Software Development Engineer III

Job ID: 10552774 | Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc.

Are you passionate about building software systems that operate at massive scale and directly impact millions of customers? We are looking for a Software Development Engineer III to join our team at Amazon. In this role, you will lead the design, development, and delivery of complex software systems spanning multiple features and the full software lifecycle. You will work backwards from customer needs to define technical strategies, architect solutions that balance competing constraints, and set the standard for engineering excellence on your team. If you are a collaborative, curious engineer who thrives on solving ambiguous problems and mentoring others, we want to hear from you.

Key job responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of software systems that span multiple features, driving technical decisions from customer requirements through deployment and ongoing maintenance.
• Own your team's architectural direction by evaluating trade-offs across scalability, maintainability, performance, and security, and influence technical decisions on systems your team depends on.
• Collaborate with engineers across related teams to ensure software components integrate into a coherent whole, establishing the right checkpoints for successful cross-team delivery.
• Mentor and coach engineers on your team and beyond, driving adoption of engineering best practices, conducting design and code reviews, and raising the quality bar across the organization.
• Improve operational excellence by ensuring your team maintains proper alarms, telemetry, runbooks, and retrospective processes, and proactively identify opportunities to simplify existing systems.

A day in the life
You start by reviewing a technical design document from a teammate, providing feedback that strengthens the approach before implementation begins. Later, you lead a working session with engineers from a partner team to align on an interface contract for a shared dependency. After lunch, you write code for a critical component you identified during an architecture review, applying best practices in error handling and documentation. You wrap up by pairing with a junior engineer on a tricky debugging session, turning it into a coaching moment.

About the team
Our team at Amazon is focused on building reliable, scalable software that serves customers around the world. We value collaboration, technical depth, and a commitment to getting the details right. We believe great engineering comes from inclusive teams where every voice is heard and good ideas can come from anyone. As we look ahead, we are investing in new approaches and technologies that will shape how we deliver value to customers, and this role will be central to defining that path forward.

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, WA, Seattle - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually