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About This Role
DESCRIPTION
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Are you a customer-obsessed builder with a passion for helping customers achieve their full potential? Do you have the business savvy, GenAI background in the Startup space, and technical sales skills necessary to help position AWS as the cloud provider of choice for customers? Do you love building new strategic and data-driven businesses? Join the Worldwide Specialist Organization (WWSO) Startup team as a Business Development Specialist!
The Worldwide Specialist Organization (WWSO) is part of AWS Sales, Marketing, and Global Services (SMGS), which 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. We work backwards from our customer’s most complex and business critical problems to build and execute go-to-market plans that turn AWS ideas into multi-billion-dollar businesses. WWSO teams include business development, specialist and technical solutions architecture. As part of WWSO, you'll provide expertise across the entire life cycle of an AWS customer initiative, from developing ideas for new services to accelerating the adoption of established businesses. We pride ourselves on thinking big, delivering exceptional results for our customers, and working across AWS as #OneTeam.
The WWSO team helps customers adopt our newest and most advantageous technologies. We are technology specialists. The WWSO Startup team is a team dedicated to helping Startups scale quickly and cost-effectively on AWS. We want Startups to grow better when they choose AWS and we make it easier by recommending the right technologies and then by helping Startups get up and running quickly.
This position specifically is part of the WWSO Startup team, where you will be a Technical Business Developer that helps Startups adopt AWS’ technologies with a focus on GenAI, among others. You will 1/Be the best storytellers and technologists, 2/Work with the most promising Startups, 3/Scale tech knowledge via products, programs, and the AWS Field, and 4/Gather critical Startup feedback to inform our product roadmaps.
Key job responsibilities
- Interact at the CxO/VP level, as well as with developers and technical architects, to ease adoption, develop pipeline, secure lighthouse customers, drive top-line revenue, and explore strategic partnerships.
- Become a trusted business advisor within customer accounts through Technical Thought Leadership.
- Develop and deploy programs that leverage AWS Field teams, as well as technology and consulting partner channels.
- Collaborate with AWS Product and Technical teams to create solutions that solve customer problems, including reference architectures, patterns, automation, and release plan.
- Work with Marketing to develop and align digital marketing campaigns to drive awareness and demand.
- Own the Startup GTM strategy and execution for GenAI in the eastern US, collaborating with teams in the field including Sales, Partners, Marketing, and other Specialists.
About the team
The Worldwide Specialist Organization (WWSO) works backwards from customers to build and execute go-to-market plans that turn AWS ideas into multi-billion-dollar businesses, and pride themselves on thinking big, delivering exceptional results for our customers, and working across AWS as #OneTeam.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
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- Bachelor's degree or equivalent
- 7+ years of relevant GTM, Sales, or Consulting experience.
- 5+ years of technology domain experience in one of, or a combination of, the following fields: LLM, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and/or GenAI.
- Experience driving partnerships and developing joint go-to-market strategies with AI/ML model providers.
- Hands-on understanding of open source software, deep learning, and other ML algorithms with hands-on experience running pilots and POCs to demonstrate capabilities to prospects.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
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- Startup background and experience at a VC or PE-backed firm in a Product, BD, or Sales Executive capacity.
- Established track record of building rapport with Startup executives and closing strategic deals.
- Familiarity with open-source software used by Startups and working knowledge of software development tools and methodologies.
- Strong data-based storytelling skills with a high degree of comfort speaking with Startup executives and developers.
- Recognized industry expertise in primary discipline(s) with proven public speaking prowess.
- Cloud expertise as demonstrated by one or more cloud certifications.
- An Advanced degree highly preferred, especially an MBA or MS in CS or Engineering.
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. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, NY, New York - 162,700.00 - 220,200.00 USD annually
Salary Context
This $162K-$220K range is above the median for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $170K across 217 roles with salary data).
