Senior Executive Search Researcher, Principal Engineer Recruiting

Company: Amazon
Location: Seattle
Posted on: April 2, 2026

Job Description:

The Principal Engineer (PE) Recruiting Team sits within Amazon’s Executive Staffing Organization. The team hires Principal, Senior Principal, and Distinguished Engineers – the Company's most senior technical contributors. Members of Amazon's Principal Engineering Community are exemplary practitioners and pragmatic visionaries. Our Principal Engineers set the standard for engineering excellence across Amazon. In order to scale Amazon’s Principal Engineering Community, the PE Recruiting Team is looking for a Research Recruiter who shares a passion for hiring the best and the brightest engineers in the world. The PE Recruiting Team has the unique ability work across all of Amazon’s businesses and impact each senior leadership team. The Recruiter will be responsible for owning and executing Principal Engineer searches. They will own relationships with senior executives and create robust hiring and candidate development strategies. They will be expected to identify, recruit, and hire world renowned technical candidates. This person will need to be well-versed in all aspects of senior executive technical search, particularly candidate identification, engagement, development, and creative sourcing. They will work with a strong, established recruiting team of Client Lead and Research Recruiters. Key job responsibilities Specific responsibilities include but, aren’t limited to: - Developing a robust, multi-channel, search strategy that will attract world class technical contributors. - Acting as a talent adviser to Technical and Business Leaders across Amazon – educating Hiring Managers about the external Principal Engineer demographic. - Clearly communicating status and progress against open searches. Providing strategic guidance to executive leadership in matters related to top technical talent. - Serving as an expert for technology recruiting. - Continuous company and talent mapping in key tech areas for the company. - Developing prospects into candidates, engaging them and performing assessment/screening and presenting candidates to executive leadership. - Continually contributing to the knowledge base of the group and Amazon, as a whole, by providing education on relevant industries and talent pools/profiles. - Building out talent networks in technology and product sectors and tapping knowledgeable industry sources to develop an on-going pool of candidates. - Supporting client update meetings on active searches with market relevant content. - Conducting phone interviews and preparing candidates for on-site interviews, participating in pre-brief meetings. - Coaching leaders to continuously improve their talent acquisition capabilities – especially at senior level. To be successful in this role, you will bring the following: - Research acumen and creativity; An individual who can learn new tech and product domains quickly and understand how to craft effective search strategies within those domains. - Superb communication skills; a compelling communicator able to engage the attention of busy, senior executives. - Self-assured, not easily thrown, able to think on your feet; this individual may be called upon to work on highly confidential searches with very senior leaders. - Inquisitive; a strong desire to learn - Demonstrated ability to work in a team environment, as a team leader and member. A day in the life The PE Recruiting team is the talent acquisition engine for Amazon's PE Community. We take a multi-channel (e.g., target company mapping, conference and event engagement, referral and network lead generation) approach to talent identification, engagement, assessment and match-making. As a Senior Executive Research Recruiter you will set search strategy, identify the right talent ecosystems to engage, and strategize how best to engage technical luminaries externally. About the team The PE Research Team's mission is to identify, build a relationship with, and hire, every great Principal Engineer in the world. We use several tenets to guide us. Specifically, we believe that: Applying research yields a healthy search outcome: With a well thought-out search plan, research accelerates ‘time to fill’ and prioritizes quality prospect touchpoints over quantity to create a prospect flywheel that earns customer, and candidate, trust. We prioritize time to build a prospect and candidate pipeline as diverse as our customers. We balance long-term candidate relationships with quick action on urgent, critical, business needs. Successful Research Recruiters don’t take short cuts, know candidate motivations deeply, and compile accurate market analysis with precise record keeping. Individual wins are team wins. We are proud of making hires as a team. We are happy when our research delights our customers and results in a hire. Turn over every stone: Fear-less curiosity means asking difficult questions to disambiguate search problems, highlight the tradeoffs that need to be made in a search, and zero in on the search objective. We prioritize proactive communication of good and bad news to key stakeholders. PE Research is grateful for what came before and builds on existing data to deliver candidate and market insights, accelerate, and innovate, but isn't afraid to adapt, and try new directions when a search is stuck. We develop durable research that others want to use. - Experience in recruiting or research work at a market insights firm, executive search firm, or global in-house executive search team - Bachelor's degree or equivalent - Experience recruiting passive candidates who are the most senior experts in their field - Experience with executive recruiting in either a blue-chip, global in-house executive search team, or a top executive search firm 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, Seattle - 142,800.00 - 193,200.00 USD annually

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