Senior Software Development Engineer, Shopping Personalization AI

DESCRIPTION Amazon's Personalization organization builds the AI systems behind how hundreds of millions of customers discover and shop. We extract and reason over customer signals in real time, power LLM-driven recommendation experiences, and build AI-native discovery surfaces that combine products, content, and contextual recommendations. Our work sits at the intersection of generative AI, large-scale distributed systems, and customer-facing products, delivered through high-performance web and mobile experiences at Amazon scale. In this role you'll design and build features that shape how customers discover products - tailored to their preferences, helping them find exactly what they need, even before they know they need it. We're defining how LLMs integrate into real-time personalization, how noisy behavioral signals become durable customer understanding, and how AI-powered experiences ship reliably at scale. You'll work across multiple technical teams, ship iteratively, and see your work in the hands of customers quickly. This organization values experimentation, moves fast, and gives engineers real ownership over what they build. We are looking for a Senior Software Development Engineer who leads through technical depth and sound judgment. Someone who owns team-level architecture, provides system-wide design guidance, and brings perspective on both current and future technology choices. You take on customer problems where the technological strategy is not yet defined, and you drive productive discussions to align teams on the best path forward. You don’t just deliver high-quality software yourself - you set the standard that others follow. You actively mentor multiple engineers, drive adoption of engineering best practices, and ensure your team has strong operational foundations. You make the team permanently stronger, not dependent on your presence. When the right solution isn’t technical - when it’s a process change, a culture shift, or a staffing decision - you recognize that and act accordingly. Key job responsibilities Own team architecture of personalized recommendation system operating at Amazon scale Lead the design and delivery of cross-teams projects end-to-end, with focus on maintainability, scalability, performance, and reliability Collaborate with Product and Science to define technical roadmap and experiences based on data Build AI-powered experiences including personalized recommendations, relevance explanations, and knowledge-driven features using LLMs and generative AI Define and drive measurement strategies including analytics events and experiment configurations to track business and technical metrics Create clarity from ambiguity and make sound technical decisions in a problem space where established patterns don't apply Drive adoption of engineering best practices through exemplary personal coding practices Proactively simplify existing systems and resolve endemic, root-cause problems About the team Our team is part of Amazon's Personalization organization, a high-performing group that leverages Amazon's expertise in machine learning, big data, distributed systems, and user experience design to deliver the best shopping experiences for our customers. Our vision is to enhance customer shopping experience on Amazon by leveraging personalization techniques. We strive to save customers valuable time by tailoring their journey to their individual needs, interests, and preferences. Our goal involves identifying personalization opportunities to develop and optimize customer experiences, thereby improving the overall search and discovery process across Amazon. BASIC QUALIFICATIONS Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team Experience leading the architecture and design (architecture, design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and current systems Experience programming with at least one modern language such as Java, C++, or C# including object-oriented design PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent 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.