Principal Software Engineer
Amazon
Listing collected from Amazon's career site. NextChapter is independent of Amazon.
Seattle, WA · Posted October 19, 2026
Just laid off? Start here: a plan for the first weeks
More in Washington job market · All Principal Software Engineer jobs (403) · Technology & Software · Engineering jobs
Where Seattle, WA ranks
Where Seattle, WA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for software and engineering jobs in the Pacific Northwest1,720 openings · of 14
- #1Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in the Pacific Northwest316 jobs · of 8
- #2Best cities for AI-skill jobs in the Pacific Northwest26% · of 16
- #2Best cities for software and engineering jobs in the West Coast1,720 openings · of 60
- #2Best cities for energy and utilities pay after cost of living$180k · of 18
- #2Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the Pacific Northwest17% · of 12
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,318 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
Pay compared with the market
This listing does not state pay. Across 123 open principal software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $209,000 to $316,000 and the median is $233,000.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
Principal Software Engineer salaries by state · Check your own pay
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Amazon has filed 29 layoff notices in the last twelve months, covering 8,479 workers, most recently October 2026. These are public WARN filings with state labor departments, and an open role can sit alongside them. See the filings
About the job
We are seeking technically deep Principal Engineer to drive the architecture, engineering strategy, and technical standards for AgentCore. AgentCore, is a comprehensive, modular platform for deploying and operating autonomous AI agents securely and at scale, providing serverless runtime, memory, identity, gateway, and observability components.
The Principal Engineer will be a hands-on technical leader, tackling the hardest, most ambiguous problems in the rapidly evolving Generative AI space, and setting the technical direction for a platform that is critical to accelerating customers' agents to production.
Key job responsibilities
In this role, you will build a new AWS service that is going to be trend setting in the Gen AI field. This is an area that requires solving the hardest engineering challenges to enable machine learning powered solutions for our customers. As a tier zero Amazon service our solutions have to be scalable, efficient, and fault tolerant. Experience with machine learning systems is preferred, but not required. You will deliver some of our most strategic technical projects, deliver large scalable systems, design new software systems and have a significant bottom-line impact on our business and competitive position. In addition to delivering critical software, you will draw from a deep and broad technical expertise to mentor engineers and provide leadership on complex technical issues. This position within the Agentic AI team presents a unique and rare opportunity to get in on the ground floor within a fast growing business and help shape the technology, product and the business. A successful candidate will bring deep technical and software expertise, desire to have an industry wide impact and ability to work within a fast moving, startup environment in a large company to rapidly deliver services that have a broad business impact.
Basic qualifications
12+ years of non-internship professional software development experience 8+ 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 12+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience 12+ years of non-internship professional software development experience 8+ 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 12+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent 10+ years of highly scalable systems experience 15+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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, CA, Santa Clara - 230,100.00 - 311,200.00 USD annually USA, NY, New York - 220,100.00 - 297,700.00 USD annually USA, WA, Seattle - 200,100.00 - 270,600.00 USD annually