About this role
Are you passionate about helping State and Local Government and Higher Education institutions unlock the transformative power of cloud technology? Amazon Web Services is seeking a Solutions Architect I to join a team of experienced cloud architects serving customers across the mid-Atlantic region. In this role, you'll apply your technical fundamentals, communication skills, and eagerness to learn new technologies to help diverse organizations progress on their cloud journey. This is more than a typical technology entry point. You'll work at the intersection of innovation and public service, helping government agencies, universities, and K-12 schools architect cloud solutions that modernize their operations, improve constituent and student experiences, and achieve mission-critical outcomes. Your ability to dive deep into technical details, learn rapidly, and clearly communicate solutions to technical audiences will help grow our State and Local Government and Higher Education businesses while making a meaningful impact on communities across the region. Key job responsibilities - Design and deliver components of cloud architecture solutions that meet infrastructure and application requirements for State and Local Government and Higher Education customers, applying best practices for security, scalability, reliability, and performance - Create proof of concepts, demos, and scripts from scratch or leveraging reusable components to demonstrate cloud solutions and help customers understand the possibilities for their organizations - Develop your capabilities as a trusted technical advisor by taking the time to learn and understand each customer's needs and technology challenges, diving into technical details with customer teams, and participating in constructive technical solutions discussions - Partner with account teams, professional services, and AWS engineering groups to support customer engagements by managing your tasks effectively, communicating status clearly, and escalating appropriately when issues are difficult or complex - Contribute to educating customers and internal teams by helping develop and deliver technical content such as presentations, workshops, and best practice guidance, focusing on tactical topics and point solutions while following prescribed content best practices A day in the life Your day might begin by shadowing a senior Solutions Architect during an architecture review with a state agency exploring modernization options, where you contribute by diving into specific technical details and helping document the solution requirements. Next, you'll assist in delivering a hands-on workshop that demonstrates serverless computing for a university IT team, following prescribed content best practices and helping attendees work through implementation challenges. After collaborating with your account team to understand the business context behind a K-12 district's migration goals, you'll own a component of the solution design and build a proof-of-concept that illustrates the possibilities with analytics and machine learning services. You'll wrap up by joining a strategic planning discussion with a higher education CIO alongside a more senior Solutions Architect, listening to learn how cloud technology maps to institutional objectives. About the team You will join a collaborative team of 10 Solutions Architects dedicated to supporting State and Local Government, Higher Education, and K-12 customers across the mid-Atlantic region. Based primarily in the DC metro area with colleagues in North Carolina and South Carolina, the team works together to deliver exceptional technical guidance and drive cloud adoption across the public sector. The team's mission is to help public sector organizations modernize their operations and achieve their goals through innovative cloud solutions. You'll be part of a culture that values mentorship, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning, where senior Solutions Architects guide your growth while you contribute to exciting projects that make a meaningful difference in communities. Together, you'll architect solutions that transform how government agencies, universities, and schools serve their constituents and students.