Senior Software Engineer , VirtSat Team

Amazon Leo is an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Its mission is to bring fast affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to design implement and operate the VirtSat platform Leos virtual satellite environment that enables teams to develop test and validate satellite software at scale without requiring physical hardware. VirtSat provides high-fidelity emulation of satellite subsystems on cloud infrastructure serving 70 downstream pipelines and enabling continuous integration of embedded flight software.

In this role you will work across the full VirtSat stack building cloud services that orchestrate virtual satellite lifecycle developing QEMU-based hardware emulation plugins implementing provisioning workflows on AWS and creating tooling that bridges virtualized environments with real hardware-in-the-loop testing. You will leverage best-in-industry software engineering practices to deliver a platform that is reliable scalable and enables satellite software teams to move faster with confidence.

You must be responsive flexible and able to succeed within an open collaborative peer environment working across embedded software cloud services and test automation teams.

Export Control Requirement: Due to applicable export control laws and regulations candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder) or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.



Key job responsibilities
Key Job Responsibilities

- Design and implement cloud services that provision manage and deploy satellite entities using AWS technologies (EC2 metal instances Step Functions DynamoDB Lambda)

- Develop and maintain provisioning workflows (CreateEntity PowerOnEntity ProvisionEntity) that orchestrate the full entity lifecycle from instance launch through embedded software deployment to test-readiness

- Build and extend QEMU-based hardware emulation plugins that provide high-fidelity satellite subsystem behavior (transporter HSM networking sensors)
- Design automated monitoring alarming and self-healing mechanisms to maintain platform availability above 99.5%
- Develop tooling that enables test execution across multiple environments: virtualized satellites hardware-in-the-loop flatsats and on-orbit vehicles
- Implement pre-validation fail-fast patterns and retry mechanisms that improve provisioning reliability and reduce wasted workflow time
- Drive root cause analysis on platform failures implement fixes and build regression prevention into the system
- Mentor junior engineers lead design reviews and evangelize engineering excellence practices across the team


- 5 years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 5 years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
- 5 years of leading design or architecture (design patterns reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Experience as a mentor tech lead or leading an engineering team
- Experience designing building operating and managing large-scale distributed systems or web services
- Experience working with Linux operating systems
- Experience with at least one object-oriented programming language (Java Python TypeScript or Rust)
- Experience with systems integration and testing methodologies
- Deep understanding of CI/CD continuous integration build deployment and monitoring

- 5 years of full software development life cycle including coding standards code reviews source control management build processes testing and operations experience
- Experience with AWS services (EC2 Step Functions Lambda DynamoDB CloudWatch S3)
- Experience with embedded Linux QEMU or hardware virtualization/emulation
- Experience with infrastructure-as-code (CDK CloudFormation)
- Experience building provisioning or orchestration systems that manage compute fleet lifecycle
- Experience with Docker/containerization
- Experience with availability/reliability engineering (SLA tracking failure analysis automated remediation)

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 for more information. If the country/region youre applying in isnt 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 WA Redmond - 168100.00 - 227400.00 USD annually