Career path for Solutions Architect at Amazon L6

Intel
patcr

Go to company page Intel

patcr
Jan 5 27 Comments

Got offer from amazon as solutions architect L6 - wondering what is career path for SAs at amazon - what is highest position for SAs.

Thank you

Updated

Tc:

Base: $156k
Stocks: 80 (4 years)
Sign on: 234k (2 yrs)

Location: Phoenix, AZ

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TOP 27 Comments
  • Amazon
    WKyv67

    Go to company page Amazon

    WKyv67
    I’m a SA at AWS. From what I have seen, L6 to L7 promotion is way less common than L5 to L6. Maybe people are leaving at L6 for better TC, dunno. L7 is supposed to be director+ level at small companies. I think I’ve seen L8 promotion only a few times. As you go up the level, you are to focus more on business side of things.
    Jan 5 5
    • Amazon
      KtAi72

      Go to company page Amazon

      KtAi72
      This is for phoenix. Please keep that in mind. It’s a very good tc for that location
      Jan 5
    • Amazon
      Nessus

      Go to company page Amazon

      Nessus
      Wkyv67 is correct on the promo from L6 to L7 for SA. I made L7 last year, and it was a daunting process. Very, very few SAs get promoted to L8. The only one I knew personally was Glenn Gore (who has since left the company). More commonly, L7 SAs move to be SA managers (sr. mgr), then grow their org, and make L8 that way. And even that's not common. The most common move I see for L7 SAs here is to leave for external roles as CTO, or director/VP of technology at a smaller company, or head to GCP/Azure.
      Feb 15
  • Amazon / Product
    πŸ‘€4NewJob

    Go to company page Amazon Product

    πŸ‘€4NewJob
    Not going to answer you before you pay your Blind tax
    Jan 5 1
  • Intel
    patcr

    Go to company page Intel

    patcr
    OP
    Guys need useful comments - m need to make a quick decision - appreciate proper response
    Jan 5 4
    • Amazon
      nRIC03

      Go to company page Amazon

      nRIC03
      Maybe?
      You probably know this already but the SA role is about really knowing the AWS stack and building with it, though not necessarily about specialized knowledge to either build new AWS features or super custom stuff like new ML architectures, even if that knowledge is welcome.
      Best thing you can probably do, as others have mentioned, is to talk to the HM and see what s/he says. It's unclear to me as to whether you'd be in a position to supervise engineering/scientist types as an SA even if you're an L6 - you may instead be a team lead for a primarily SA team.
      Jan 5
    • Intel
      patcr

      Go to company page Intel

      patcr
      OP
      Thank you. Understood
      - have a call with HM
      - will present all my questions and expectations in the role and career progression
      Jan 5
  • Missing Blind tax
    Jan 5 1
  • Amazon / Eng
    twofinger

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    twofinger
    whats your 1st year TC? tough to tell in that format.
    Jan 5 1