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Principal Design Technologist, AWS Search,… at Amazon · Seattle
ExperiencedOn-siteFull-timeSeattle, WA$184k–$248k/yr
Job Description
Are you the person who makes a bold interaction idea technically real? AWS is looking for a Principal Design Technologist to serve as technical advisor for AWS SSOG (Security, Search, Observability & Governance).
You'll sit at the center of a self-learning intelligence flywheel: our Delight Lab validates novel interaction models — graduated autonomy, step-level replay, policy-check loops — and you make them real, stress-testing them through high-fidelity prototypes and landing them as production-ready components in our Rhythm design system on AWS Core. This is a deep-craft builder role with outsized leverage: every pattern you prove out compounds across the portfolio. If you live in the codebase, think in systems, and want your prototypes to become the standard the whole org ships against, we'd love to hear from you.
Key job responsibilities
- Serve as the Director of Design's technical advisor on innovation: judge which novel interaction models emerging from Delight Lab are worth betting on, and chart the path to make them real.
- Push the frontier of agentic interaction design — graduated autonomy, step-level replay, policy-check loops — proving out ideas no one has shipped yet through high-fidelity, working prototypes.
- Invent the patterns, not just implement them: originate new interaction models and reusable components where none exist, and set the technical standard for what "state of the art" means across SSOG.
- Turn breakthrough prototypes into production-ready Rhythm components on AWS Core, so every validated innovation compounds across six products and counting instead of being re-solved.
- Build the connective tissue of the innovation flywheel, the tooling and systems that let the team sense, synthesize, and scale emerging interaction patterns faster.
- De-risk the boldest bets: stress-test feasibility early so the org can commit to ambitious ideas with confidence rather than retreating to safe ones.
- Raise the innovation bar of the entire design org through prototypes, patterns, and pairing, making everyone around you braver and more technical.
A day in the life
Your morning might start in Delight Lab's latest findings — a graduated-autonomy model that tested well — and by mid-morning you're building a working prototype to pressure-test whether it holds up technically, not just in a research setting. After lunch, you're pairing with design-system engineering to turn an approval-gate pattern you proved last week into a production Rhythm component, so every team gets it for free. Later, you're in a working session with the Director of Design, giving a direct read on which emerging interaction models are feasible, which need another pass, and what it'll take to ship them. This team builds in production, not in Figma — and your prototypes are how the org decides what's real.
About the team
We're the SSOG Transformers design team, shaping how builders experience AWS Security, Search, Observability & Governance. We operate as an AI-native builder team running a self-learning intelligence flywheel: our internal design research practice (Delight Lab) senses and validates how people and AI actually collaborate — when they hand off control, when autonomy should be earned through evidence — Design Brain helps us synthesize those signals, and Rhythm scales the proven patterns into a production design system on AWS Core. We don't hand off specs and wait. We prototype, commit production code, run experiments, and compound every validated pattern across six products and counting. If you want your technical craft to set the standard the whole org builds on, this is the team to join.
- Expert front-end engineering ability: you build high-fidelity, interactive prototypes and commit production code (React/TypeScript, HTML/CSS), and partner with engineering as a peer in the codebase.
- Experience building and maintaining design-system components at scale, architecture, accessibility, and cross-team adoption.
- Experience translating novel, ambiguous interaction concepts into technically validated, shippable patterns.
- Experience operating at Staff/Principal level (or equivalent) as a design technologist, creative technologist, or design engineer at a top-tier technology company.
- A track record of influence as a technical advisor or force-multiplier across teams, raising others' craft through prototypes, tooling, and example rather than direct authority alone.
- Experience building the tooling or systems that let a team sense, synthesize, and scale interaction patterns (design-intelligence pipelines, pattern libraries, instrumentation).
- Direct experience in observability, security, search, or governance product domains.
- Experience taking research or lab findings and operationalizing them into a production design system.
- Proficiency with AI-assisted design and build tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Kiro, v0).
- Published thought leadership or recognized open-source/community contributions in design engineering.
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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.
