Senior Software Engineer, Athena Engine Front End

Amazon Athena is an interactive query service that simplifies data analysis in Amazon S3 using standard SQL. Athena is serverless, so there is no infrastructure to set up or manage. Our customers use Athena to process logs, perform data analytics, and run interactive queries and get started quickly. This is all done through a simple, easy to use API in front of a complex, distributed system.

Every day, customers run millions of queries on Amazon Athena, from ad-hoc exploration to mission-critical pipelines. The Engine Front End team is responsible for the query lifecycle management and routing queries to the right engine with the optimal configuration. We are ultimately the bridge between the low-level execution engines that process data and the "magic" behind the Athena customer experience that makes it easy and simple to use for customers.

Key job responsibilities

Our ideal candidate has strong programming skills and sound judgment about distributed systems that customers depend on every day. As a senior engineer on the team you will own features and services end to end: shape designs, build, test, ship through our release pipelines, and operate what you ship in production. The problems are concrete and hard. Route millions of queries a day across engine generations without customers noticing. Prove a new engine build is safe before it takes production traffic. Keep the submission path fast and reliable while the engine underneath it changes. Everything you ship is exercised by every query Athena runs, so we care about engineers who sweat correctness, deployment safety, and failures that make sense to customers. We expect you to learn the system deeply, raise problems we have not spotted yet, and grow toward driving designs independently.

About the team

AWS 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, hasn't followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don't let it stop you from applying.

Why AWS?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating - that's why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Inclusive Team Culture

Here at AWS, it's in our nature to learn and be curious. Our employee-led affinity groups foster a culture of inclusion that empower us to be proud of our differences. Ongoing events and learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness.

Mentorship & 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, mentorship 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 we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there's nothing we can't achieve in the cloud.

Basic Qualifications

• - 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
• - 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
• - 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
• - Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team

Preferred Qualifications

• - 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
• - Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent

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 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

USA, NY, New York - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually