Principal Solutions Architect

Were seeking a Principal Solutions Architect who combines deep hands-on technical expertise with the ability to build scalable mechanisms that amplify the effectiveness of our Startup Solutions Architecture team.

This role requires a rare blend of builders depth and strategic impact: someone who can still design code and operate systems at scale while also creating programs frameworks and reusable assets that multiply impact across hundreds of startups.

Why This Role

At AWS were looking for builders who scale impact. The successful candidate will combine:

* Deep technical expertise (still hands-on)
* Scalable mechanism design (programs frameworks enablement)
* Startup empathy (credible in front of developers and co-founders)
* AI/data native perspective (helping startups turn data into their moat)

This role offers the chance to shape how AWS engages startups at scale while working at the frontier of cloud data AI innovation.


Key job responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Mechanism Building
* Design and implement scalable programs reusable assets and automation tools that amplify the impact of the Startup SA org.
* Create reference architectures IaC templates and enablement content to accelerate solution delivery across startups.
* Develop systematic approaches to capture codify and share technical insights from the field back into the org.
* Mentor SAs and drive technical upskilling programs that elevate the entire teams capabilities.

Domain Expertise & Hands-on Impact
Principal SAs for Startups should have depth and expertise in one of the following technical domains but the technical curiosity to become proficient in all:
* ML/AI Infrastructure:
* Architect training and inference systems at scale (distributed training LoRA/QLoRA quantization GPU/TPU optimization).
* Design end-to-end ML pipelines and MLOps workflows (data prep labeling model registry deployment).
* Build and optimize model serving architectures and inference systems for cost and latency.
* Cloud Native & Kubernetes:
* Lead design and ops excellence for Kubernetes/EKS service mesh microservices and serverless-first architectures.
* Ensure security compliance and observability in containerized workloads.
* DevOps & Reliability:
* Drive GitOps-first workflows CI/CD at scale IaC (Terraform/CDK) and automated testing frameworks.
* Apply SRE best practices: monitoring incident management resilience and scaling patterns.
* Data Strategy & Foundations:
* Advise startups on proprietary data strategy as a moat: collection quality labeling governance.
* Architect data pipelines (ETL/ELT streaming orchestration) and integrate with modern analytics platforms (Snowflake Redshift BigQuery Databricks).
* Guide adoption of feature stores vector databases and lakehouse patterns to enable ML/RAG use cases.
* Ensure compliance and governance across sensitive workloads (GDPR HIPAA SOC2).

Technical Trend Analysis & Strategic Impact
* Maintain deep understanding of emerging technical trends in GenAI cloud and data ecosystems.
* Translate insights into actionable guidance for startups and scalable mechanisms for the org.
* Provide forward-looking perspectives on technology adoption evolution and competitive advantage.

Scaling & Developer Enablement
* Build repeatable solutions and reference architectures addressing common startup pain points.
* Publish blogs whitepapers open-source repos and technical presentations that extend reach beyond direct engagements.
* Act as a co-founder whisperer translating complex technical trade-offs into pragmatic startup-stage guidance.



About the team
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 hasnt followed a traditional path or includes alternative experiences dont let it stop you from applying.
Why AWS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the worlds most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating thats why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.
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 flexible work hours and arrangements are part of our culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home theres nothing we cant achieve in the cloud.
Inclusive Team Culture
Here at AWS its 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.
Mentorship and Career Growth
Were continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earths Best Employer. Thats why youll find endless knowledge-sharing mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

- 12 years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development cloud computing systems engineering infrastructure security networking data & analytics) experience
- Deep technical expertise in multiple domains including ML/AI systems cloud-native architectures (Kubernetes microservices serverless) DevOps/SRE practices and data engineering/strategy with advanced proficiency in languages like Python Go TypeScript and Java.
- Demonstrated track record of scaling technical impact through building enablement programs mentoring teams and establishing best practices that transform individual expertise into organizational capabilities.
- Strong technical leadership credentials including creating technical content contributing to open-source projects delivering thought leadership and effectively communicating with audiences from engineers to C-suite executives.
- Comprehensive understanding of modern AI/ML ecosystems (LangChain Hugging Face vLLM Ray) combined with expertise in cloud-native security compliance and observability frameworks to build production-grade systems.

- Experience building deploying and operating systems and infra at hyperscale.
- A history of contributions to open-source or developer communities.
- A strong portfolio of technical publications talks or thought leadership.
- The credibility to pair-program with a founder one day then brief a C-suite on trends the next.

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 Companys reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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 for more information. If the country/region youre applying in isnt listed please contact your Recruiting Partner.

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $164500/year in our lowest geographic market up to $284300/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge skills and experience. Amazon is a total compensation company. Dependent on the position offered equity sign-on payments and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package in addition to a full range of medical financial and/or other benefits. For more information please visit This position will remain posted until filled. Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.