Sr Software Development Manager Jobs in Virginia
Sr Software Development Manager jobs in Virginia are in high demand, concentrated in defense contracting, federal IT, cybersecurity, and commercial cloud services across experience levels from lead engineer to senior director of engineering. The busiest hiring markets are Northern Virginia, Richmond, and the Hampton Roads corridor, where employers like Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Capital One have deep, lasting engineering footprints. The most sought-after specialties include cloud platform engineering, agile program leadership, and distributed systems architecture. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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DESCRIPTION
Amazon's Access Management Services (AMS) organization builds and operates the authorization backbone for all of Amazon. Our services govern who and what can access resources across the company — from group membership and ownership to policy evaluation and contingent authorization, to access lifecycle management. We secure authorization decisions at Amazon scale. Security is our top priority, but we also obsess over availability, latency, and cost-to-serve for the teams that depend on us.
AMS is looking for an experienced Senior Software Development Manager to lead the organization that builds, owns, and operates Amazon's attribute-based access control (ABAC) policy services. Your team defines how authorization policies are expressed, evaluated, and enforced across Amazon — making access decisions for every service and workflow that touches protected resources. You will own Tier-1 services foundational to Amazon's operations while driving a shift from manual, team-by-team policy configuration toward intelligent defaults and automated guardrails that reduce friction for builders without compromising the security bar. This is a hard problem — ABAC policy must be expressive enough to cover wildly diverse authorization use cases, reliable enough to bear deep operational dependencies, and performant enough to operate at a scale where even small design choices have outsized blast radius.
This team is in the middle of a fundamental acceleration. The rise of agentic AI across Amazon is reshaping how authorization works — and how we build it. We're applying generative AI to compress our own development cycles, transform how we operate Tier-1 services, and deliver new AI-native authorization capabilities that let Amazon's businesses safely adopt agentic workloads at speed. If you love transforming legacy processes, building high-performing teams, and operating at a pace that matches the moment, this role will fit. You'll have substantial visibility with senior executives and the mandate to move fast. You'll need strong instincts for security outcomes paired with a passion for customer experience — and the technical depth to guide and riase the bar on principal engineers, SDEs, and development managers on system design, incremental delivery, and operational excellence.
This role invents and delivers for internal customers and is inherently cross-functional and requires the ability to think big and collaborate with others as you work closely with teams across engineering, operations, finance, and security. We are looking for a critical thinker who thrives on solving challenges in partnership with teams across Amazon.
Key job responsibilities
You make high-judgment decisions at speed — seeking the right inputs without waiting for perfect information
You dig into hard, ambiguous problems and don't flinch at complex distributed systems
You lead through your people, not over them — challenging teams to find the answer while knowing exactly when to step in with structure and urgency
You expect effort, reward results, and hold yourself to the same bar
You follow the data, think strategically about where the world is going, and still dive deep to stay close to tactical execution
You have a healthy intolerance for the status quo — you'd rather redesign a system than patch around its limitations
You juggle competing priorities without dropping quality in a fast-moving environment
You build trust quickly with senior stakeholders and partner teams who depend on your services
About the team
Diverse Experiences
Amazon Security values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.
Why Amazon Security?
At Amazon, security is central to maintaining customer trust and delivering delightful customer experiences. Our organization is responsible for creating and maintaining a high bar for security across all of Amazon’s products and services. We offer talented security professionals the chance to accelerate their careers with opportunities to build experience in a wide variety of areas including cloud, devices, retail, entertainment, healthcare, operations, and physical stores.
Inclusive Team Culture
In Amazon Security, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Ongoing DEI events and learning experiences inspire us to continue learning and to embrace our uniqueness. Addressing the toughest security challenges requires that we seek out and celebrate a diversity of ideas, perspectives, and voices.
Training & Career Growth
We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, training, and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.
Work/Life Balance
We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why flexible work hours and arrangements are part of our culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 10+ years of engineering experience
- 5+ years of engineering team management experience
- 10+ years of planning, designing, developing and delivering consumer software experience
- Experience partnering with product or program management teams
- Experience managing multiple concurrent programs, projects and development teams in an Agile environment
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience partnering with product and program management teams
- Experience designing and developing large scale, high-traffic applications
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, San Diego - 220,100.00 - 297,700.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Herndon - 220,100.00 - 297,700.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 220,100.00 - 297,700.00 USD annually
See All 15 Sr Software Development Manager Jobs in Virginia
Find roles in Virginia that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find JobsSr Software Development Manager Jobs by City in Virginia
Where Virginia roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Sr Software Development Manager Job Market in Virginia
A snapshot from current Virginia openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring



Top Industries Hiring
- Retail
- Technology & Software
- E-Commerce & Online Marketplaces
What Virginia Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in sr software development manager jobs across Virginia.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a closely related technical discipline
- Seven or more years of software development experience with at least three in a management role
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional engineering teams of ten or more engineers
- Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud in enterprise environments
- Active or obtainable U.S. security clearance, required by many Virginia defense and federal contractors
- Strong command of agile delivery methodologies including Scrum, SAFe, or Kanban at program scale
Sr Software Development Manager Jobs in Virginia: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a sr software development manager in Virginia?
The most direct path is a bachelor's degree in computer science or software engineering followed by several years of hands-on development experience before moving into team leadership. Virginia does not require a state-issued license for software management roles, but employers in the defense and federal contracting sectors frequently require a security clearance adjudicated through a federal agency. Candidates who build experience leading agile teams and earning cloud certifications are most competitive for senior roles at Virginia's major employers.
Which companies hire sr software development managers in Virginia?
Employers hiring sr software development managers in Virginia right now include Amazon, Workday, and Amazon Web Services, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Northern Virginia's dense concentration of defense contractors and federal technology firms means many openings carry clearance requirements alongside standard engineering leadership qualifications.
Which Virginia cities have the most sr software development manager jobs?
Herndon, Reston, and Arlington have the most sr software development manager openings in Virginia. Northern Virginia dominates because of its unmatched density of federal agencies, defense contractors, and cloud infrastructure campuses, while Richmond draws demand from financial services and state government technology programs, and Hampton Roads hiring is driven largely by Navy and Department of Defense IT operations.
Are there remote sr software development manager jobs in Virginia?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 0% of sr software development manager openings tied to Virginia are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, reflecting how much of the work centers on architecture reviews, sprint planning, and stakeholder alignment rather than on-site hardware. Roles tied to classified programs or federal facilities in Northern Virginia typically require at least partial on-site presence.
How can I get hired as a sr software development manager in Virginia with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is moving into an engineering team lead or technical lead role first, then stepping up to management after demonstrating delivery ownership. Virginia's large defense contractors such as Leidos, SAIC, and Northrop Grumman run associate and rotational engineering programs that place candidates into structured team environments. Adjacent roles like principal engineer, engineering program manager, or technical product manager are common stepping stones. Earning an AWS or Azure certification and contributing to open-source or internal platform projects strengthens a promotion case considerably.
Where can I find and apply to sr software development manager jobs in Virginia?
You can find and apply to sr software development manager jobs in Virginia on Migrate Mate, which lists current Virginia openings updated regularly. Search the listings for roles that match your experience level and location preference and apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 15 Sr Software Development Manager Jobs in Virginia
Find roles in Virginia that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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