Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Washington
Senior AI Software Engineer jobs in Washington are concentrated in Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond, where Microsoft, Amazon, and Google maintain major engineering campuses and hire continuously at the senior level. Demand is strongest for engineers specializing in large language model development, MLOps, and applied machine learning infrastructure. Washington is among the most active markets in the country for this role, with openings at every seniority tier from tech lead to principal engineer. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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DESCRIPTION
# Job Summary – Senior Software Development Engineer, SageMaker AI Studio
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seeking a Senior Software Development Engineer to join the SageMaker AI Studio team. SageMaker AI Studio is the industry-leading integrated development environment (IDE) for machine learning and generative AI, empowering millions of developers and data scientists to build, train, and deploy models at scale.
As a Senior SDE on this team, you will own the design and delivery of large-scale, highly available distributed systems that power the end-to-end ML development experience. You will drive technical vision, influence product direction, and raise the engineering bar across the organization. You will work at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, developer tooling, and AI/ML—solving complex problems that directly impact how customers innovate with machine learning.
## Key Responsibilities
- **Technical Leadership** – Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of complex software systems. Define long-term technical strategy and drive alignment across teams.
- **System Design & Delivery** – Own end-to-end delivery of large-scale distributed services with high availability, low latency, and operational excellence.
- **Cross-Team Influence** – Collaborate with product, science, and partner engineering teams to define roadmaps and deliver customer-obsessed solutions.
- **Mentorship & Bar Raising** – Mentor engineers across levels, conduct design and code reviews, and actively raise the technical and operational bar for the team.
- **Operational Excellence** – Champion best practices in CI/CD, observability, testing, and incident management. Drive a culture of ownership and accountability.
- **Innovation** – Identify opportunities to simplify, automate, and improve the developer experience. Contribute to patents, publications, or open-source projects where appropriate.
- **Customer Obsession** – Deeply understand customer workflows and pain points; translate insights into scalable, intuitive platform capabilities.
## Basic Qualifications
- 7+ years of professional software development experience
- 5+ years of professional experience designing and building large-scale distributed systems
- Proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Java, Python, TypeScript, Go)
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
## Preferred Qualifications
- Experience building developer tools, IDEs, or ML/AI platforms
- Deep understanding of cloud-native architectures (containers, server-less, micro-services)
- Track record of delivering ambiguous, high-impact projects with minimal guidance
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and influencing technical direction across an organization
- Familiarity with ML workflows (training, inference, model management) and the challenges practitioners face
- Master's or PhD in Computer Science or related field
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 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
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
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 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, WA, BELLEVUE - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
DESCRIPTION
# Job Summary – Senior Software Development Engineer, SageMaker AI Studio
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seeking a Senior Software Development Engineer to join the SageMaker AI Studio team. SageMaker AI Studio is the industry-leading integrated development environment (IDE) for machine learning and generative AI, empowering millions of developers and data scientists to build, train, and deploy models at scale.
As a Senior SDE on this team, you will own the design and delivery of large-scale, highly available distributed systems that power the end-to-end ML development experience. You will drive technical vision, influence product direction, and raise the engineering bar across the organization. You will work at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, developer tooling, and AI/ML—solving complex problems that directly impact how customers innovate with machine learning.
## Key Responsibilities
- **Technical Leadership** – Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of complex software systems. Define long-term technical strategy and drive alignment across teams.
- **System Design & Delivery** – Own end-to-end delivery of large-scale distributed services with high availability, low latency, and operational excellence.
- **Cross-Team Influence** – Collaborate with product, science, and partner engineering teams to define roadmaps and deliver customer-obsessed solutions.
- **Mentorship & Bar Raising** – Mentor engineers across levels, conduct design and code reviews, and actively raise the technical and operational bar for the team.
- **Operational Excellence** – Champion best practices in CI/CD, observability, testing, and incident management. Drive a culture of ownership and accountability.
- **Innovation** – Identify opportunities to simplify, automate, and improve the developer experience. Contribute to patents, publications, or open-source projects where appropriate.
- **Customer Obsession** – Deeply understand customer workflows and pain points; translate insights into scalable, intuitive platform capabilities.
## Basic Qualifications
- 7+ years of professional software development experience
- 5+ years of professional experience designing and building large-scale distributed systems
- Proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Java, Python, TypeScript, Go)
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
## Preferred Qualifications
- Experience building developer tools, IDEs, or ML/AI platforms
- Deep understanding of cloud-native architectures (containers, server-less, micro-services)
- Track record of delivering ambiguous, high-impact projects with minimal guidance
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and influencing technical direction across an organization
- Familiarity with ML workflows (training, inference, model management) and the challenges practitioners face
- Master's or PhD in Computer Science or related field
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 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
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and operations experience
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
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 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, WA, BELLEVUE - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
See All 85 Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Washington
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Find JobsSenior AI Software Engineer Jobs by City in Washington
Where Washington roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Senior AI Software Engineer Job Market in Washington
A snapshot from current Washington openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Amazon24
- Google8
- Amazon Web Services8
- Microsoft5
- TikTok3
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software15
- Artificial Intelligence3
- Banking & Financial Services3
- Retail2
- Distribution & Wholesale2
What Washington Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in senior AI software engineer jobs across Washington.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related engineering field
- Five or more years of experience building and deploying production AI or machine learning systems
- Deep proficiency in Python and at least one major ML framework such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Hands-on experience with LLM fine-tuning, RAG architectures, or generative AI product development
- Demonstrated ability to design scalable ML pipelines on cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP
- Strong communication skills and experience collaborating with cross-functional product and research teams
Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Washington: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a senior ai software engineer in Washington?
The path in Washington typically starts with a bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, machine learning, or a closely related field. Washington does not require a state-issued license for this role. Employers here weight hands-on experience with production AI systems heavily, so a portfolio of deployed models, open-source contributions, or research publications in ML carries significant weight when applying to senior roles at Washington-based technology companies.
How much do senior AI software engineers make in Washington?
Senior AI software engineers in Washington earn a median of about $166,540 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $96,810 for the lowest 10% to over $255,350 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire senior ai software engineers in Washington?
Employers hiring senior ai software engineers in Washington right now include Amazon, Google, and Amazon Web Services, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Washington's concentration of major technology headquarters and cloud computing divisions makes it one of the densest single-state markets for this role in the country.
Which Washington cities have the most senior ai software engineer jobs?
The cities with the most senior ai software engineer openings in Washington are Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond. Seattle and Bellevue anchor the market because of the dense concentration of technology company headquarters and cloud engineering divisions there, while Redmond draws heavily from Microsoft's main campus and its AI research and product teams.
Are there remote senior ai software engineer jobs in Washington?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 82% of senior ai software engineer openings tied to Washington are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, reflecting how naturally the work translates to distributed environments. Model development, research engineering, and ML platform work tend to be the most remote-friendly sub-areas within the role.
How can I get hired as a senior ai software engineer in Washington with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through an adjacent software engineering role, then building a transition portfolio in ML. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google all run new-graduate rotational and university hiring programs in Washington that place candidates with strong academic ML backgrounds into junior AI engineering roles. From there, internal transfers to senior AI teams are common. A strong GitHub portfolio with deployed model projects or a published Kaggle competition result can move a candidate into consideration even before formal years of experience accumulate.
Where can I find and apply to senior ai software engineer jobs in Washington?
You can find and apply to senior ai software engineer jobs in Washington on Migrate Mate, which lists current Washington openings. Find roles that fit your background and apply directly from the listing.
See All 85 Senior AI Software Engineer Jobs in Washington
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