Software Dev Engineer, AWS Elastic Container Service

AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) is forming a new team in Seattle with a bold mission: dramatically reduce the time it takes for containerized workloads to become ready to run on Fargate. The vast majority of customer tasks are short-lived, making launch speed one of the most impactful levers for customer experience — and we're going after a step-function improvement.

As an SDE on the Workload Optimization team, you'll work at the intersection of container runtimes, operating systems, and networking to optimize the end-to-end launch path. This is deep systems work with direct, measurable customer impact at enormous scale.

Key job responsibilities

• Build and optimize container startup and runtime systems using Linux kernel, containerd/runc, and Bottlerocket
• Design and implement solutions across the container networking and instance preparation stack
• Work on one of the highest-scale container orchestration platforms in the world
• Join a founding team with greenfield ownership and the opportunity to shape technical direction from day one

About the team

Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) makes it easy for customers to run, scale, and secure containerized applications on AWS. ECS powers some of the most demanding workloads on the planet — from startups launching their first container to enterprises running millions of tasks across global infrastructure.

The Workload Optimization team is a brand-new team within ECS, based in Seattle, with a focused mission: fundamentally reduce the time it takes for a containerized workload to become ready to run on AWS Fargate. For the vast majority of Fargate customers, launch latency is one of the biggest factors in their end-to-end experience — and we believe a step-function improvement is achievable.

This is a greenfield team, which means you won't be inheriting legacy systems or processes — you'll be building from scratch. You'll work deep in the systems stack (Linux kernel, container runtimes, OS, networking) alongside a small, senior group of engineers who care deeply about performance, correctness, and customer impact at scale.

We value engineers who think from first principles, are comfortable with ambiguity, and are energized by hard problems that don't have obvious solutions. Our culture is direct, low-ceremony, and high-ownership — you'll have real influence over what we build and how we build it from day one.

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

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, Seattle - 143,700.00 - 194,400.00 USD annually