AWS Presales Solution Architect

Job Description

Position: AWS Solution Architect

Experience: 12+ years

Location: Pune

Role Summary:

We are seeking an experienced and customer-facing AWS Solution Architect to lead end-to-end AWS and DevOps solution design, development, and delivery. This role will act as the primary interface with AWS customers in pre-sales and solution mode, stay aligned with the delivery team to ensure seamless project execution for customers. The ideal candidate will combine deep technical expertise with strong customer relationship/ pre-sales/ solutioning skills and project delivery ownership.

Key Responsibilities:

Mandatory:

1. Solution Design & Architecture

- Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of scalable, secure, and high-performance AWS cloud solutions for diverse customer needs.
- Design backend DevOps-enabled architectures, incorporating CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, automation, and monitoring solutions.
- Translate customer business requirements into detailed technical architectures, roadmaps, and implementation plans.
- Select optimal AWS services for use cases, balancing cost, performance, security, and scalability.

2. Customer Engagement & Technical Leadership

- Serve as the go-to technical advisor for AWS and DevOps engagements with customers.
- Lead technical discovery workshops, solution presentations, and proof-of-concepts (POCs).
- Build trusted advisor relationships with customer CXOs, architects, and technical leads.
- Provide thought leadership to customers on AWS best practices, cloud transformation strategies, and cost optimization.

4. Pre-sales and Delivery Ownership

- Interface with Customers for pre-sales activities, solutioning with conviction, own pre-contract engagement cycle and expert level interface with OEM/ Customers
- Take end-to-end ownership of AWS and DevOps project delivery from requirements gathering and design to deployment and handover.
- Collaborate with delivery teams to ensure solutions are implemented as designed, on time, and within budget.
- Define and enforce delivery governance practices, ensuring quality, performance, and compliance with SLAs.
- Manage delivery escalations, risks, and change requests.

Recommended:

4. AWS OEM Engagement

- Act as the primary point of contact with AWS partner and OEM teams to co-create joint go-to-market solution offerings.
- Participate in AWS partner programs, competency assessments, and co-sell initiatives.
- Stay updated on AWS product releases, services, and partner incentives to incorporate into solution offerings.

Collaborate with AWS Partner Development Managers and Solution Architects to align on technology roadmaps and certifications.

5. Best Practices, Standards & Enablement

- Define and evangelize AWS and DevOps best practices internally and for customers.
- Develop reusable solution blueprints, reference architectures, and technical assets.
- Mentor engineering teams, guiding them in implementing AWS and DevOps solutions effectively.
- Contribute to capability building, including certifications, training programs, and practice growth.

Required Skills & Experience:

- 12+ years of IT experience, with at least 5+ years in AWS architecture & solution delivery.
- Proven experience in customer-facing solution architecture and project delivery leadership.
- Strong knowledge of AWS core services: EC2, S3, VPC, RDS, Lambda, ECS/EKS, CloudFormation/Terraform, IAM, CloudFront, and related services.
- Exposure to container orchestration, serverless architectures, and AI/ML services on AWS.
- Experience with DevOps tools & practices: Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, Ansible, Terraform, and monitoring tools like CloudWatch, Prometheus, Grafana.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
- AWS Certification(s) required:
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional (mandatory)
- AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional (preferred)

Nice to have:

- Demonstrated ability to interface with OEMs (preferably AWS) for joint solutioning, co-sell programs, and go-to-market strategies.
- Familiarity with multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies.
- Experience with security and compliance frameworks (ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR).

Success Measures:

- Positive customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores and repeat business from AWS engagements.
- Successful end-to-end delivery of AWS and DevOps projects with minimal variances in cost, scope, and schedule.
- Team enablement and growth in AWS certifications and delivery capabilities.
- Nice to have: Increased AWS OEM alignment through co-branded solutions and partner program milestones.