Principal Solutions Architect, Retail, Consumer Goods & Restaurants, AWS

Solutions Architects work hand in hand with AWS customers to help them make the most of the Cloud. They are at the crossroads of business and technology and engage with organizations at all stages of cloud adoption. Solutions Architects are responsible for creating and presenting technical content and sharing best practices.

Solutions Architects are responsible for the overall technical relationship between customers and AWS and make recommendations on security cost performance reliability and operational efficiency. They work to understand the customers needs and give prescriptive guidance on how to create business value with AWS technology. Solutions Architects lead activities such as architecture reviews white-boarding sessions demos and technical workshops. They collaborate with other teams such as account management professional services support product teams and the AWS partner ecosystem.

As a Principal Solutions Architect you serve as the senior technical leader for one or more strategic customers while extending your influence and technical depth across the broader customer portfolio. You set technical direction that others follow resolve the hardest architectural and organizational problems and influence the decisions of senior customer executives and AWS leadership. You work with minimal guidance on ambiguous high-stakes problems where the right answer is not yet defined and you look for patterns and trends that can be applied broadly across a customer segment to accelerate innovation. You are an externally recognized thought leader and an internal role model who delivers bar-raising guidance to the broader Solutions Architecture team.

In this role you will get to practice your creativity linking technology to tangible solutions and educating AWS customers about the art of the possible. You will have the opportunity to define or invent cloud-native reference architectures for a variety of use cases (e.g. Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Serverless and Container based architectures Analytics and Big Data DevOps or Security). The Solutions Architecture team is a diverse group of technologists from a variety of backgrounds. Deep demonstrated expertise on the AWS platform is expected at this level along with a track record of applying it to large-scale complex environments.

You will have the support to grow your expertise in industry and technology areas of depth and you will be expected to raise the technical bar of the SAs and teams around you. Every day you will learn something new from your customers your peers and your own experiments.

At Amazon you will be encouraged and rewarded for doing what is right for the long-term success of the customer. We value your passion to discover invent and build on behalf of customers.


Key job responsibilities
- Own the technical strategy for a portfolio of customers or a technology domain and drive multi-year architectural direction that spans multiple teams and customers
- Build technical relationships with customers and operate as their trusted advisor. The best interests of the customer will shape the guidance you provide.
- Engage and influence senior customer stakeholders (Director VP CTO CIO level) on technical strategy and investment decisions
- Identify patterns and trends that can be applied broadly across a customer segment and use them to accelerate innovation
- Share the voice of the customer to inform the roadmap of AWS features and proactively work within the organization to influence the evolution of the platform
- Set the technical direction and standards that other SAs adopt and lead the definition of reusable reference architectures used across the organization
- Contribute to the growth of the Solutions Architecture organization by interviewing candidates and having a voice in hiring decisions. You will also be helping others develop new skills by mentoring team members
- Act as a force multiplier across the organization: formally mentor senior SAs raise the hiring bar and develop the technical depth of the broader team



About the team
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.

Diverse Experiences
AWS 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.

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 & 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.

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 theres nothing we cant achieve in the cloud.


- 10 years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development cloud computing systems engineering infrastructure security networking data & analytics) experience
- Bachelors degree in computer science engineering mathematics or equivalent
- Experience developing technology solutions and evangelising end-to-end technology roadmaps that guide IT transformations toward cloud computing
- Experience communicating across technical and non-technical audiences and at C-level including training workshops publications

- Knowledge of distributed systems design and implementation or equivalent
- Knowledge of large scale automation and workflow management or equivalent
- Knowledge of database design and implementation or equivalent
- Knowledge of presentations and whiteboarding skills with a high degree of comfort speaking with internal and external executives IT management and developers
- Experience architecting migrating transforming or modernizing customer requirements to the cloud

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 for more information. If the country/region youre applying in isnt 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 OR Portland - 182800.00 - 247300.00 USD annually
USA WA Seattle - 182800.00 - 247300.00 USD annually