USA, CA, Santa Clara - 211,000.00 - 285,400.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 201,900.00 - 273,000.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Bellevue - 183,500.00 - 248,200.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 183,500.00 - 248,200.00 USD annually
You'll sit at the center of a self-learning intelligence flywheel: our Delight Lab validates novel interaction models — graduated autonomy, step-level replay, policy-check loops — and you make them real, stress-testing them through high-fidelity prototypes and landing them as production-ready components in our Rhythm design system on AWS Core. This is a deep-craft builder role with outsized leverage: every pattern you prove out compounds across the portfolio. If you live in the codebase, think in systems, and want your prototypes to become the standard the whole org ships against, we'd love to hear from you.
Key job responsibilities
- Serve as the Director of Design's technical advisor on innovation: judge which novel interaction models emerging from Delight Lab are worth betting on, and chart the path to make them real.
- Push the frontier of agentic interaction design — graduated autonomy, step-level replay, policy-check loops — proving out ideas no one has shipped yet through high-fidelity, working prototypes.
- Invent the patterns, not just implement them: originate new interaction models and reusable components where none exist, and set the technical standard for what "state of the art" means across SSOG.
- Turn breakthrough prototypes into production-ready Rhythm components on AWS Core, so every validated innovation compounds across six products and counting instead of being re-solved.
- Build the connective tissue of the innovation flywheel, the tooling and systems that let the team sense, synthesize, and scale emerging interaction patterns faster.
- De-risk the boldest bets: stress-test feasibility early so the org can commit to ambitious ideas with confidence rather than retreating to safe ones.
- Raise the innovation bar of the entire design org through prototypes, patterns, and pairing, making everyone around you braver and more technical.
A day in the life
Your morning might start in Delight Lab's latest findings — a graduated-autonomy model that tested well — and by mid-morning you're building a working prototype to pressure-test whether it holds up technically, not just in a research setting. After lunch, you're pairing with design-system engineering to turn an approval-gate pattern you proved last week into a production Rhythm component, so every team gets it for free. Later, you're in a working session with the Director of Design, giving a direct read on which emerging interaction models are feasible, which need another pass, and what it'll take to ship them. This team builds in production, not in Figma — and your prototypes are how the org decides what's real.
About the team
We're the SSOG Transformers design team, shaping how builders experience AWS Security, Search, Observability & Governance. We operate as an AI-native builder team running a self-learning intelligence flywheel: our internal design research practice (Delight Lab) senses and validates how people and AI actually collaborate — when they hand off control, when autonomy should be earned through evidence — Design Brain helps us synthesize those signals, and Rhythm scales the proven patterns into a production design system on AWS Core. We don't hand off specs and wait. We prototype, commit production code, run experiments, and compound every validated pattern across six products and counting. If you want your technical craft to set the standard the whole org builds on, this is the team to join.
Basic qualifications
- A demonstrable portfolio of shipped, production-grade interfaces you built — not just prototyped — for complex, data-dense technical products (observability, security, developer tools, or cloud infrastructure).- Expert front-end engineering ability: you build high-fidelity, interactive prototypes and commit production code (React/TypeScript, HTML/CSS), and partner with engineering as a peer in the codebase.
- Experience building and maintaining design-system components at scale, architecture, accessibility, and cross-team adoption.
- Experience translating novel, ambiguous interaction concepts into technically validated, shippable patterns.
- Experience operating at Staff/Principal level (or equivalent) as a design technologist, creative technologist, or design engineer at a top-tier technology company.
- A track record of influence as a technical advisor or force-multiplier across teams, raising others' craft through prototypes, tooling, and example rather than direct authority alone.
Preferred qualifications
- Hands-on experience prototyping AI/ML and agentic experiences — autonomous agents, human-in-the-loop, progressive/graduated autonomy, step-level replay, policy-check loops.- Experience building the tooling or systems that let a team sense, synthesize, and scale interaction patterns (design-intelligence pipelines, pattern libraries, instrumentation).
- Direct experience in observability, security, search, or governance product domains.
- Experience taking research or lab findings and operationalizing them into a production design system.
- Proficiency with AI-assisted design and build tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Kiro, v0).
- Published thought leadership or recognized open-source/community contributions in design engineering.
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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, CA, Santa Clara - 211,000.00 - 285,400.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 201,900.00 - 273,000.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Bellevue - 183,500.00 - 248,200.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 183,500.00 - 248,200.00 USD annually