Senior Software Engineer , VirtSat Team

Amazon Leo is an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Its mission is to bring fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to design, implement, and operate the VirtSat platform — Leo's virtual satellite environment that enables teams to develop, test, and validate satellite software at scale without requiring physical hardware. VirtSat provides high-fidelity emulation of satellite subsystems on cloud infrastructure, serving 70+ downstream pipelines and enabling continuous integration of embedded flight software.

In this role, you will work across the full VirtSat stack — building cloud services that orchestrate virtual satellite lifecycle, developing QEMU-based hardware emulation plugins, implementing provisioning workflows on AWS, and creating tooling that bridges virtualized environments with real hardware-in-the-loop testing. You will leverage best-in-industry software engineering practices to deliver a platform that is reliable, scalable, and enables satellite software teams to move faster with confidence.

You must be responsive, flexible, and able to succeed within an open, collaborative peer environment working across embedded software, cloud services, and test automation teams.

Export Control Requirement: Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Key job responsibilities

Key Job Responsibilities

• Design and implement cloud services that provision, manage and deploy satellite entities using AWS technologies (EC2 metal instances, Step Functions, DynamoDB, Lambda)

• Develop and maintain provisioning workflows (CreateEntity, PowerOnEntity, ProvisionEntity) that orchestrate the full entity lifecycle — from instance launch through embedded software deployment to test-readiness

• Build and extend QEMU-based hardware emulation plugins that provide high-fidelity satellite subsystem behavior (transporter, HSM, networking, sensors)
• Design automated monitoring, alarming, and self-healing mechanisms to maintain platform availability above 99.5%
• Develop tooling that enables test execution across multiple environments: virtualized satellites, hardware-in-the-loop flatsats, and on-orbit vehicles
• Implement pre-validation, fail-fast patterns, and retry mechanisms that improve provisioning reliability and reduce wasted workflow time
• Drive root cause analysis on platform failures, implement fixes, and build regression prevention into the system
• Mentor junior engineers, lead design reviews, and evangelize engineering excellence practices across the team

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
• Experience designing, building, operating, and managing large-scale distributed systems or web services
• Experience working with Linux operating systems
• Experience with at least one object-oriented programming language (Java, Python, TypeScript, or Rust)
• Experience with systems integration and testing methodologies
• Deep understanding of CI/CD, continuous integration, build, deployment, and monitoring

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
• Experience with AWS services (EC2, Step Functions, Lambda, DynamoDB, CloudWatch, S3)
• Experience with embedded Linux, QEMU, or hardware virtualization/emulation
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code (CDK, CloudFormation)
• Experience building provisioning or orchestration systems that manage compute fleet lifecycle
• Experience with Docker/containerization
• Experience with availability/reliability engineering (SLA tracking, failure analysis, automated remediation)

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