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Principal Database Engineer, Distributed SQL

Amazon

Seattle, WAJob$174–235K/yrSeen 1 day agoSeen in employer's feed 1 day ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$174–235K/yr
Location
Seattle, WA
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Bachelor's degree

Job overview

Amazon Aurora DSQL is a serverless distributed SQL database designed for high availability, strong consistency, and automatic scaling. The Principal Database Engineer will lead technical enablement for strategic customers, address migration and query performance challenges, and help customers adopt distributed, multi-region architectures. The role also defines adoption best practices, channels customer insights to engineering teams to influence product direction, and scales knowledge across field teams.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Relational Database ArchitectureDatabase Application DevelopmentCustomer EngagementPostgreSQLDatabase MigrationDistributed SystemsMulti-Region ArchitecturesProduct Roadmap Influence

Qualifications

BS in CS or Higher10+ Years Database and Customer Experience

Benefits

Medical Insurance
401(k) Match
Paid Time Off
Parental Leave

Full job description

Description

Amazon Aurora DSQL is a serverless, distributed SQL database with virtually unlimited scale, highest availability, and zero infrastructure management. Aurora DSQL provides active-active high availability, providing strong data consistency designed for 99.99% single-Region and 99.999% multi-Region availability. Aurora DSQL automatically manages and scales system resources, so you don't have to worry about maintenance downtime and provisioning, patching, or upgrading infrastructure.

As a Principal Database Engineer for Aurora DSQL, you will lead technical enablement for our most strategic and business-critical customers. You will solve complex migration and query performance problems while helping customers transition from traditional databases to distributed, multi-region architectures. You will be responsible for working with engineers and customers to define best practices for Aurora DSQL adoption and integration. You will influence product direction by channeling customer feedback and technical insights directly to engineering teams, shaping features used by some of the world's largest companies. You will also work with our field teams to scale knowledge and drive broader DSQL adoption across the customer base.

A day in the life

Basic Qualifications

  • BS degree or higher in CS with a minimum of 10 years of relevant database application development and customer-facing experience

  • Deep expertise in relational database application building and architecture

  • Experience working directly with enterprise customers to drive positive business outcomes

  • Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with ambiguous, evolving requirements

Preferred Qualifications

  • Deep, hands-on technical expertise with PostgreSQL databases

  • Experience with database migration patterns and tooling

  • Experience with distributed systems and multi-region architectures

  • Proven track record influencing product roadmaps based on customer needs

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, East Palo Alto - 199,700.00 - 270,200.00 USD annually

USA, WA, Seattle - 173,700.00 - 234,900.00 USD annually

How this job compares

Set against the 501 open Database Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 5, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$174–235K/yr
  • Washington median$144–227K/yr33 salary ranges
  • US median$126–203K/yr386 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $204K, is 9% above the Washington median midpoint ($187K) — in the middle half of Database Engineer salary ranges in Washington.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 35 open Database Engineer jobs in Washington and 501 across the US. 18% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Washington
Experience
This posting asks for at least 10 years of experience — more than three in four Database Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 7 years, across 440 postings).
Education
This posting asks for a bachelor's degree; 144 of the 501 open Database Engineer jobs (29%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 5, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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