8 ways AWS employees are building with impact

Driving customer success

AWS employees take pride in directly contributing to customer success. Anish Pansare, senior technical account manager (TAM), explains how this focus on customer outcomes allows AWS team members to see the tangible impact of their work.

“As a senior TAM, I get to work directly with AWS customers. We are responsible for managing their services and maintaining their infrastructure that’s running on AWS, and we meet with our customer stakeholders every day," he said. "When I find opportunities where we can save money for our customers, that’s something the delivers a huge impact for them and makes me proud.”

Operating at massive scale

The sheer scale of AWS provides unique opportunities to make a difference. Nick Mullen describes his experience as an AWS software development engineer:

“Few places have the scale of Amazon and AWS. You work on large challenges with smart, qualified, talented people who are there for the same reasons and are equally engaged. It's challenging to think about things at a large scale, knowing that every change impacts many companies. It often requires rejecting off-the-shelf solutions and thinking creatively to create custom solutions that work at AWS's scale.”

Making a meaningful impact

AWS employees are finding even more personal and professional fulfillment through the meaningful impacts of their work — for communities, governments, sustainability, healthcare, and more.

Nik Hutson, a senior TAM for AWS Enterprise Support, supported a major life sciences customer when he started at AWS about six years ago. Now he works with customers in the energy sector.

“We have the opportunity to drive significant positive change across so many industries. In healthcare, I helped develop machine learning infrastructure that led to the creation of a revolutionary blood test capable of detecting 50 common types of cancer in early stages. Now, in the energy sector, I'm working with one of the world's largest electricity providers to modernize their systems, enabling them to meet their sustainability goals and while modernizing their infrastructure to handle the load of renewable energy sources. AWS really empowers us to contribute to solutions that address some of society's most pressing challenges.”

Omar Baltazar, regional security manager for AWS infrastructure physical security, led the security strategy for AWS’s first Local Zone site in Los Angeles in 2019 and saw the immediate benefits for AWS customers. Baltazar also values the connection between his professional and personal life when he thinks about the impact of his work.

“As an Amazon customer myself, along with my family, knowing that our data is secure really matters to me. AWS infrastructure is part of the backbone of the internet, so knowing that we prioritize security — and show our customers through the investments we make in how we deliver security day in day out — the impact is huge.”

"AWS really empowers us to contribute to solutions that address some of society's most pressing challenges.”

Nik Hutson
senior technical account manager, AWS enterprise support

Innovating daily

AWS's culture of innovation empowers employees to experiment and push boundaries. As Praachee Gokhale, a senior solutions architect, shares:

“At AWS, we're not just keeping up with innovation, we're driving it. From attending cutting-edge industry conferences to getting hands-on with the latest in generative AI through Amazon Bedrock, Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Q, and all these industry-leading technologies, we are always at the forefront," Gokhale said. "But what really sets us apart is how we empower employees to innovate in areas they're passionate about. We have something called Technical Field Communities, where I've been able to dive deep into containers and Docker, creating workshops that directly impact our customers. The pace here is fast, but it's also rewarding when you're actively part of the innovation you're witnessing.”

Mae Reyes, senior customer solutions manager, said Amazon’s escalation culture empowers employees to innovate quickly. She explains:

“In other places I've worked, the idea is we try to solve things at the ground level, and only escalate up to leadership if 'there's a need,' which is subjective," she said. "At Amazon, leadership likes to know what is happening on the ground so that it's never too late to act. It's part of our culture. This is so we can move quicker and avoid possible potholes.”

Taking ownership

Employees are encouraged to take ownership of projects from the initial idea to implementation. Eduardo Amorim, an AWS software engineer for AI devices, describes his experience:

“We're pushing the frontiers of innovation that have a huge impact for our customers, which creates these 'pinch me' moments. There's a motivation to deliver the best results because we're working on such cool products that a lot of people will use. It's about taking ownership and realizing, 'I have to deliver this because it's going to be incredible.' If you're a candidate who's already technically sound, I think the most important qualities to help you succeed at AWS are accountability, owning your mistakes, communicating well, and being straightforward about what's happening.”

Continuous learning and collaboration

Cross-team collaboration is key to tackling complex challenges, and it’s also an endless source of learning. Girish Keshav, a senior solutions architect, highlights this aspect:

"At AWS, I've learned that sharing your work isn't about bragging—it's about sparking collaboration. When I advocate for my projects, I often hear, 'can I collaborate with you?' This leads to improvising and building solutions I hadn't even considered," he said. "It's not just about improving my own work; it's about fostering relationships and connecting across our diverse teams. By reaching out and sharing what I've done, I've found I can make a much broader impact than I ever could alone, and you get to meet and learn from some really interesting and talented people.”

"I thought it would take me years and years to build this level of experience, but here I am at AWS and they're training me and paying me to learn, and I really love that so much."

Cheryl Wang
associate security solutions architect

Career growth

AWS provides numerous opportunities for career growth and development, including mechanisms for employees to drive their own growth through career conversations with their managers and mentorship opportunities.

Mullen describes his promotion as a transparent process that he was able to drive himself:

“I set goals with my manager, who helped clear the path for my promotion by assigning relevant tasks and helping me grow across Leadership Principles and necessary skills.”

For Cheryl Wang, an associate security solutions architect, she’s felt her own career growth accelerate just a year and a half into her very first job.

“I love everything about my job, especially the fact I get to work with so many customers, and many of them are very senior people such as CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers). I thought it would take me years and years to build this level of experience," Wang said, "but here I am at AWS and they're training me and paying me to learn, and I really love that so much.”  

Professional fulfillment

There's more to a great career than just the work. Especially at AWS. As Reyes explains:

“Every single project that I work on challenges me to learn something new. My team helped our customer launch and grow their new media and entertainment products, and it was like having a front-row seat to a rocket launch. Knowing I've contributed to my customer's success is a big source of pride for me. When I tell people about what I do, I just have a big smile on my face. I am so proud of what we're able to achieve.”

Lien Trac, senior customer solutions manager, has been at AWS for four years and experiences fulfillment through the innovations she helps her customers adopt.

“When you see these services come to light, or we've got a new thing coming out in the next six to eight months that's going to solve your customers' problems, it's exciting. It changes their entire roadmap of how they adopt our services," she said. "It's exciting career-wise because you get to say, 'I helped build this product and helped shape where it's going for our customers.’”