Director SA - WW Startups

About the position

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides companies of all sizes with an infrastructure web services platform in the cloud ('cloud computing'). With AWS, startups and fast-growing companies can requisition compute power, storage, and many other services - gaining access to a suite of elastic infrastructure and application services as their business demands them. AWS is the leading platform for designing and developing applications for the cloud and is growing rapidly with hundreds of thousands of companies in over 190 countries on the platform. We are seeking a Solutions Architecture (SA) Director for our Worldwide Startups Organization. This role will directly manage a team of Software Development Engineers (SDE) and Product Managers as part of the Acquisition and Customer Engagement Team (ACE) to address long-tail and help customers build their business from the ground up on AWS. Additionally, this role will operate as the Single Threaded Leader (STL) of all Startup Solution Architects globally, driving goals and influencing the direction of our technical teams. This role is aligned to our field sales organization and will focus on supporting startups and high-growth digital native businesses. Ideal candidates must have deep experience in working with early-to-late stage startups, understanding their unique challenges and fast-paced requirements. This role blends strategic leadership and building deep technical solutions. As a leader of solutions architects, you will develop and grow customer-obsessed technical professionals who partner with customers to advise, mentor, and assist in architecting, deploying and operating mission-critical workloads on AWS. You will develop and lead programs that enable your team to deliver the right guidance, technical content and solutions to support startup customers, including core infrastructure services, application services, data and analytics, and DevOps/automation.

Responsibilities

• Directly manage a team of SDEs and Product Managers within the ACE team to build solutions and services that address the unique needs of startup customers
• As the Single Threaded Leader (STL) for the SUP Solutions Architect community globally, drive the overall strategy, goals and priorities for the team to ensure they are effectively supporting the startup segment
• Develop a deep understanding of the startup ecosystem, their technology needs, and their cloud journey
• Collaborate with sales and marketing teams to build programs that support startup customer onboarding and prescriptive cloud architecture guidance
• Hire, onboard, train, and develop a high-performing team of Solutions Architects with expertise in the startup segment
• Lead your team to educate startup customers on how to leverage AWS services and participate in architecture design sessions to ensure solutions are optimized for the cloud
• Conduct technical training and workshops for startups who are evaluating or using AWS
• Guide the development of whitepapers, presentations, and other high-value customer-facing content to share best practices
• Foster a culture of innovation, customer-centricity and continuous learning within your team

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience leading and growing teams of senior technology professionals
• 10+ years of design, implementation and consulting experience with cloud-native applications and architectures
• Excellent communication and presentation skills to engage with technical and non-technical audiences
• Demonstrated ability to rapidly learn new technologies and cloud services
• Technical degree or equivalent work experience; Computer Science background highly desired

Nice-to-haves

• Substantial experience working with startups and high-growth digital native businesses
• In-depth knowledge of modern cloud architecture patterns and services
• Proven track record of building and leading high-performing, customer-focused solutions architecture teams
• Strong understanding of cloud-native application development, DevOps, and software delivery lifecycles
• Experience in managing cross-functional teams including software engineers and product managers
• Meets/exceeds Amazon's leadership principles and functional/technical depth requirements

Benefits

• Equity
• Sign-on payments
• Medical benefits
• Financial benefits
• Other benefits