Principal APN Programs Lead, Scalable GTM and Funding Programs

This position is part of the AWS Specialist and Partner (ASP) Organization, within the WW Scalable GTM and Funding Programs team. As a Senior Technical Business Development leader for Specialization and APN Programs, you will define and drive the worldwide strategy for how AWS validates, develops, and scales partner capacity and capability—ensuring the right partners are equipped to deliver the right outcomes for customers across every workload and industry.

You will own the strategic direction of the AWS Specialization Program—a multi-billion-dollar revenue-generating segment of the AWS Partner Network encompassing thousands of partners across the full portfolio of designations—and lead its transformation from a manually-operated validation framework into an agentic, AI-powered partner development platform. Your charter is to dramatically increase the number of partners who have proven capacity and capability to serve customers, while reducing the friction and cost of validation at scale. You will architect the next generation of programmatic partner key performance indicators that feed AWS recommendation engines (Marketplace, Solution Matching Engine, Field Advisor), directly shaping how customers discover and select partners.

This is a strategy-defining role. You will set the multi-year vision for how specialization drives AWS Partner Network growth, you will work across the team to define key partner performance metrics and index and influence investment priorities, make trade-off decisions across competing stakeholder demands, and influence senior leadership on program direction. You will create entirely new mechanisms—including agentic program that use AI to automate partner assessment, launch readiness, and cohort management at scale. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in AWS Partner Network strategy, technical business development at enterprise scale, and the ability to drive organizational alignment around a bold, forward-looking vision in ambiguous environments.

• Key job responsibilities
• Specialization & APN Strategy
• - Define and own the strategy for AWS Specialization Program, setting the vision for how partner validation drives AWS Partner Network growth and customer outcomes
• - Architect the strategic shift from designation-as-gate to designation-as-growth-accelerator, increasing the number of partners with proven capacity and capability to serve customers
• - You develop customer intake signals of what is needed from partners to drive business transformation across different partner types (ISVs, SIs, Startups)
• - Develop the partner performance index that drives AWS Specialization Program achievement and renewals
• - Set priorities and make trade-off decisions across the specialization and partner portfolio, balancing stakeholder demand against resource constraints and strategic impact
• - Influence AWS senior leadership on program direction, securing alignment on business value, resource investment, and acceptable trade-offs

• Agentic APN Program Design
• - Create and drive the vision for an Agentic APN Program that partner performance data and AI to automate partner assessment, validation, renewal, and development at unprecedented scale
• - Design autonomous program operations that significantly reduce human-in-the-loop processing, enabling the team to manage exponential partner growth without linear headcount scaling
• - Architect AI-powered launch readiness frameworks that compress designation launch cycles from months to weeks
• - Define how agentic systems generate partner development recommendations, automatically routing partners to enablement resources based on capability gaps and customer demand

• AWS Partner Network Growth & Partner Capability
• - Own the strategy for increasing the total addressable partner base with validated, customer-ready capabilities across priority workloads. This includes understanding the needs of customers across Geos and market trends.
• - Work across Core Programs and Delivery team to influence incentive structures and program mechanisms that motivate partners to invest in capability development and maintain excellence post-designation
• - Create scalable pathways for emerging partners (Startups, ISVs, SIs) to achieve specialization and APN tier growth expanding the AWS Partner Network.
• - You create the Core messaging for APN in the market and an enablement strategy that fuels this growth to meet customer demand. This includes working with the Enablement Shared Services Team to restructure the enablement programs to meet the needs of the business
• - Define how specialization signals integrate into AWS recommendation algorithms (Marketplace, SME, Field Advisor, Alchemy) to drive measurable customer adoption of validated partners

• Cross-Functional Influence & Execution
• - Operate as the strategic connective tissue between Engineering, Solution Architects, WWSO, and Field teams—aligning resources and roadmaps to program priorities
• - Own executive-level operating mechanisms (WBRs, QBRs, leadership reviews) that communicate program health, partner growth metrics, and strategic decisions

• A day in the life
• You measure key partner performance metrics across the AWS Partner Network. You review customer signals and market trends on what they need from partners. You meet with Specialist and Geo teams to understand the needs of the business. From this you understand how to drive growth of the AWS Partner Network, and drive strategy and changes. You build process, tools, and agents that leverage data and create recommendations of what an AI Partner Program can do to fuel their growth. You develop the mechanisms that need to be in place to drive a success AI Partner Program. This includes shaping the Partner Performance Index and aligning the performance of partners to different benefits across AWS Partner Network and tiers. You drive launch strategy including messaging, enablement, and success of adoption.

• About the team
• Diverse Experiences

AWS values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.

Why AWS?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Inclusive Team Culture

AWS values curiosity and connection. Our employee-led and company-sponsored affinity groups promote inclusion and empower our people to take pride in what makes us unique. Our inclusion events foster stronger, more collaborative teams. Our continual innovation is fueled by the bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and passionate voices our teams bring to everything we do.

Mentorship & Career Growth

We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

Work/Life Balance

We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.

Basic qualifications

• - 7+ years of working with Core Cloud Technology Services, including, but not limited to Compute, Edge, Hybrid, Security, and/or Networking experience
• - 7+ years of Go-To-Market, Business Development, Sales, or Consulting experience
• - 7+ years of working with Data & AI related technologies, including, but not limited to, AI/ML, GenAI, Analytics, Database, and/or Storage experience
• - Bachelor's degre