Software Development Engineer at Amazon – Apply Now!

Full-time

Amazon

📍 Location: Amazon Development Centre South Africa (Pty) Ltd,
33 Heerengracht Street, Foreshore, Cape Town, 8001
🆔 Job ID: 3041894
💼 Department: AWS Utility Computing (UC) – EC2 Managed Fleets
🗂️ Job Type: Software Development (Full-time)

🌍 About the Role

Amazon Web Services is searching for a Software Development Engineer (SDE) to join the EC2 Managed Fleets team, responsible for building automation tools that manage millions of hosts across Amazon. The team abstracts complex fleet management operations so thousands of internal service teams can focus on delivering value to customers.

You will work at Amazon scale, solving highly complex engineering problems while contributing to high-availability, globally distributed systems.

🚀 Key Responsibilities

🔧 Software Design & Architecture

  • Build innovative solutions that define, automate, and monitor the health of massive compute fleets.

  • Design and architect systems with reliability, scalability, and efficiency in mind.

  • Participate in developing high-quality software across the entire stack.

💻 Development & Tech Stack

  • Work with modern technologies including:
    Java, TypeScript, React, Python, AWS-native services, and Amazon internal tools.

  • Produce clean, maintainable, and efficient code.

  • Participate in code reviews, testing, and continuous improvement.

🖥️ Systems Engineering

  • Contribute to distributed systems, API orchestration, fault tolerance, and system availability.

  • Collaborate on large-scale architectural decisions.

📊 Monitoring & On-Call

  • Participate in on-call rotations (approximately once every 6 weeks).

  • Ensure system resilience and minimise unnecessary alerts.

🤝 Collaboration & Communication

  • Work closely with engineers, managers, and stakeholders across AWS.

  • Participate in daily team interactions, technical discussions, and solution planning.

📚 Learning, Growth & Mentorship

  • Access world-class mentorship, code reviews, and career development opportunities.

  • Support a culture of knowledge sharing and peer learning within the team.

🧑‍💼 A Day in the Life

As an AWS SDE, you will:

  • Design distributed systems that impact global customers.

  • Troubleshoot complex technical issues.

  • Build, test, deploy, and refine large-scale automation.

  • Collaborate with diverse engineering teams.

  • Innovate on new features and solutions that support AWS’s growing infrastructure.

Work-life harmony is deeply valued — flexibility, respect, and balance are core team principles.

🌟 About the Team

The Managed Fleets team consists of engineers with diverse levels of experience. The environment supports:
✨ One-on-one mentoring
✨ Inclusive team culture
✨ Strong emphasis on knowledge sharing
✨ Career-growth aligned project assignments

AWS encourages applications even from candidates with non-traditional or diverse backgrounds.

🎓 Minimum Qualifications

  • 3+ years of professional (non-internship) software development experience

  • Experience designing or architecting reliable, scalable systems

  • Proficiency in at least one modern programming language: Java, C++, or C#

  • Strong understanding of object-oriented design

💡 Preferred Qualifications

  • 3+ years working across the full SDLC (code reviews, testing, source control, CI/CD, operations)

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

  • Experience with distributed systems or AWS technologies

🤝 Employment Equity & Compliance

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer. Applications are welcomed regardless of age, gender, disability, race, religion, or orientation.
South African candidates who may contribute to Employment Equity are encouraged to apply.

Legal right to work in South Africa is required (ID/passport + valid permit).

📝 Best CV Tips for This Amazon SDE Role

  • Show mastery in one core language (Java, C++, C#) with real project examples.

  • Highlight experience with distributed systems, cloud technologies, CI/CD, or microservices.

  • Use metrics to quantify achievements (e.g., “Reduced deploy time by 50%”).

  • Include links to GitHub, technical blogs, or open-source contributions.

  • Tailor your CV to Amazon’s Leadership Principles (e.g., Ownership, Customer Obsession).

  • Keep the technical section structured:

    • Languages

    • Frameworks

    • Tools (Git, Docker, AWS)

    • Architecture/Design Patterns

  • Show experience with API design, scalability, and performance optimisation.

To apply for this job please visit www.amazon.jobs.