Six Figure Work

Principal Applied AI Architect, Applied AI & Data Architecture

AWS

Company websiteaws.org (AWS, opens in new tab)

Base salary $182,800  to $247,300

Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Arlington, VA +3 more

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  • LocationArlington, VA +3 more
  • WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
  • Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
  • Last checked (14 min ago) · observed since
All 4 locations
  • US, VA, Arlington
  • US, WA, Seattle
  • US, CA, Irvine
  • US, TX, Dallas

About this job

Do you want to help customers build AI agents that change how work gets done? As a Principal, Solutions Architect in AWS, you will design and productionize agentic systems using services like Amazon Bedrock and AgentCore, contribute to open-source AI accelerators, and help customers adopt AI-native software development practices. Your time splits roughly 50/50 between direct customer engagements and building reusable assets that scale your impact. On the customer side, you will guide teams through hands-on architecture and unblock adoption. On the builder side, you will create reference implementations, open-source tools, and technical content that enable the broader community. This is a global role where you will maintain deep relationships with AI service teams and collaborate with specialists and builder customers across regions to stay current on capabilities and influence product roadmaps.

Key job responsibilities

  • Design end-to-end agentic solutions for customers, making informed trade-off decisions across model selection, orchestration patterns, tool and context design, evaluation and guardrails, and latency/cost optimization.
  • Serve as a trusted technical advisor by diving into technical details with customer teams, identifying opportunities and risks, and leading discussions that accelerate AI service and platform adoption.
  • Build and contribute to open-source AI accelerators, reference implementations, and reusable frameworks that help customers and the broader community adopt agentic architectures faster.
  • Develop and deliver technical content such as workshops, sample code, presentations, and white papers that share best practices and lessons learned from real-world engagements.
  • Collaborate with internal teams including sales, engineering, and support to translate customer feedback into clear technical requirements, resolve root-cause issues, and close the loop between what customers need and what AWS builds.

A day in the life

You start your morning reviewing a customer's architecture proposal, preparing feedback on their scaling strategy and security posture before a design review call. After the call, you sketch out an updated reference architecture that addresses the constraints discussed. In the afternoon, you collaborate with an engineering team to document a feature request a customer raised, then wrap up by refining a workshop you are building to share best practices with a broader customer audience.

About the team

Applied AI and Data Architects (AIDA) is a team of specialized AI prototypers with a product mindset. We build a portfolio of domain-specific products spanning areas like AI agents, data engineering, ML, AI security and governance, and DevOps. Each product is grounded in customer reality. We earn the right to guide by building alongside customers. If you are a strong builder who wants to create open-source products while gaining direct customer exposure, we would love to hear from you.

Diverse Experiences

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

AWS values curiosity and connection. Our employee-led and company-sponsored affinity groups promote inclusion and empower our people to take pride in what makes us unique. Our inclusion events foster stronger, more collaborative teams. Our continual innovation is fueled by the bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and passionate voices our teams bring to everything we do.

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.

Basic Qualifications

  • 10+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience
  • Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics or equivalent
  • Experience developing technology solutions and evangelising end-to-end technology roadmaps that guide IT transformations toward cloud computing
  • Experience communicating across technical and non-technical audiences and at C-level, including training, workshops, publications

Preferred Qualifications

  • Knowledge of distributed systems design and implementation or equivalent
  • Knowledge of large scale automation and workflow management or equivalent
  • Knowledge of database design and implementation or equivalent
  • Knowledge of presentations and whiteboarding skills with a high degree of comfort speaking with internal and external executives, IT management, and developers
  • Experience architecting, migrating, transforming or modernizing customer requirements to the cloud

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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 https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations 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 https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, CA, Irvine - 182,800.00 - 247,300.00 USD annually

USA, TX, Dallas - 182,800.00 - 247,300.00 USD annually

USA, VA, Arlington - 182,800.00 - 247,300.00 USD annually

USA, WA, Seattle - 182,800.00 - 247,300.00 USD annually

Source: AWS · View original posting (opens in new tab)

Pay in context

This role's base floor ($182,800) is above 76% of the 720 Software Engineering roles in Virginia listed on this site. Their median floor is $150,000; the middle half runs from $129,200 to $179,400.

Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 7, 2026.

This range next to 6 other live AWS roles with the nearest advertised base floor
Chart as a table
This range next to 6 other live AWS roles with the nearest advertised base floor
RolePublished base
Principal Applied AI Architect, Applied AI & Data Architecture (this listing)$182,800 - $247,300
Manager III, Software Dev - AMZ10119640$184,900 - $250,200
Sr. Software Development Engineer, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering$184,900 - $250,200
Sr. Software Dev Engineer, AI Security$184,900 - $250,200
Software Devevelopment Manager, AWS Tax Engine, AWS Invoicing$184,900 - $250,200
Principal Account Manager, Strategic Accounts$187,000 - $252,900
Sr Sales Manager, DOW US Army Sales Team$187,000 - $252,900

Same $100K to $400K scale as every card. All AWS roles · How to read the bar

Observed changes

  1. Began meeting the published-salary criteria
  2. First observed on the employer's board
Observed since
Employer-stated posting date
2026-10-07
Where this pay comes from

Location as the employer wrote it: Multiple locations (4)

USA, CA, Irvine - 182,800.00 - 247,300.00 USD annually

Method
Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
Checked
Rule set
us-base-v2

The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.

What we verified

  • The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
  • The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
  • The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.

We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.

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