Software Development Engineer - Amazon OpenSearch, VectorSearch, OpenSearch

The OpenSearch Vector Search team builds and operates the core vector search engine that powers recommendations, semantic search, and multi-modal search capabilities across Amazon's flagship services including Amazon Prime, Amazon Retail, Amazon Music, and Alexa. Our technology enables Amazon OpenSearch Service to handle large-scale vector search operations at billions of high-dimensional vectors, contributing to the advancement of vector databases and AI/ML infrastructure. We are at the forefront of building the retrieval and reasoning substrate for modern enterprise AI systems.

We are looking for a passionate and talented Software Development Engineer (SDE II / L5) to join our Vector Search team. You will design, build, and optimize high-performance vector search systems that operate at massive scale. This role offers the opportunity to work on cutting-edge problems in approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search, GPU-accelerated indexing, new algorithms to improve the recall and performance — all within one of the most widely adopted open-source search platforms in the world.

Key job responsibilities
- Design and implement high-performance vector search algorithms (HNSW, cluster-based ANN, hybrid approaches) for billion-scale datasets
- Develop and optimize GPU-accelerated vector indexing and search capabilities
- Build and enhance the k-NN plugin for OpenSearch, including support for new distance metrics, quantization techniques, and memory-efficient graph structures
- Contribute to tiered storage architecture for vector data across hot/warm/cold tiers to improve cost efficiency
Implement memory-optimized approaches such as MMAP-based graph loading and partial graph loading to reduce working set size
- Collaborate with applied scientists on novel algorithmic approaches to vector search optimization
- Participate in open-source community contributions, code reviews, and technical design discussions

Basic Qualifications

- 3+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 2+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
- Experience programming with at least one software programming language

Preferred Qualifications

- 3+ 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

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, Bellevue - 143,700.00 - 194,400.00 USD annually