monitoring or management tools for large-scale environments
Project management experience
Experience leading development life cycle process and best practices
Experience with Agile Management (SCRUM RUP XP) OO Modeling working on internet UNIX Middleware and database related projects
Experience mentoring/training the engineering community on complex technical issues


Passion for customer experience and usability including successful delivery of customer self-service tools and automated management/optimization of services and a strong services orientation
Masters degree or higher preferred
15 years of relevant experience


Amazon is an equal opportunities employer. We believe passionately that employing a diverse workforce is central to our success. We make recruiting decisions based on your experience and skills. We value your passion to discover invent simplify and build. Protecting your privacy and the security of your data is a longstanding top priority for Amazon. Please consult our Privacy Notice ( to know more about how we collect use and transfer the personal data of our candidates.

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