Senior HDD Hardware Engineer - S3 Storage, OEM Drives

Description

Application deadline: Nov 15, 2026

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Hardware Engineering team creates compute and storage server designs for Amazon’s innovative web services. Our designs are industry-leading in performance, frugality and operational excellence, and are critical to the success of the AWS business and the more than one million customers who use AWS today. Our Hardware Engineers solve challenging technology problems, and build architecturally sound, high-quality server platforms and components to enable AWS to realize critical business strategies. We are seeking experienced Hardware Design Engineers to build the next generation of our cloud systems. Our success depends on our highly respected server infrastructure; we’re handling massive scale and rapid integration of emergent technologies.

Key job responsibilities
As a member of the S3 Hardware engineering team, you will be responsible for bringing new HDD technology to our systems & products as well as scaling how we operate our massive existing & rapidly growing fleet. You will interact with engineers across the company, external vendors and work with an interdisciplinary team to execute product designs from concept to production including design, development, validation, and the successful implementation of your work at large scale. You’ll provide leadership in the application of new technologies to large scale server deployments in a continuous effort to deliver a world-class customer experience. This is a fast-paced, challenging position, and you’ll work with thought leaders in multiple technology areas. You’ll have high standards for yourself and everyone you work with, and you’ll be constantly looking for ways to improve your products performance, quality and cost. We’re changing an industry, and we want team members who are ready for this challenge and want to reach beyond what is possible today.

A day in the life

Your day begins by reviewing overnight fleet analytics dashboards that monitor millions of hard drives across AWS data centers worldwide. You analyze performance trends and anomalies, using data-driven insights to prioritize which system interaction issues require immediate attention and which represent opportunities for long-term optimization. This morning review shapes your focus for the day, balancing immediate operational needs with your strategic work advancing the next generation of storage technology.

Approximately half of your time is dedicated to pioneering new technology initiatives that will define the future of cloud storage. You might spend your morning collaborating with hardware partners to land revolutionary HAMR laser-enabled HDDs into production, working through the complex qualification process that will eventually bring unprecedented storage density to AWS customers. In the afternoon, you could be evaluating breakthrough firmware capabilities that fundamentally change how drives perform, running extensive validation tests to ensure these innovations meet AWS's exacting standards before deployment at scale. You also push the boundaries of software-HDD interaction, architecting novel approaches that extract maximum performance and reliability from storage hardware in ways that weren't previously possible. These initiatives require you to think years ahead, anticipating how emerging technologies will enable AWS to continue delivering industry-leading storage solutions.

The remainder of your time focuses on maintaining operational excellence across the existing fleet. You debug complex system interaction issues flagged by your automated monitoring, tracing root causes through layers of infrastructure to develop fixes that prevent similar problems across millions of devices. You continuously build and refine the automation frameworks, analytics tools, and scalable solutions that make managing a fleet of this magnitude possible. Every script you write and every system you architect multiplies your impact exponentially, ensuring that as AWS scales and adopts cutting-edge storage technologies, the infrastructure remains robust, efficient, and capable of supporting the next generation of cloud innovation that our customers depend on.


About the team
Drive Hardware Development Engineers in AWS Hardware Engineering own all of the HDD's in Amazon S3. You own coordinating with HDD manufacturers on development and qualification of HDDs. Once landed you drive orchestration tooling development, hardware integration, and deep into problems across the breadth of AWS. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of HDDs, and proven track record of rapidly coming up to speed on new engineering challenges, making impactful decisions within that space, and have experience gluing together components written by more specialized engineers to create a cohesive, well-running engineering product.

Why AWS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Utility Computing (UC)
AWS Utility Computing (UC) provides product innovations — from foundational services such as Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), to consistently released new product innovations that continue to set AWS’s services and features apart in the industry. As a member of the UC organization, you’ll support the development and management of Compute, Database, Storage, Internet of Things (IoT), Platform, and Productivity Apps services in AWS, including support for customers who require specialized security solutions for their cloud services.

Inclusive Team Culture
Here at AWS, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Our employee-led affinity groups foster a culture of inclusion that empower us to be proud of our differences. Ongoing events and learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon (gender diversity) conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness.

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 we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud.

Mentorship and 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, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

Diverse Experiences
Amazon values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred 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.

Basic Qualifications

- Experience in developing functional specifications, design verification plans and functional test procedures
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or equivalent
- 5+ years of engineering experience deploying and operating HDDs systems.
- Deep engineering understanding of HDDs function and system interactions.

Preferred Qualifications

- Master's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or equivalent
- Experience with the project management of technical projects
- 8+ Years in HDD or storage related Engineering
- Experience with SATA interface, ACHI, or host level storage debugging

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.