DESCRIPTION

This role is in the South Africa organization with focus on Enterprise customers in South Africa.

Solutions Architects (SAs) 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, helping customer adopt the best solution for their needs. Solutions Architects are responsible for creating and presenting technical content and sharing best practices.

Solution 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 customer's 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.

In this role, you will use your technical skills to work with customers to architect solutions to difficult problems. You will focus on work where the business objective (e.g., reduce risks, reduce costs, increase revenue from existing products, invent new products), opportunity, and strategy may be defined; but the technical solution design is not defined.

You will be a trusted technical advisor, focusing on understanding the customer needs, their context and specific value drivers in order to create the right technical solution that considers the appropriate trade-offs. You own the end-to-end design of your solutions, but have the full support of the AWS ecosystem, especially for complex risks or constraints. You will also seek opportunities to simplify existing solutions, processes, and designs. Your will solutions adhere to best practices of being secure, scalable, reliable, and performant.

The Solutions Architecture team is a diverse group of technologists from a variety of backgrounds. Practical knowledge of the AWS platform is desired but not required, provided you have a sound technical foundation and a desire to learn.

You will have the support to grow your expertise in industry and technology areas of depth. 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

• Build technical relationships with customers and operate as their trusted advisor. The best interests of the customer will shape the guidance you provide.

• Work directly with customers to accelerate their projects and recommend best-practice architectures in line with their long-term business outcomes.

• Understand architectural and design principles and can apply and validate them effectively.

• Create solutions that are secure, scalable, reliable, and performant.

• Architect for the immediate and future business or technical needs.

• Effectively communicate with technical and non-technical audiences.

• Run effective meetings both internally, and with customers while learning to build consensus.

• Advocate and educate about AWS technology (e.g. through workshops, user groups, meetups, public speaking, online videos or conferences).

• Share the voice of the customer to help improve AWS services over time

• Help coordinate and/or speak at events that educate technical and business audiences.

• Participate in the creation and sharing of best practices, technical content and new reference architectures (e.g. white papers, code samples, blog posts).

• 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.

About the team
AWS Global Sales drives adoption of the AWS cloud worldwide, enabling customers of all sizes to innovate and expand in the cloud. Our team empowers every customer to grow by providing tailored service, unmatched technology, and consistent support. We dive deep to understand each customer's unique challenges, then craft innovative solutions that accelerate their success. This customer-first approach is how we built the world's most adopted cloud. Join us and help us grow.

About AWS
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

• 4+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience

• 10+ years of IT development or implementation/consulting in the software or Internet industries experience

• Background in one or more of the following: Cloud Architecture, Solutions Architecture, Systems Design, Software Development, Infrastructure Architecture,

• Data Engineering or DevOps

• Technical Degree (Computer Science, Maths, Engineering or equivalent) and/or relevant tech experience.

• Fluent written and verbal communication skills in English

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Experience designing, building, refactoring or operating large scale and impactful IT systems - either on premises or in the cloud

• Working knowledge of cloud native architectures

• Knowledge of a modern programming language (Python, JavaScript, Go, .Net, Java, etc.) and/or scripting, Infrastructure as Code etc.

• In-depth working knowledge in a technology domain such as distributed internet-scale web or mobile applications, DevOps, Serverless, Migrations, Big Data, Analytics, Machine Learning, Enterprise workloads (SAP, VMware, Windows etc.), high-performance databases (SQL and/or NoSQL), complex networking implementations, highly secured workloads etc.

• Experience working in a customer-facing role

• AWS certification (e.g. AWS Solutions Architect Associate or Professional) or other industry certification

• Continued or advanced learning (Master, MBA, PhD or equivalent)

Amazon is an equal opportunities employer, and we value your passion to discover, invent, simplify and build. We welcome applications from all members of society irrespective of age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief. Amazon is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from South African citizens who are members of designated groups who may contribute to Employment Equity within the workplace and the further diversification of ideas. In this regard, the relevant laws and principles associated with Employment Equity will be considered when appointing potential candidates. We are required by law to verify your ability to work lawfully in South Africa. Amazon requires that you submit a copy of either your identity document or your passport and any applicable work permit if you are a foreign national, along with an updated curriculum vitae.