Software Dev Engineer, Amazon Security, ASCOT Engineering
Company websiteaws.org (AWS, opens in new tab)
Base salary $143,700 to $194,400
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Herndon, VA
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationHerndon, VA
- WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (6 h ago) · observed since
About this job
We're on the lookout for the curious, those who think big and want to define the world of tomorrow. At Amazon, you will grow into the high-impact builder. Every day will be filled with exciting new challenges, developing new skills, and achieving personal growth. How often can you say that your work changes the world? At Amazon, you'll say it often. Join us and define tomorrow.
At Amazon, we hire the best minds in technology to innovate and build on behalf of our customers. That focus on customers is why we are one of the world's most trusted brands and nowhere is that trust more on the line than in security. It is a role with real ownership from day one: every improvement we ship earns and protects the trust customers place in Amazon. And we do it like a startup: an owner's mentality in everyone, and real investment in turning new engineers into strong builders. We move fast, we ship fast, and we learn from everything we put in front of customers. Your work here is visible, it matters, and you will see its impact from day one.
Key job responsibilities
ASCOT Engineering is the engineering arm of the AWS Security Customer Outcomes Team (ASCOT), building the products, services, and automations that protect AWS customers across the supply chain. We are security builders, not security checkers, an engineering-first organization that designs and ships tooling at AWS scale to automate security outcomes across incident response, security escalation, and customer enablement. Our work spans AI-powered security automation, supply chain security, and secure delivery platforms, with a growing focus on securing AI and agentic workloads. You will build alongside a tight, high-ownership team that ships fast, operates what it builds, and collaborates closely partner teams across AWS Security.
Design, build, and own highly available, scalable, and secure distributed systems on AWS, driving architectural decisions and owning the full lifecycle from design through production deployment.
- Broad scope with cross-team influence: Work across the stack, lead technical design discussions, and collaborate with partner teams to define and deliver solutions that span team boundaries.
- Enterprise scale with startup speed: Ship frequently to customers with high expectations for availability, performance, and security. Operate autonomously to deliver projects with team-level and cross-team scope.
- Leverage AI/ML technologies and agentic AI development practices to automate detection, analysis, and response across security domains at scale. Use AI tools and best practices to multiply your velocity, quality, and creative output across greenfield and brownfield projects.
- Have significant influence on our overall strategy by helping define new product features, driving system architecture, and spearheading best practices that enable a quality product.
- Mentor and coach junior engineers on engineering excellence and Amazon's Leadership Principles. Raise the bar for the team through code reviews, design reviews, and technical guidance — helping turn new engineers into strong builders.
A day in the life
The challenges SDEs solve for at Amazon are big and influence millions of customers, sellers, and products around the world. On ASCOT Engineering, those challenges sit at the intersection of security, AI, and customer trust at AWS scale. You might start the morning building an automation that accelerates incident response, spend the afternoon shipping a feature on a secure delivery platform, and close the day prototyping agentic security tooling with your team. We are looking for builders who are passionate about creating security products from scratch, thrive in ambiguity, and want to ship at a pace where development cycles are measured in weeks, not years.
About the team
Diverse Experiences
Amazon Security values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the 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 Amazon Security?
At Amazon, security is central to maintaining customer trust and delivering delightful customer experiences. Our organization is responsible for creating and maintaining a high bar for security across all of Amazon’s products and services. We offer talented security professionals the chance to accelerate their careers with opportunities to build experience in a wide variety of areas including cloud, devices, retail, entertainment, healthcare, operations, and physical stores.
Basic Qualifications
- 3+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 2+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- 1+ years of software development engineer or related occupational experience
- 1+ years of designing and developing large-scale, multi-tiered, multi-threaded, embedded or distributed software applications, tools, systems, and services using: C#, C++, Java, or Perl experience
- 1+ years of Object Oriented Design experience
- Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
- Experience programming with at least one software programming language
Preferred Qualifications
- 3+ 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
- 1+ years of experience using AI tools (e.g., code generation, automated testing, AI-assisted code review) to accelerate software development workflows
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, VA, Herndon - 143,700.00 - 194,400.00 USD annually
Source: AWS · View original posting (opens in new tab)
Pay in context
This role's base floor ($143,700) is above 30% of the 523 Software Engineering roles in Virginia listed on this site; 57 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $159,000; the middle half runs from $131,300 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 6, 2026.
This listingSoftware Dev Engineer, Amazon Security, ASCOT Engineering$143,700 to $194,400
Software Development Engineer, Amazon Web Services (AWS)$143,700 to $194,400
Software Development Engineer, AWS Compliance & Security Assurance$143,700 to $194,400
Software Development Engineer II, AWS WorkSpaces, AWS WorkSpaces Control Plane Backend$143,700 to $194,400
Software Development Engineer II, AWS Emerging Planning Solutions$143,700 to $194,400
Software Development Engineer, AFX - Core Experiences$143,700 to $194,400
Software Development Engineer, EC2 Nitro Networking$143,700 to $194,400
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Software Dev Engineer, Amazon Security, ASCOT Engineering (this listing) | $143,700 - $194,400 |
| Software Development Engineer, Amazon Web Services (AWS) | $143,700 - $194,400 |
| Software Development Engineer, AWS Compliance & Security Assurance | $143,700 - $194,400 |
| Software Development Engineer II, AWS WorkSpaces, AWS WorkSpaces Control Plane Backend | $143,700 - $194,400 |
| Software Development Engineer II, AWS Emerging Planning Solutions | $143,700 - $194,400 |
| Software Development Engineer, AFX - Core Experiences | $143,700 - $194,400 |
| Software Development Engineer, EC2 Nitro Networking | $143,700 - $194,400 |
Observed changes
- First observed on the employer's board
- Began meeting the published-salary criteria
- Observed since
- Employer-stated posting date
- 2026-10-22
Where this pay comes from
Location as the employer wrote it: US, VA, Herndon
USA, VA, Herndon - 143,700.00 - 194,400.00 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.
