Sr Software Development Engineer, Amazon Leo OISL

Amazon LEO is an initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world. We are seeking a Senior Software Development Engineer to help architect and build a ground-based optical communication system enabling high-speed data transfer between satellites and ground stations.

About the role

This role sits at the intersection of embedded systems, networking, cloud infrastructure, and remote operations. You will own the design and implementation of software systems that control, monitor, and manage optical ground terminals, including real-time device control, network integration, remote management, and cloud-based operations infrastructure. This is a greenfield opportunity to shape the architecture of a critical system from the ground up.

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

• Architect and develop software for ground-based optical communication terminals, spanning embedded control systems, networking stacks, and cloud infrastructure.
• Design and implement remote management and monitoring systems for geographically distributed ground terminal deployments.
• Develop networking solutions for high-throughput optical data paths, including integration with broader network infrastructure.
• Build cloud-based operations platforms for fleet management, telemetry, alarming, and performance monitoring.
• Design and implement infrastructure-as-code for automated deployment, configuration management, and scaling of ground systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including optical, electrical, firmware, mechanical, and systems engineers.
• Define system architecture, interfaces, and protocols for ground terminal software subsystems.
• Develop fault-tolerant, highly available systems capable of autonomous operation in remote environments.
• Own full lifecycle delivery from requirements through deployment and ongoing operations.

A day in the life

As a Software Engineer on the Optical Inter-Satellite Link team, you won't just write code—you'll see it in action. Your software will control and monitor high-speed laser communications between ground and satellites moving at orbital velocities. You'll be involved in every stage: from early design and on-the-ground verifications to enabling high-throughput communications.

About the team

You will join a multi-disciplinary team of top-notch engineers whose work spans an unusually wide aperture: 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.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience.
• 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language.
• 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability, and scaling) of new and existing systems.
• Experience as a mentor, tech lead, or leading an engineering team.
• Experience working with networking fundamentals or Internet protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP, SSL, DNS, HTTP/S, or equivalent.
• Experience in one or more of: C, C++, Python, or Rust.
• Experience with Linux systems programming (kernel, drivers, networking stack, or system services).
• Experience with cloud services (AWS preferred) including compute, storage, networking, 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.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent.
• Experience in embedded development in C/C++, or experience with general troubleshooting/debugging of hardware.
• Experience in automating, deploying, and supporting infrastructure.
• Experience in network protocols like DNS/DHCP/TCP, Kafka, Linux OS, and network troubleshooting.
• Experience in networking administration and troubleshooting, managing networks, and automation with version control tools.
• Experience with hardware/software integration and real-time systems.
• Experience with optical or RF communication systems, modems, or signal processing.
• Experience with remote device management at scale (OTA updates, fleet provisioning, configuration management).
• Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, ECS) for edge or remote deployments.
• Experience with monitoring and observability systems (CloudWatch, Prometheus, Grafana, or similar).
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and deployment automation for embedded or infrastructure systems.
• Experience working in aerospace, telecommunications, or other mission-critical environments.

Pay

• USA, CA, Northridge: $168,100.00 - $227,400.00 USD annually
• USA, WA, Redmond: $168,100.00 - $227,400.00 USD annually

Benefits

• Sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs).
• Health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance, and option for Supplemental life plans).
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Mental Health Support.
• Medical Advice Line and Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage.
• 401(k) matching.
• Paid time off and parental leave.

Learn more about our benefits at amazon.jobs/en/benefits.