Amazon Redshift is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the Redshift Engine Team, a global organization spanning the United States and Europe. Amazon Redshift is the most widely used cloud data warehouse, powering SQL analytics on unified data across Redshift Managed Storage and open data lakes for tens of thousands of customers worldwide. The team's vision: build the best SQL analytics engine for humans and agents over any data.
This is a rare opportunity to lead at the intersection of analytics, AI, and distributed systems at a massive scale. The team owns the core query processing engine optimization, high-performance execution, catalog, Exabytes of managed storage, and leading-edge autonomics and is innovating across serverless scale-up/scale-out, automated cluster management, AI-driven scaling, zero-ETL integrations, an integrated data lake query engine, and natural-language analytics via Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases.
As Director, you will own the technical strategy and execution for the engine, shape how AI agents interact with Redshift for intelligent query generation and optimization-aware execution, lead a globally distributed organization, and drive cross-organizational collaboration with partner services including Glue Data Catalog, EMR, Athena, and SageMaker Unified Studio.
Key job responsibilities •Define and drive the long-term technical vision for the Redshift query engine as the industry-leading SQL analytics engine for human users and AI agents alike including how autonomous and agentic workloads interact with the engine for intelligent query generation and optimization-aware execution. •Lead and grow a globally distributed engineering organization across the US and Europe, fostering a culture of operational excellence, innovation, and ownership. •Own the architecture and roadmap for query optimization, high-performance execution, scalable catalog, cost-based planning, storage, and self-tuning systems including next-generation solutions for transactional data warehousing and elastic query processing over open-format data at scale. •Drive cross-organizational collaboration across partner services (Glue Data Catalog, EMR, Glue, Athena, SageMaker Unified Studio), building consensus on shared architecture and delivering outcomes that span team charters. •Champion performance and price-performance leadership across serverless, automated cluster management, and real-world customer workloads. •Partner with AI/ML and science teams to advance natural language-to-SQL capabilities and integrate generative AI into the analytics experience. •Build and maintain relationships with strategic customers, incorporating feedback into the engine roadmap. •Establish engineering best practices, mentoring programs, and career development frameworks for a high-performing global team.
Basic Qualifications
•Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, Statistics or 12+ years equivalent experience •10+ years of software engineering experience •10+ years leading distributed engineering teams •Experience with large-scale data systems or database technologies
Preferred Qualifications
•15+ years of software engineering experience with 5+ years in a senior leadership role (Director or equivalent) •Deep expertise in database internals, query processing, query optimization, or distributed execution engines •Track record delivering complex, large-scale infrastructure or platform products at thousands-of-customers scale •Experience leading globally distributed engineering teams across multiple time zones •Demonstrated ability to drive cross-organizational alignment and influence technical direction across partner organizations •Strong understanding of cloud architectures, data analytics patterns, and data lake/open-format ecosystems (Apache Iceberg, Parquet, or similar) •Experience with query optimizer design, cost-based optimization, high-performance execution engines, or petabyte-scale workload management •Background in AI/ML-powered systems, including large language models, agentic architectures, or natural language interfaces for data systems •Track record building and shipping serverless or auto-scaling distributed data systems •Experience collaborating across diverse analytics or data platform organizations (e.g., data catalog, ETL, query federation, ML platforms) •Executive presence with excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to influence VP and C-level •Published research or patents in databases, query processing, or related fields
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.
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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 - 297,500.00 - 350,000.00 USD annually