Principal Solutions Architect, GFS Solutions Architecture

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is looking for an experienced and motivated technologist who possesses a unique balance of technical depth and strong interpersonal skills. As a Principal Solutions Architect, you will partner with some of the world's largest financial services companies, AWS Sales and several other AWS teams to craft highly scalable, flexible and resilient cloud architectures that address customer business problems and accelerate the adoption of AWS services. In collaboration with sales, you will drive revenue growth across a small set of systemically important global financial services customers. As a trusted customer advocate, you will help these 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 enterprise customers.The ideal candidate must 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 for a Principal Solutions Architect. You should also have a demonstrated ability to think strategically about business, products, and technical challenges.At the Principal level, you will operate with complete independence in ambiguous environments where business objectives are emergent and problems are novel. You will own program-level technical strategy across multiple lines of business, decomposing significantly complex challenges into elegant solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes. Your work will influence entire organizations and extend across industries, establishing patterns that become reference architectures for the financial services sector.As a recognized technical thought leader, you will drive clarity where none exists, build consensus across diverse stakeholder groups from engineering teams to C-suite executives, and shape AWS product strategy through deep customer insights. This role demands exceptional judgment, the ability to think big while diving deep, and a relentless focus on raising the bar for technical excellence.Key job responsibilitiesStrategic Technical Leadership & Executive Advisory- Own program-level technical strategy for systemically important financial institutions' AWS adoption across multiple lines of business, including capital markets, wealth management, and institutional securities- Serve as trusted technical advisor to senior technology leadership and C-suite executives, leading technical and business strategy discussions that influence their technology vision- Architect solutions to significantly complex challenges involving large-scale distributed systems, real-time trading platforms, risk management systems, and regulatory compliance frameworks- Create exemplary reference architectures that become patterns for other global financial institutions- Drive alignment across customer's technology, business, risk, and compliance organizations while influencing long-term technology roadmap and architectural standards Thought Leadership & Industry Impact- Recognized as a technical thought leader in financial services cloud architecture, leading creation of whitepapers, reference architectures, and industry best practices- Speak at premier industry events with significant educational impact- Mentor and develop other Solutions Architects, providing technical assessments for Principal SA promotions- Create mechanisms, frameworks, and best practices that enable organizational scale Technical Excellence & Innovation- Design large-scale, multi-region architectures addressing complex requirements for performance, security, reliability, and operational efficiency- Lead technical due diligence for mission-critical workload migrations (trading systems, risk engines, core banking platforms)- Ensure solutions meet stringent regulatory requirements (SEC, FINRA, OCC, Fed) and industry standards- Drive adoption of advanced AWS capabilities including AI/ML, GenAI, real-time analytics, and event-driven architectures- Working backwards from your customers, identify gaps in AWS products and services, and work with relevant product teams to address themAbout the teamAbout AWSAmazon 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.Diverse ExperiencesAWS values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all the 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.Inclusive Team CultureHere 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.Mentorship & Career GrowthWe'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 BalanceWe 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.About The TeamAWS Sales, Marketing, and Global Services (SMGS) is responsible for driving revenue, adoption, and growth from the largest and fastest growing accounts to enterprise-level customers including public sector. The AWS Industries team is committed to helping industry customers enable their digital transformation journeys, speaking the language of our industry customers and focusing on business outcomes and industry use cases.BASIC QUALIFICATIONS- 15+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics or equivalent- Experience in cloud architecture and CXO level engagement- 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, publicationsPREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS- 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- Experience with IT compliance and risk management requirements (e.g. security, privacy, SOX, HIPAA etc.)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.