Manager, Design Change Management, Design Engineering

Amazon; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon Inc. is seeking a highly technical Design Portfolio Manager to join the GDSCM team, focusing on Basis of Design (BOD) and Programmatic Design Change Management (PDCM).

This role requires deep technical expertise across multiple engineering disciplines and the ability to evaluate complex design changes across 300+ in‑flight projects. You will lead design change initiatives end‑to‑end, coordinating reviews with principal engineers and ensuring proper vetting, funding, and execution.

Job description

AWS Infrastructure Services owns the design, planning, delivery, and operation of all AWS global infrastructure. In other words, we are the people who keep the cloud running. We support all AWS data centers and all of the servers, storage, networking, power, and cooling equipment that ensure our customers have continual access to the innovation they rely on. We work on the most challenging problems, with thousands of variables impacting the supply chain — and we’re looking for talented people who want to help.

We are seeking a highly technical Design Portfolio Manager to join our GDSCM team, focusing on the Basis of Design (BOD) and Programmatic Design Change Management (PDCM) programs. This role requires deep technical expertise across multiple engineering disciplines and the ability to evaluate complex design changes across 300+ in-flight projects.

As a Design portfolio Manager, you will serve as a technical expert evaluating design change requests across electrical, mechanical, civil, structural, architectural, controls, plumbing, fire protection, and thermal systems. You will conduct feasibility analyses, coordinate technical reviews with principal engineers across all disciplines, and manage the end-to-end lifecycle of design changes from initiation through implementation.

You will work closely with Design Engineering, Construction Management, Procurement, Finance, and Product teams to ensure design changes are properly vetted, funded, and executed.

Key job responsibilities

People Leadership & Team Building

• Hire, develop, and retain a high-performing team of Design Change Managers and senior technical professionals; build bench strength and succession depth.
• Set clear goals, performance expectations, and development plans; deliver regular coaching, feedback, and career growth for direct reports.
• Create an inclusive, high-ownership team culture that raises the technical and operational bar over time.
• Manage team capacity and workload allocation across 300+ in-flight projects to balance throughput, quality, and sustainable pace.

Program Ownership & Strategy

• Own the end-to-end strategy, roadmap, and outcomes for the BOD and PDCM programs within the global portfolio.
• Define and govern the operating mechanisms, SLAs, and quality standards for the design change lifecycle from initiation through implementation.
• Prioritize the design change portfolio against business priorities, capacity needs, and technical risk; make trade‑off decisions on scope, schedule, and cost.
• Set the vision for process, tooling, and automation improvements that reduce execution timelines while maintaining technical rigor.

Technical & Operational Oversight

• Provide senior technical oversight (not hands-on execution) across electrical, mechanical, structural, civil, architectural, controls, plumbing, fire protection, and thermal disciplines, ensuring sound feasibility analyses and cross‑discipline impact assessments.
• Review and approve high-risk, high-cost, or precedent‑setting design change recommendations before they advance to leadership sign‑off.
• Ensure the team properly validates technical calculations, constructability, maintainability, and operational implications of design modifications.
• Resolve escalations and remove cross‑team blockers that impede design change throughput.

Senior Stakeholder & Cross‑Org Leadership

• Represent the design change function in senior leadership and weekly business reviews, presenting program status, key decisions, risks, and technical recommendations.
• Build durable partnerships with Design Engineering, Construction Management, Procurement, Finance, Product, and Commissioning leadership to align on priorities, funding, and schedule.
• Influence design standards and release planning (BOD) to minimize redesign impacts and fragmentation across 1S, 2S, EHR, and global variants.
• Negotiate and drive alignment on contentious cross‑discipline or cross‑org trade‑offs.

Program Execution & Continuous Improvement

• Own program metrics, approval timelines, cost avoidance, implementation status, and technical quality and drive measurable improvement year over year.
• Govern design change databases and dashboards to provide cross‑functional visibility and data‑driven decisions.
• Sponsor lessons‑learned mechanisms, RACI definition, and standard operating procedures to prevent scope, timeline, and versioning issues on future publications.
• Champion cost validation frameworks, bulk funding mechanisms, and automation initiatives across the organization.

About the team

The Global Design Standards and Change Management (GDSCM) organization within Data Center Engineering is responsible for establishing and maintaining design standards across the global data center portfolio. Our team manages three mission‑critical programs:

• Basis of Design (BOD) establishes and governs the foundational technical standards for all global data center designs, ensuring consistency and quality across the portfolio.
• Programmatic Design Change Management (PDCM) manages design change requests across 300+ in-flight projects.
• 360 Equipment Qualification Program (360 EQP) qualifies equipment and technologies for deployment across the global portfolio, evaluating emerging solutions and driving standardization of critical systems.

Together, these programs deliver capacity across the AMER, APAC, and EMEA regions.

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.

Diverse Experiences

Amazon 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.

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 in the cloud.

Inclusive Team Culture

Here at AWS, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Our employee‑led affinity groups foster a culture of inclusion that empower us to be proud of our differences. Ongoing events and learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness.

Mentorship and 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.