CDE Sr. Solutions Architect, Software and Technology (San Francisco)

Join the AWS Solutions Architecture team as a Customer Deployed Engineer SA for Software and Technology customers. Our customers are born in the cloud and are leading the industry in AI-Native transformation. You will define and prove technical direction by combining architectural reasoning and strategic advisory with hands-on validation in customer environments. You will build working prototypes, proof-of-concepts, and AI-driven solutions that accelerate customer decisions and remove the gap between architectural recommendation and validated proof. You operate where the path forward is undefined and must be defined by you. Your customers have business objectives but may not have defined technology strategy or solution design. You create and adapt approaches for situations where established patterns are insufficient, applying contextual judgment about your customers' operational constraints, regulatory environment, and competitive dynamics. You will be the primary technical partner for your customers. You lead with Agentic AI and AI-assisted development to solve customer problems, and you steer customers away from where hype outpaces practical value for their operational context. You maintain technical currency so customers receive guidance based on current capability, not outdated expertise. You build deep relationships with customers’ senior technical leaders to enable them to be cloud advocates.You are technically self-sufficient, yet you know when to seek help: you are capable of using AI tools and delivering directly in customer sandbox environments. You drive the architectural decisions that downstream teams (customer engineering, ProServe, partners) build against, and you own the consequences with the customer when those decisions need revisiting. Key job responsibilitiesTechnical Proof & Validation Build working prototypes in customer non-production sandbox environments using AI-augmented development tools (Kiro, Claude Code, Bedrock) to validate architectural recommendations and accelerate customer adoption • Implement directly to unblock customer decisions: build PoCs proving architectural approaches that conversations alone cannot validate • Deploy infrastructure using IaC (CDK, Terraform) in customer sandboxes, demonstrating scalability and security patterns• Apply GenAI and agentic systems (multi-agent orchestration, RAG pipelines, foundation model integration) where they solve customer problems. Architectural Reasoning & Decision Ownership • Frame and resolve technical trade-offs involving multiple competing concerns (security vs. cost vs. operational burden vs. time-to-market vs. industry compliance), bringing a clear recommendation with alternatives articulated• Make cross-cutting architectural decisions that ensure coherence across systems, teams, and workstreams; flag decisions that are difficult to reverse before the customer commits• Diagnose non-obvious architectural issues including resilience gaps, failover weaknesses, scaling bottlenecks, and security vulnerabilities.• Own the architectural decisions that downstream teams build against and own the consequences with the customer when those decisions need revisiting• Stay engaged through implementation to ensure the architecture holds against the reality of the customer's environment; know when accumulated context warrants a revised approachStrategic Advisory & Customer Influence• Own the end-to-end technical strategy for assigned customers, maintaining the current view of their technical landscape, industry context, and competitive dynamics• Partner with the sales team, formulate and execute a sales strategy to exceed revenue objectives through the adoption of AWS• Influence senior leaders' technology direction by connecting short-term AI and cloud decisions to long-term business outcomes; earn trust through guidance that consistently delivers the outcomes they expected • Challenge customer direction when evidence indicates a better path; customers avoid costly rework because you identify risk early and bring considered alternatives • Shape AI and cloud strategy for major operators — translating complex capabilities into business-outcome narrativesRevenue & Opportunity Acceleration• Accelerate customer adoption by removing ambiguity through validated proof points, measurably reducing the time from architectural recommendation to customer commitment• Identify new opportunities discovered during customer engagements• Increase service adoption through tangible multi-service integration demos• Conduct one-to-few and one-to-many training sessions to transfer knowledge to customers considering or already using AWS• Identify implementation pathways that benefit from ProServe expertise, creating natural expansion opportunities through demonstrated valueCustomer Relationship & Communication Skills • Experience presenting to both large and small audiences (Executives, IT Management, and developers)• Experience communicating across internal and external organizations• Ability to moderate tone and technical depth based on audience• Ability to pick up on non-verbal communication and un-said driversThought Leadership & Product Influence • Author or otherwise contribute to AWS customer-facing publications such as blogs and whitepapers.• Translate customer feedback into clear, actionable requirements that service teams act on; synthesize evidence across multiple engagements rather than relaying feedback from one. Accelerate development and reduce ambiguity by creating code for a proposed feature to illustrate your requirement that can be reviewed and evaluated for inclusion into product codebase.Basic qualifications- 8+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience- 3+ years of design, implementation, or consulting in applications and infrastructures experience- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics or equivalent- Demonstrated ability to build and validate solutions hands-on (code, infrastructure as code, tested deployments), not only advise- Experience communicating across technical and non-technical audiences, including executive level stakeholders or clients including building deep relationships with senior technical leaders.Preferred qualification - Experience working with end user or developer communities- Experience working in a Software and Technology segment, with startups or ISVs.- Hands-on proficiency with AI/ML in production: agentic architectures, RAG pipelines, multi-agent orchestration, foundation model integration- Experience with AI-augmented development workflows (Kiro, Claude Code, or similar).- Track record of producing original technical content (reference architectures, workshops, code) adopted by peers or customers- Experience challenging and influencing customer technical direction based on evidence, not only supporting stated goalsAmazon 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 Company’s 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 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 .USA, CA, Irvine - 153,600.00 - 207,800.00 USD annuallyUSA, CA, San Francisco - 176,600.00 - 239,000.00 USD annuallyUSA, TX, Austin - 153,600.00 - 207,800.00 USD annuallyUSA, WA, Seattle - 153,600.00 - 207,800.00 USD annually