Software Development Engineer, AWS Quick Desktop

Amazon.com Inc

Seattle, WA

JOB DETAILS
SKILLS
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Architectural Design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agents, Automation, Cloud Computing, Conversation Engine, Desktop PC, InterProcess Communication (IPC), JavaScript, Laptop PC, Mac Operating System, Memory Hardware, Memory Management, Mentoring, Microsoft Windows Operating System, Multiplatform/Cross-Platform, On Call, Operational Audit, Organizational Skills, Philosophy, Problem Solving Skills, Python Programming/Scripting Language, Software Development, Software Engineering, Startup, Team Building, Team Player, User Interface/Experience (UI/UX)
LOCATION
Seattle, WA
POSTED
30+ days ago

We"re building an AI-powered desktop application that fundamentally changes how knowledge workers manage their digital workload. Think of it as an intelligent companion that sits alongside you on your laptop - connected to your messages, calendar, and files - understanding your work context and helping you stay on top of everything without the cognitive overhead.

As an SDE-2 on this team, you"ll work at the intersection of AI/ML systems and desktop application development. You"ll build the infrastructure that lets AI agents operate safely and reliably on a user"s machine - from real-time event processing and multi-agent orchestration to local knowledge graphs that evolve as users interact with the system. The problems you"ll solve aren"t typical CRUD - they involve designing novel architectures for long-running agentic sessions, managing context windows across complex task hierarchies, and building trust through transparent, permission-scoped automation.

This is a 0-to-1 product. You"ll ship features end-to-end, influence architecture decisions, and see your work in the hands of users quickly. If you"ve ever wanted to build software that feels like it genuinely understands and helps people - not just another chatbot, but a proactive partner - this is that opportunity.

Key job responsibilities

  • Design and implement core systems for the desktop application"s agentic runtime - including task scheduling, agent lifecycle management, and inter-process communication between parallel AI agents
  • Build and evolve a local knowledge graph that captures relationships between people, projects, and topics from the user"s work environment, enabling contextual and personalized assistance
  • Develop integrations with external services (email, messaging, calendar, file storage) using standardized protocols, with a focus on security, permissions, and graceful failure handling
  • Own the memory and context management layer - solving hard problems around what information to retain, how to retrieve it efficiently, and how to keep long-running sessions coherent within token constraints
  • Contribute to the cross-platform desktop experience (macOS and Windows), ensuring performance and reliability across environments
  • Write production code in Python and TypeScript/JavaScript, with an emphasis on clean abstractions that other engineers can build upon
  • Participate in on-call rotations, operational reviews, and architecture discussions that shape the product"s direction

About the team

We"re a small, high-ownership team building an AI-native desktop product from the ground up. Our philosophy is simple: we use what we build. Every day, the team relies on our own product to manage tasks, triage notifications, draft documents, and stay organized - if something doesn"t work for us, we fix it before it ships to anyone else.

The team spans applied science and engineering, and we operate more like a startup than a large org. You"ll work closely with scientists on memory systems and retrieval, with frontend engineers on the desktop experience, and directly with customers who use the product daily. We value end-to-end ownership, strong opinions loosely held, and shipping delightful experiences over shipping features.

We believe trust is earned through safety - our architecture is designed with least-privilege principles from the ground up, giving users full transparency and control over what the AI can see and do. If you care about building AI systems that are genuinely useful and responsible, you"ll fit right in.

Diverse Experiences

AWS values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn't followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don't let it stop you from applying.

Why AWS?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating - that's why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Inclusive Team Culture

AWS values curiosity and connection. Our employee-led and company-sponsored affinity groups promote inclusion and empower our people to take pride in what makes us unique. Our inclusion events foster stronger, more collaborative teams. Our continual innovation is fueled by the bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and passionate voices our teams bring to everything we do.

Mentorship & Career Growth

We're continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth's Best Employer. That's why you'll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

Work/Life Balance

We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there's nothing we can't achieve.

About the Company

A

Amazon.com Inc

At Amazon, we don’t wait for the next big idea to present itself. We envision the shape of impossible things and then we boldly make them reality. So far, this mindset has helped us achieve some incredible things. Let’s build new systems, challenge the status quo, and design the world we want to live in. We believe the work you do here will be the best work of your life.

Wherever you are in your career exploration, Amazon likely has an opportunity for you. Our research scientists and engineers shape the future of natural language understanding with Alexa. Fulfillment center associates around the globe send customer orders from our warehouses to doorsteps. Product managers set feature requirements, strategy, and marketing messages for brand new customer experiences. And as we grow, we’ll add jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

It’s Always Day 1
At Amazon, it’s always “Day 1.” Now, what does this mean and why does it matter? It means that our approach remains the same as it was on Amazon’s very first day – to make smart, fast decisions, stay nimble, invent, and stay focused on delighting our customers. In our 2016 shareholder letter, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shared his thoughts on how to keep up a Day 1 company mindset. “Staying in Day 1 requires you to experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and double down when you see customer delight,” he wrote. “A customer-obsessed culture best creates the conditions where all of that can happen.” You can read the full letter here

Our Leadership Principles
Our Leadership Principles help us keep a Day 1 mentality. They aren’t just a pretty inspirational wall hanging. Amazonians use them, every day, whether they’re discussing ideas for new projects, deciding on the best solution for a customer’s problem, or interviewing candidates. To read through our Leadership Principles from Customer Obsession to Bias for Action, visit https://www.amazon.jobs/principles
COMPANY SIZE
10,000 employees or more
INDUSTRY
Retail
FOUNDED
1994
WEBSITE
http://Amazon.com/militaryroles