Amazon Aurora DSQL is a serverless, distributed SQL database that combines the performance and scalability of cloud-native architecture with the familiarity and ecosystem of PostgreSQL. Aurora DSQL automatically scales compute and storage, delivers high availability across regions, and eliminates operational overhead—while remaining compatible with PostgreSQL applications and tooling.

We are seeking PostgreSQL internals experts to advance Aurora DSQL’s query processing capabilities. This is a deep systems engineering role focused on ensuring semantic, functional, and behavioral parity with PostgreSQL while extending its architecture to run efficiently in a distributed, elastic environment.

As part of the core database engine team, you will work across the PostgreSQL planner, executor, and other subsystems to evolve Aurora DSQL’s hybrid execution model. The ideal candidate understands PostgreSQL internals—from parser to executor—and thrives on solving hard problems at the intersection of distributed systems, concurrency control, and database correctness.

Key job responsibilities
- Analyze, adapt, and extend PostgreSQL internals (parser, planner, executor, catalog, and transaction manager) to operate correctly and efficiently in Aurora DSQL’s distributed runtime.

- Build mechanisms that maintain PostgreSQL semantics (MVCC, snapshot isolation, error codes, data types, and function behavior) in a horizontally scalable environment.

- Develop compatibility test frameworks to validate DSQL’s correctness against upstream PostgreSQL.

- Collaborate with query processing, storage, and transaction teams to integrate distributed primitives into PostgreSQL-compatible interfaces.

- Debug complex behaviors in areas like visibility, locks, and plan caching to ensure fidelity with PostgreSQL behavior under distributed execution.

- Contribute to the long-term architecture enabling Aurora DSQL to support next-generation PostgreSQL features at virtually unlimited scale.

A day in the life
You’ll deep-dive into PostgreSQL internals—reasoning through planner/executor nodes, commit protocols, and system catalogs—while designing new abstractions that preserve correctness in distributed execution.
You’ll profile query behavior, validate transaction semantics across regions, and partner with engineers across compute, storage, and transaction subsystems to ensure every PostgreSQL feature “just works” on Aurora DSQL.
You’ll participate in design reviews, mentor engineers, and drive the compatibility roadmap for Aurora DSQL’s PostgreSQL layer.

About the team
We are the Aurora DSQL Query Processing team; this team is the execution engine behind every SQL executed statement in Aurora DSQL. We are responsible for bridging one of the world’s most advanced open-source databases with AWS’s distributed, serverless architecture.
Our engineers come from database internals backgrounds and large-scale distributed systems teams. We value curiosity, precision, and craftsmanship—and we work in an environment where deep systems problems meet high-scale real-world impact.

We are committed to mentorship, technical excellence, and shared ownership. You’ll work alongside engineers who have contributed to PostgreSQL’s planner, executor, and MVCC subsystems—and help define how Aurora DSQL evolves to support PostgreSQL workloads natively in the cloud.

Senior Software Engineer – Distributed PostgreSQL Engine, Aurora DSQL, Aurora Distributed SQL Query Processing