Lead Engineer, Data Collection, Prime Air Data for Autonomous Aircraft (DA2)

Prime Air is Amazons drone delivery program working to safely deliver packages to customers in under an hour. The Data for Autonomous Aircraft (DA2) team within Prime Air designs develops and operates prototype platforms that provide high-quality data to develop and validate features for commercial autonomous flight operations.

We are seeking an experienced Lead Engineer to serve as the senior technical authority for the DA2 engineering team. This role requires a versatile engineer who can work fluidly across engineering domains software electrical hardware mechanical and systems integration with particular depth in hardware-software integration for complex sensor payloads. Our greatest technical challenges lie at the intersection of embedded software and deployed hardware: ensuring our software performs reliably on the multi-sensor payloads we design build and fly in real-world environments.

The ideal candidate brings at least 10 years of engineering experience preferably in aerospace robotics or autonomous systems and combines deep technical expertise with the ability to lead through ambiguity. You must have an excellent understanding of software development best practices modern development flows (CI/CD version control automated testing) and how to integrate AI tools and techniques into engineering workflows to accelerate development velocity and improve quality. You will be the engineering teams senior technical voice setting the bar for quality driving root cause resolution of the most complex system defects and charting the technical roadmap that enables DA2 to deliver on Prime Airs mission.

Key job responsibilities
Technical Roadmap & Quality Ownership: Create and maintain the DA2 engineering roadmap balancing defect resolution and operational reliability with long-term platform development. Own the technical quality of all team deliverables across hardware software and systems integration establishing engineering standards design review rigor and quality gates that ensure platforms produce reliable high-quality data.

Root Cause & Complex Problem Resolution: Own the RCCA process for system defects. Serve as the escalation point for the most complex cross-domain challenges spanning embedded software sensor hardware data pipelines and system integration.

Hardware-Software Integration & AI Modernization: Drive integration strategy ensuring software operates reliably on deployed payload hardware. Lead resolution of interface issues across camera systems navigation units radar and onboard processing. Champion AI tools and techniques in engineering workflows to improve velocity and effectiveness.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Mentorship: Represent DA2 engineering in technical forums design reviews trade studies and leadership discussions across Prime Air. Collaborate with partner teams to align priorities with program objectives. Mentor engineers across disciplines and foster a culture of rigorous engineering practice.

A day in the life
Youll start your day reviewing collection data quality triaging defects and prioritizing engineering response. You might lead a design review for a next-generation sensor payload then dive into a cross-domain root cause investigation systems development software engineers and hardware engineers. Throughout youre mentoring engineers challenging assumptions and making the call between tactical fixes and systemic solutions always keeping platform reliability and data quality at the center.



About the team
DA2 is Prime Airs prototyping and data gathering group designing building and operating custom sensor platforms that collect the real-world data needed to validate and advance algorithms for Amazons autonomous delivery drone. The team moves fast iterating on hardware and software to enable next-generation capabilities. As Lead Engineer youll provide senior technical leadership across the full engineering lifecycle from early-stage prototyping through field deployment and operational support.




- Experience leading the design automation deployment and support of large-scale infrastructure
- Experience programming with at least one modern language such as Python Ruby Golang Java C C# Rust
- Experience with Linux/Unix
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines build processes
- 10 years of engineering experience
- Bachelors degree in Engineering Computer Science or a related technical field

- Experience with distributed systems at scale
- Experience (non-internship) in professional software development
- Experience writing technical documents project plans and progress reports to leadership and to stakeholders
- Experience designing or architecting (design patterns reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems
- Experience building tools for building testing releasing or monitoring
- Experience in mentoring leading or managing more junior engineers

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 for more information. If the country/region youre applying in isnt 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 WA Seattle - 151200.00 - 204600.00 USD annually