Senior Software Development Engineer, Amazon Leo Optical Inter-Satellite Link

About the role

Amazon LEO is an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Its mission is to bring fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world. Amazon LEO will help close the digital divide by delivering reliable, high-speed connectivity to a wide range of customers, including consumers, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations operating in places without dependable internet access. Innovation is part of our DNA! Our goal is to be Earth's most customer-centric company, and we are just getting started. We need people who want to join this ambitious program that continues to push the state of the art in distributed systems and software design.

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.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and enhance the switch-management software — from translating routes received from a centralized SDN controller into forwarding-table entries, to building MAC-learning and loop-prevention logic for a redundant switch topology — that enables deterministic, low-latency packet forwarding across the constellation
• Design and optimize the networking layers of flight software for optical inter-satellite link systems, spanning network device drivers and protocol implementations on embedded Linux
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams — including hardware, optics, systems, communications, and operations engineers — to integrate, test, and deploy high-speed optical communication systems and the networking stack that underpins space-based connectivity
• Build and extend operational tooling for network diagnostics and observability — including routing-table inspection, packet capture and analysis, structured logging, and metrics emission — that enables rapid fault isolation and performance trending across the satellite mesh

About the team

You will join a multi-disciplinary team of exceptional engineers whose work spans an unusually broad scope: embedded flight software running on satellites in orbit, cloud-based systems powering mission and network operations, automation frameworks that keep a growing constellation healthy, and AI-driven capabilities that make our optical links smarter with every orbit. We collaborate closely with optical, electrical, firmware, opto-mechanical, and operations teams — and with partner organizations including Mission Operations and Optical Network Operations — to deliver one of the most advanced optical communication systems ever built.

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
• 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
• Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team
• Experience with a switch SDK and L2 networking protocols, including RSTP, BFD, MPLS, and ARP
• Experience developing embedded and low-level networking software systems in C/C++ or Rust

Preferred qualifications

• Experience developing embedded software for space systems, including optical communication systems, laser terminals, or high-speed serial interfaces
• Experience with ARM-based SoCs

Pay & benefits

Base salary range:

• USA, CA, Northridge: $168,100 - $227,400 USD annually
• USA, CA, Sunnyvale: $193,300 - $261,500 USD annually
• USA, WA, Redmond: $168,100 - $227,400 USD annually

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.

Benefits include: 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.

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