View full AI/ML Engineer salary data →Role Details
About This Role
AI/ML Engineers build and deploy machine learning models in production. They work across the full ML lifecycle: data pipelines, model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure. The role has evolved significantly over the past two years. Where ML Engineers once spent most of their time on model architecture, the job now tilts heavily toward inference optimization, cost management, and integrating LLM capabilities into existing systems. Companies want engineers who can ship production systems, and the experimenter-only role is fading fast.
Day-to-day, you're writing training pipelines, debugging data quality issues, setting up evaluation frameworks, and figuring out why your model performs differently in staging than it did on your dev set. The best ML engineers are obsessive about reproducibility and measurement. They instrument everything. They know that a model is only as good as the data feeding it and the infrastructure serving it.
Across the 37,339 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 91% of the market. At Amazon Web Services, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week might include: debugging a data pipeline that's silently dropping 3% of training examples, running A/B tests on a new model version, writing documentation for a feature flag system that lets you roll back model deployments, and reviewing a junior engineer's PR for a new evaluation metric. Meetings tend to be cross-functional since ML touches product, engineering, and data teams.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
Skills Required
Python and PyTorch dominate the requirements. Most roles expect experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and familiarity with ML frameworks like TensorFlow or JAX. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has become a top-3 skill requirement as companies integrate LLMs into their products. Docker and Kubernetes show up in about a third of postings, reflecting the production focus of the role.
Beyond the core stack, employers increasingly want experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), feature stores, and vector databases. Fine-tuning experience is valuable but less common than you'd think from reading Twitter. Most production LLM work is RAG and prompt engineering, not fine-tuning. If you have both, you're in a strong position.
Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI/ML Engineer roles pay a median of $154,000 based on 8,743 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $225,000. This role's midpoint ($191K) sits 24% above the category median. Disclosed range: $162K to $220K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $190,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $244,000. The 90th percentile reaches $300,688. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Engineering Manager ($293,500) and AI Safety ($274,200). By seniority level: Entry: $85,000; Mid: $147,000; Senior: $225,000; Director: $230,600; VP: $248,357.
Amazon Web Services AI Hiring
Amazon Web Services has 14 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, AI Product Manager. Positions span New York, NY, US, Arlington, VA, US, Seattle, WA, US. Compensation range: $220K - $252K.
Location Context
AI roles in New York pay a median of $204,100 across 1,633 tracked positions. That's 7% above the national median.
Career Path
Common paths into AI/ML Engineer roles include Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Research Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer.
The fastest path into ML engineering is through software engineering with a self-directed ML education. A CS degree helps, but production engineering skills matter more than academic credentials. Build something that works, deploy it, and measure it. That portfolio project is worth more than a Coursera certificate. For career growth, the fork comes around the senior level: go deep on technical complexity (staff/principal track) or move into managing ML teams.
What to Expect in Interviews
Expect system design questions around ML pipelines: how you'd build a training pipeline for a specific use case, handle data drift, or design A/B testing infrastructure for model deployments. Coding rounds typically involve Python, with emphasis on data manipulation (pandas, numpy) and algorithm implementation. Take-home assignments often ask you to build an end-to-end ML pipeline from raw data to deployed model.
When evaluating opportunities: Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 37,339 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 3,672 entry-level, 23,272 mid-level, 7,048 senior, and 3,347 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 7% of the market (2,732 positions). The remaining 34,484 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $190,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $244,000. The 90th percentile reaches $300,688. Highest-paying categories: AI Engineering Manager ($293,500 median, 21 roles); AI Safety ($274,200 median, 24 roles); Research Engineer ($260,000 median, 264 roles).
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 37,339 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (33,926), AI Software Engineer (823), AI Product Manager (805). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (3,672) are outnumbered by mid-level (23,272) and senior (7,048) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 3,347 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 7% of all AI roles (2,732 positions), with 34,484 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $190,000. Top-quartile roles start at $244,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $300,688. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Engineering Manager roles lead at $293,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $145,600. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Rag (23,721 postings), Aws (12,486 postings), Rust (10,785 postings), Python (5,564 postings), Azure (3,616 postings), Gcp (3,032 postings), Prompt Engineering (2,112 postings), Kubernetes (1,713 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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