Sr. Software Engineer, AWS Global Accelerator, AWS Global Accelerator

AWS Infrastructure Services owns the design, planning, delivery, and operation of all AWS global infrastructure. In other words, we’re the people who keep the cloud running. We support all AWS data centers and all of the servers, storage, networking, power, and cooling equipment that ensure our customers have continual access to the innovation they rely on. We work on the most challenging problems, with thousands of variables impacting the supply chain - and we’re looking for talented people who want to help.

You’ll join a diverse team of software, hardware, and network engineers, supply chain specialists, security experts, operations managers, and other vital roles. You’ll collaborate with people across AWS to help us deliver the highest standards for safety and security while providing seemingly infinite capacity at the lowest possible cost for our customers. And you’ll experience an inclusive culture that welcomes bold ideas and empowers you to own them to completion.

AWS Global Accelerator provides customers a global anycast network on-ramp, routing and load-balancing traffic through AWS edge locations onto the AWS backbone - bypassing the unpredictability of the public internet. Every packet for Global Accelerator customers that enters any AWS edge location flows through our packet processor, a high-performance DPDK-based application that makes real-time forwarding and mitigation decisions at line rate.

The Packet Processing team is looking for an experienced systems engineer to help build and scale our data plane - with a particular emphasis on network security and DDoS resilience. You'll work across the full packet processing stack: forwarding, load balancing, connection tracking, and traffic mitigation, all within the tight latency and throughput constraints of a Tier-0 service running across 100+ global points of presence.

Key job responsibilities

- Design and build high-performance DDoS mitigation systems operating in the kernel fast-path and userspace data plane

- Develop eBPF/XDP programs for early-stage packet filtering and traffic classification at wire speed

- Extend our DPDK-based packet processor with new mitigation primitives (SYN proxying, rate shaping, connection tracking)

- Analyze attack traffic patterns and translate observations into automated, scalable defenses

- Own the full lifecycle - from design through production operation - of security-critical infrastructure serving global traffic

- Collaborate with AWS Shield, CloudFront, and networking teams on coordinated mitigation strategies

About the team

The AWS Global Accelerator team builds and operates a globally distributed networking service that improves application performance and availability for customers worldwide. Leveraging AWS's global network of 130+ Points of Presence across 53 countries, we route user traffic through optimized paths to deliver faster, more reliable experiences. Our team tackles complex challenges in anycast networking, traffic engineering, and fault-tolerant distributed systems at massive scale. We're passionate about making the internet faster and more dependable for millions of end users.

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

Preferred qualifications

- 5+ 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

- Hands-on experience with eBPF/XDP for packet processing, observability, or security enforcement

- Experience with DPDK, AF_XDP, or other kernel-bypass frameworks

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 - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually