- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as Business Administration, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
- Minimum of 8 years of leadership experience in a sales or customer-facing management role, preferably in the technology or cloud computing industry, in a Leader of Leaders capacity.
- Proven ability to build and maintain strong relationships with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders.
- Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively convey technical concepts to executive-level audiences.
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyze complex data and identify opportunities.
- Strong understanding of cloud economics, pricing models, and commercial aspects of cloud services.
- Excellent leadership, coaching, and mentoring abilities.
Amazon is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. For individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please visit https://www.amazon.jobs/en/disability/us.
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $157,800/year in our lowest geographic market up to $260,800/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 https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits. This position will remain posted until filled. Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.
As a Head of Customer Optimization & Acceleration (CO&A) team, you will have the exciting opportunity to be part of a team whose goal is to make it seamless for customers to do business with AWS. The CO&A team helps simplify the customer experience by addressing complex operational issues as customers adopt cloud technologies. The CO&A team contributes to the business in three dimensions, a) simplifying pre-sales and post-sales customer experience, b) saving time from Account Managers in taking over operational tasks, c) accelerating customer cloud optimization to lower cloud consumption costs and help our customers reinvest the savings into other innovative AWS services and products to accelerate their digital transformation.
You will lead an international team across North America, LATAM, EMEA and APJ responsible for supporting our customers across these geographies. As a senior leader of leaders, you will define the vision and strategy for the function, working closely with our worldwide sales teams to deliver an outstanding customer experience.
Your responsibilities will focus on recruiting, hiring and developing a team who will provide unparalleled business support to customers, including account management activities, cloud optimization efforts, and other programs focused on creating an excellent customer experience. Additionally, you will set performance goals and metrics, timelines and a formal tracking process to measure and manage progress. You should be a leader with exceptional organizational skills, prepared to work in a high-volume environment, with multiple sales teams in a fast paced, dynamic industry.
This position must sit within one of our North America hubs: Seattle, Denver or New York City.
Key job responsibilities
Team Management and Leadership:
• Manage and mentor a team of CO&A Managers, providing guidance, coaching, and professional development opportunities.
• Ensure effective resource allocation, workload distribution, and prioritization of tasks within the team and across geographies.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performing team environment, promoting knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
Strategic Planning and Execution:
• Develop and implement strategies to optimize customer cloud spend, drive cost savings, and maximize the value of reinvestment into AWS services and products.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Sales, Product, Marketing, Partner, and other stakeholders, to align customer optimization and acceleration efforts.
• Identify and address gaps or opportunities in customer optimization and acceleration processes, driving continuous improvement.
Customer Engagement and Relationship Management:
• Oversee the delivery of executive-level content, presentations, and workshops by the CO&A Specialists to customers.
• Ensure that the team provides subject matter expertise in cost optimization, cloud economics, and commercial aspects throughout the customer life-cycle.
• Foster strong relationships with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders to drive successful outcomes.
Reporting and Analytics:
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of customer transformation, optimization, and acceleration initiatives.
• Analyze customer data and reports to identify trends, opportunities, and areas for improvement in cost optimization and acceleration strategies.
• Ensure that the team effectively assesses and addresses customers' reporting needs related to cloud costs, usage, optimization, and acceleration initiatives.
Team Development and Mentorship:
• Provide leadership, guidance, and mentorship to the CO&A Specialists, fostering their professional growth and development.
• Identify training needs and facilitate learning opportunities to enhance the team's skills and knowledge.
• Promote a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and customer-centricity within the team.
About the team
The CO&A team is a highly skilled group of cloud experts dedicated to maximizing the value of our customers' AWS investments. Through their deep understanding of cloud economics and commercial strategies, they empower customers to optimize their cloud spend and drive significant cost savings. These savings are then strategically reinvested into innovative projects, enabling customers to accelerate their digital transformation and gain a competitive edge. With a customer-centric approach and a passion for continuous improvement, the CO&A team collaborates closely with customers to identify optimization opportunities, implement best practices, and unlock the full potential of the cloud. Their expertise and commitment to customer success make them invaluable partners in enabling reinvestment and driving business growth.
About the team
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
Here at AWS, it’s 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
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 in the cloud.
About Sales, Marketing and Global Services (SMGS)
AWS Sales, Marketing, and Global Services (SMGS) is responsible for driving revenue, adoption, and growth from the largest and fastest growing small- and mid-market accounts to enterprise-level customers including public sector.
