The AWS Region Services team is hiring a cleared Systems Development Engineer to support cloud security services for the U.S. Intelligence Community. Our team is tasked with protecting the AWS infrastructure that is used by our National Security customers. Join our mission to help lead, deploy, and support the security systems that raise the security bar for the U.S. Government.
As a Systems Development Engineer on our team, you will be instrumental in managing the operational load to scale a massive & always-on distributed system, proactively automating away problems in order to improve the quality of service for our security operations customers.
If you thrive in operating complex systems, diagnosing and resolving the hardest corner case operations problems, please apply! Our systems engineers don't just solve problems - we look to engineer services to scale with lots of automation, decreasing effort along the way. We know that the really interesting problems are hiding inside this automation challenge.
You'll work side-by-side with our security engineers and service development teams to deploy and maintain the security information and event management (SIEM) platform they use every day. We have a lot of log data to process and we need your help! You'll implement mechanisms to drive our availability metrics up and our latency metrics down. We're need you to "think big" and ensure that we're set up to scale for the future. We need you to Invent and Simplify new operational tools to improve the velocity of our Security Operations service customers.
We're not looking for hands or button pressers -- we're looking for motivated individuals who want to scale security systems and change the way the business operates as a result. You need to be open to new challenges and willing to learn new technologies. In addition to using internal Amazon tooling, we are huge advocates for using public AWS services to build our platform, You should always be thinking, "how could this work without me involved" and then working to build those tools to achieve it.
If Arlington, VA:
This role will sit in our new headquarters in Northern Virginia, where Amazon will invest $2.5 billion dollars, occupy 4 million square feet of energy efficient office space, and create at least 25,000 new full-time jobs. Our employees and the neighboring community will also benefit from the associated investments from the Commonwealth including infrastructure updates, public transportation improvements, and new access to Reagan National Airport.
By working together on behalf of our customers, we are building the future one innovative product, service, and idea at a time. Are you ready to embrace the challenge? Come build the future with us.
Security Clearance Requirements
This position requires that the candidate selected be a US Citizen and must currently possess an active TS/SCI security clearance with polygraph security clearance. The position further requires that, after start, the selected candidate maintain an active TS/SCI security clearance with polygraph and satisfy other security related requirements.
Key job responsibilities
- Operate within the team of peer engineers with lots of personal autonomy to solve complex systems engineering problems through innovative approaches.
- Provide guidance on system architecture and recommend solutions in alignment with systems engineering best practices.
- Calmly and quickly diagnose and fix critical system failures in high pressure situations to reduce Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR).
- Engineer Operational Improvements to reduce operational efforts to Keep the Lights On.
- Troubleshoot unknown-unknown problems into known-known root causes using your holistic knowledge of systems to break the problem down and isolate the cause(s); then drive them to resolution
A day in the life
Here at AWS, we embrace our differences. We are committed to furthering our culture of inclusion. We have ten employee-led affinity groups, reaching 40,000 employees in over 190 chapters globally. We have innovative benefit offerings, and host annual and ongoing learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon (gender diversity) conferences. Amazon’s culture of inclusion is reinforced within our 16 Leadership Principles, which remind team members to seek diverse perspectives, learn and be curious, and earn trust.
About the team
We are dedicated to supporting our new team members. Our team has a broad mix of experience levels and Amazon tenures, and we’re building an environment that celebrates knowledge sharing and mentorship.
Our team also puts a high value on work-life balance. Striking a healthy balance between your personal and professional life is crucial to your happiness and success here, which is why we aren’t focused on how many hours you spend at work or online. Instead, we’re happy to offer a flexible schedule so you can have a more productive and well-balanced life—both in and outside of work.
We are open to hiring candidates to work out of one of the following locations:
Annapolis Junction, MD, USA | Arlington, VA, USA | Herndon, VA, USA | Seattle, WA, USA
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS- 3 years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 1 years of designing or architecting (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 3 years of administrative experience in networking, storage systems, operating systems and hands-on systems engineering experience
- Knowledge of systems engineering fundamentals (networking, storage, operating systems)
- Experience programming with at least one modern language such as C , C#, Java, Python, Golang, PowerShell, Ruby
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS- Experience in automating, deploying, and supporting large-scale infrastructure
- Experience working in an Agile environment using the Scrum methodology
- Experience with PowerShell (preferred), Python, Ruby, or Java
- Experience working in an Agile environment using the Scrum methodology
- 4 years of development/programming/scripting language (Python/Java/Bash/Perl) experience
- Knowledge of engineering practices and patterns for the full software/hardware/networks development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, certification, and livesite operations
- Excellent problem solving skills with a strong attention to detail
- Experience with agile software development practices
- Experience with service-oriented architecture and current web service technologies
- Meets/exceeds Amazon’s leadership principles requirements for this role
- Meets/exceeds Amazon’s functional/technical depth and complexity for this role
Amazon is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. For individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please visit https://www.amazon.jobs/en/disability/us.
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $103,400/year in our lowest geographic market up to $201,200/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Amazon is a total compensation company. Dependent on the position offered, equity, sign-on payments, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. For more information, please visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits. Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.

About the Company:
Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc.