Sr Software Development Manager, Optics

Sr Software Development Manager, Amazon Optics

Job :  |  Services LLC

Amazon Optics is hiring a leader for the Access Control organization—a multi‑team engineering group responsible for delivering Amazon’s first‑party physical access control system (OACS) across AWS data centers, corporate offices, and Leo facilities worldwide.

This role spans the full spectrum of product delivery: you will own the custom hardware platform, the firmware that runs on it, the cloud services that manage it, and the customer‑facing applications that security operators use daily. You will simultaneously launch the product into three distinct customer segments, each with different operational requirements, deployment velocities, and security postures.

You will lead at least three software development teams, own the multi‑year product roadmap and the technical strategy for deprecating third‑party access control dependencies, and ensure operational posture of a platform running % availability across thousands of physical security devices globally.

The right candidate is comfortable reviewing a firmware design for an embedded controller, debating the API contract between two cloud services, defending a hardware supply chain timeline to a VP, and coaching senior design managers. You must hold both long‑term architectural vision and weekly operational reality of a deployed physical security system where failures mean people cannot enter or exit secured spaces.

• Own the product roadmap and multi‑year technical strategy for Access Control, aligning engineering investment to business outcomes across three customer segments.
• Lead software development teams through their senior design managers, setting engineering standards, coaching leaders, and ensuring delivery velocity against organizational goals.
• Drive the full lifecycle of hardware—from design validation and certification through contract manufacturing, supply chain management, and global distribution—in coordination with AWS Procurement and third‑party manufacturing partners.
• Own the firmware platform running on thousands of deployed controllers, including OTA update strategy, regression testing, and backward compatibility across hardware generations.
• Deliver the OACS cloud services (authorization, credential management, site configuration, device intelligence) % availability with mechanisms for automatic failure reconciliation.
• Define and execute the migration strategy to deprecate 3P systems across 2,000+ existing sites, managing parallel‑run risk, customer communication, and operational continuity during transition.
• Own cross‑organizational dependencies to ensure deployment velocity is not gated by engineering and operational readiness.
• Establish operational excellence mechanisms, including on‑call posture, COE processes, and service‑level metrics that separate service health ownership (SDEs) from device/system health ownership (Sys Eng/Sup Eng).
• Build and scale the organization: assess future skills, roles, and team structure needed to support 2,000+ sites on OACS while simultaneously developing new capabilities.
• Represent Access Control to VP‑level leadership, articulating product strategy, risk posture, and delivery confidence in M  and Q  forums.

Amazon Optics builds the physical security technology platform for Amazon: the software, firmware, and hardware that controls who can enter every data center, corporate office, and specialized facility across the company. We are replacing decades of third‑party vendor dependency with purpose‑built, first‑party solutions that give security operators complete control over their physical environment.

The Access Control organization within Optics owns the full vertical—from embedded firmware running on access control panels at the door, to cloud services managing credentials and authorization decisions, to the operator‑facing applications used by security teams 24/7. We are one of the few teams at Amazon simultaneously developing custom hardware, shipping firmware, operating cloud services, and launching into multiple business units—all while maintaining five‑nines availability on a system where…