Solutions Architect - Retail Consumer Goods (UK&I), AWS UKI Solutions Architects, Retail Consumer Goods in Manchester

Agentic Commerce is about to reshape how the world shops - AI agents that discover, recommend and buy on behalf of shoppers and businesses - and Retail and Consumer Goods companies are racing to get ahead of it. This is your chance to be at the spearhead of that shift, helping some of the UK and Ireland's best-known brands turn it into real business value.

AWS Global Sales drives adoption of the AWS cloud worldwide, enabling customers of all sizes to innovate and expand in the cloud. Our team empowers every customer to grow by providing tailored service, unmatched technology, and support. We dive deep to understand each customer's unique challenges, then craft innovative solutions that accelerate their success. This customer-first approach is how we built the world's most adopted cloud. Join us and help us grow.

AWS is looking to hire a Solutions Architect, based in Manchester or London, focused on Retail and Consumer Goods customers across the United Kingdom and Ireland (UK&I). Our customer base spans a rich set of sub-segments - Fashion & Apparel, General Merchandise, Grocery, and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) - ranging from established enterprises to fast-moving digital natives.

Solutions Architects work hand in hand with AWS customers to help them make the most of the cloud. You'll sit at the crossroads of business and technology, engaging with organisations at all stages of cloud adoption. In the Retail and Consumer Goods industry, businesses are transforming well beyond simply selling products – through new channels, advanced stores and enhanced customer touchpoints, value-chain optimisation through demand forecasting and logistics, digital marketing, and customer-service advancement - using the full suite of cloud, data and AI services available through AWS and our extensive partner ecosystem.

In particular, this role sits at the spearhead of Agentic Commerce - the emerging shift where AI agents discover, recommend, negotiate and complete purchases on behalf of shoppers and businesses, reshaping how Retail and CPG customers sell, serve and grow. You'll work alongside customers as a trusted advisor to envision new possibilities and turn them into real business value.

As a Solutions Architect, you will blend deep technical expertise with strong business acumen to engage Retail and CPG organisations at all levels, up to and including the C-suite. You will be a pivotal member — often the technical anchor — of a Customer Account Team that brings together Account Managers, Customer Solutions Managers, Technical Account Managers and specialists across many technical domains, and you will own the overall technical relationship between your customers and AWS.

You will lead activities such as architecture reviews, collaborative design sessions (sometimes called white-boarding), demos and technical workshops, and make recommendations across security, cost, performance, reliability and operational efficiency. Internally, you'll be the voice of the customer, informing the AWS roadmap and collaborating with teams across account management, professional services, support, product teams and the AWS partner ecosystem.

In this role you'll get to practise your creativity, linking technology to tangible solutions and helping customers understand what is genuinely achievable with the cloud. You will define and invent cloud-native reference architectures across a range of use cases - including Generative and Agentic AI (and its application to Agentic Commerce), Machine Learning, Serverless and container-based architectures, Data and Analytics, DevOps and Security - and turn delivered solutions into reusable assets that other Solutions Architects can leverage with their customers.

Practical knowledge of the AWS platform is desired but not required, provided you have a sound technical foundation and a desire to learn. You will have the support to grow your expertise in the industry and technology areas of depth that matter most to your customers - and you'll bring your industry experience to bear in an environment that is comfortable with complexity, ambiguity and a broad set of technologies and use cases.

At Amazon you will be encouraged and rewarded for doing what is right for the long-term success of the customer. We value your passion to discover, invent, simplify and build on behalf of customers. Amazon has always been, and always will be, committed to diversity and inclusion. We seek builders from all backgrounds to join our teams, and we encourage our employees to bring their authentic, original, and best selves to work.

• Key job responsibilities
• Work as a pivotal part of a Customer Account Team - alongside Account Managers, Customer Solutions Managers, Technical Account Managers and domain specialists - engaging directly with Retail and CPG customers to accelerate their projects and recommend best-practice architectures aligned to their long-term business outcomes.
• Build technical relationships with customers, including senior stakeholders, and operate as a trusted advisor - the best interests of the customer will shape the guidance you provide.
• Proactively help identify new technical opportunities that positively impact your customers' business objectives - including emerging Agentic Commerce use cases, which you'll be supported to build depth in.
• Design customer solutions, applying your judgement and experience to advise on the short- and long-term implications of trade-offs (for example extensibility, flexibility, scalability and maintainability).
• Share the voice of the customer to help inform the roadmap of AWS features.
• Contribute to the creation and sharing of best practices, technical content and reference architectures (for example white papers, code samples and blog posts), and help turn delivered solutions into reusable artifacts for other Solutions Architects.
• Help promote and educate customers about AWS technology - through workshops, user groups, meetups, public speaking, online content or conferences. You'll be supported to develop these skills if they're new to you.
• Contribute to the growth of the Solutions Architecture organisation, including participating in hiring as you build experience, and help others develop new skills through mentoring and knowledge sharing.
• Develop areas of depth in the technical domains most relevant to your customers' outcomes and your own interests.

A day in the life

No two weeks look the same. You might kick off the week with your Customer Account Team - comparing notes with the Account Manager on a customer's priorities, aligning with the Customer Solutions Manager on a live programme, and looping in a data & analytics specialist for an upcoming design. From there you might be deep in a customer architecture session one day, running a hands-on workshop the next, prototyping an Agentic Commerce idea with AWS and partner solutions later in the week, and mentoring or sharing what you've learned with teammates by Friday. The work style is flexible, blending on-site collaborative design with online collaboration. It's a dynamic environment with plenty of opportunity to both receive and offer support across a wider technical community - all in the name of customer obsession and industry impact.

About the team

You won't work alone. You'll be part of a multi-disciplinary Customer Account Team that wraps around each customer. You'll get to know:

• Account Managers - own the overall business relationship and commercial strategy for the customer.
• Customer Solutions Managers - orchestrate delivery and keep complex programmes on track across the customer's cloud journey.
• Technical Account Managers - provide ongoing operational guidance and advocacy for customers who want a deeper support relationship.
• Specialists across many technical domains - bring deep expertise in areas such as AI/ML, data & analytics, security, networking and more, on tap when you need them.

As the Solutions Architect, you connect the technical dots across this team - and you'll always have its expertise and support behind you.

Basic qualifications

• Experience within specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics).
• Experience in design, implementation, or consulting in applications and infrastructures.
• Experience in IT development or implementation/consulting in the software or Internet industries.
• Knowledge of AWS services.

Preferred qualification

• Experience working within software development or Internet-related industries.
• Experience migrating or transforming legacy customer solutions to the cloud.
• Experience working with AWS technologies from a dev/ops perspective.

Amazon is an equal opportunities employer. We believe passionately that employing a diverse workforce is central to our success. We make recruiting decisions based on your experience and skills. We value your passion to discover, invent, simplify and build. Protecting your privacy and the security of your data is a longstanding top priority for Amazon.

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.