Principal Engineer, EC2

Position Summary

Principal Engineer on the EC2 Accelerated Nitro team. This role takes ownership of designing and building new EC2 instance families that leverage hardware acceleration and advanced virtualization. The incumbent will lead the architectural direction, drive security improvements, mentor staff, and shape the future of cloud computing.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of core EC2 capabilities, including CPU scheduling, memory management, device emulation, and PCIe subsystem integration.
• Drive virtualization security initiatives to enhance platform integrity and resilience.
• Provide technical guidance to multiple global teams while collaborating with product managers and program managers.
• Mentor and grow engineering talent through architecture reviews, design proposals, and hands‑on coding support.
• Design and architect new EC2 instance features; deliver prototypes and design documents that guide engineering efforts.
• Influence the EC2 technology roadmap by advocating innovative solutions that deliver performance and value.
• Improve organizational efficiency by identifying and addressing operational bottlenecks.
• Maintain on‑site presence in Berlin, Germany, every day; remote or alternate office arrangements are not permitted.

Basic Qualifications

• Master's degree in computer science or equivalent.
• Experience in networking, multi-threaded applications, interprocess communication, and complex software development.
• Experience optimizing for short-term execution while planning for long-term technical capabilities.
• Experience developing an operating system kernel or production hypervisor.
• Proficiency in at least one CPU architecture, such as x86 or ARM.
• Experience growing other engineers and working in diverse teams.
• Excellent English verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience influencing groups outside the applicant’s own VP from an architectural perspective.
• Experience creating architectural vision.
• Experience enhancing the security posture of a kernel or hypervisor.
• Experience resolving complex issues involving software and hardware interactions, including PCIe internals.
• Proficiency in both x86 and ARM CPU architectures.

m/w/d

Amazon is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.