Senior Solutions Architect, National Security Solutions Architecture Team

Full Job Description

Amazon Web Services is seeking a Senior Solutions Architect to support our US Government customers in the Northern Virginia / DC Metro area. (Relocation assistance is available.)

This position requires that the candidate selected must currently possess and maintain an active TS/SCI security clearance with polygraph. The position further requires the candidate to opt into a commensurate clearance for each government agency for which they perform AWS work.

As a Solutions Architect on the National Security team, you will serve as a trusted technical advisor to your Intelligence Community customers. You are the “face of Amazon” to your customers, and they will consult you regarding a broad variety of technical challenges that are complex and mission-critical. You can build sample solutions, “think big,” and provide architecture designs and cloud enablement strategy that suit your customer’s business and technical needs. This is a high-visibility role where you collaborate with and influence external stakeholders (our government customers) and internal AWS teams like Sales and Platform Engineering.

National Security Solutions Architects are regarded as technical “thought leaders” within the Intelligence Community who evangelize emerging technologies on a conceptual level and on a practical, architectural level. Our SAs have played a critical role in the widespread adoption and advancement of cloud computing capabilities within the Intelligence Community. SAs think outside of the box to deliver results to our customers and provide solutions that are cost-effective, time-saving, and secure. As a National Security SA, you’ll solve problems at both the business and technical levels. You'll work backwards from our customers’ requirements and envision new mechanisms and strategies we can leverage that would enable agencies to operate more efficiently and better execute on their goals. Then, you'll figure out how to make the puzzle pieces fit together from the technical side and deliver the offering to the customer at scale. Frequently, you will be responsible for mission-critical solutions with life-saving implications.

Sometimes, the best way to innovate around a customer pain point is to create a new product altogether. This position offers you the unique opportunity to drive the AWS service roadmap to support our customers’ requirements within the complex technical constraints of the cleared environment.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is looking for technologists who align with our Leadership Principles and possess a unique balance of technical depth and strong interpersonal skills. You will partner with customers, AWS Sales, and several other AWS teams to craft highly scalable, flexible, and resilient cloud architectures that address Intelligence Community customer business problems and accelerate the adoption of AWS services. In collaboration with Sales, you will drive revenue growth across a broad set of customers. As a trusted customer advocate, the solutions architect will help organizations understand best practices around advanced cloud-based solutions and how to migrate existing workloads to the cloud. You will have the opportunity to help shape and execute a strategy to build mindshare and broad use of AWS within the Intelligence Community. The ideal candidate is be self-motivated, with a proven track record in software/technology sales or consulting. The ability to connect technology with measurable business value is critical to a solutions architect. You should also have a demonstrated ability to think strategically about business, products, and technical challenges.

We are looking for someone who is passionate about the following:

• Be great fun to work with at AWS. We have a credo of “Work hard. Have fun. Make history." In this role, you will love what you do and instinctively know how to make work fun. You will be dynamic, creative, and willing to take on any challenge and make a big impact.
• Enjoy working with Intelligence Community customers. You will have a passion for educating, training, designing, and building cloud solutions for a diverse and challenging set of Intelligence Community customers.
• Have a strong understanding of large-scale computing solutions. The ideal candidate will have past experience working as a systems or support engineer and pre-sales experience. You will enjoy keeping your existing technical skills honed and developing new ones, so you can make strong contributions to deep architecture discussions. You will regularly take part in deep-dive education and design exercises to create world-class solutions built on AWS.

This position can have periods of up to 25% travel.

This position requires that the candidate selected be a US Citizen and must currently possess and maintain an active TS/SCI security clearance with polygraph.

Key job responsibilities

• In partnership with the sales team, formulate and execute a sales strategy to exceed revenue objectives through the adoption of AWS
• As a key member of the business development and sales team, ensure success in building and migrating applications, software and services on the AWS platform
• Educate customers of all sizes on the value proposition of AWS, and participate in deep architectural discussions to ensure solutions are designed for successful deployment in the cloud
• Conduct one-to-few and one-to-many training sessions to transfer knowledge to customers considering or already using AWS
• Capture and share best-practice knowledge among the AWS solutions architect community
• Author or otherwise contribute to AWS customer-facing publications such as whitepapers and other reusable content
• Build deep relationships with senior technical individuals within customers to enable them to be cloud advocates
• Act as a technical liaison between customers, service engineering teams and support

About the team 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, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.

Why AWS? Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Inclusive Team Culture AWS values curiosity and connection. Our employee-led and company-sponsored affinity groups promote inclusion and empower our people to take pride in what makes us unique. Our inclusion events foster stronger, more collaborative teams. Our continual innovation is fueled by the bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and passionate voices our teams bring to everything we do.

Mentorship & Career Growth We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll 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, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience
• 6+ years of design, implementation, or consulting in applications and infrastructures experience
• Experience communicating across technical and non-technical audiences, including executive level stakeholders or clients
• • Experience defining technical solutions, in order to meet business objectives
• Current, active US Government Security Clearance of TS/SCI with Polygraph

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of infrastructure architecture, database architecture and networking experience
• Experience architecting or deploying Cloud/Virtualization solutions in enterprise customers
• Experience architecting infrastructure solutions using both Linux/Unix and Windows with specific recommendations on server, load balancing, HA/DR, & storage architectures
• Knowledge of software development tools and methodologies
• Bachelor's degree, or CASP+ (CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner) or CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) or Cloud+ or CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional)
• Understanding of Federal Government application, server, and network security requirements such as ICD 503, FISMA, and FedRAMP

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, VA, Herndon - 153,600.00 - 207,800.00 USD annually

8+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience 6+ years of design, implementation, or consulting in applications and infrastructures experience Experience communicating across technical and non-technical audiences, including executive level stakeholders or clients * Experience defining technical solutions, in order to meet business objectives Current, active US Government Security Clearance of TS/SCI with Polygraph