Startup Solutions Architect

Amazon Web Services (AWS); New York (NY); On-site; USD 144,500 - 195,400; Full time

Job summary

Amazon Web Services, Inc. is seeking a Solutions Architect embedded with San Francisco's startup ecosystem to help early-stage founders design scalable architectures and AI-enabled products.

You will build lasting relationships and translate founder needs into practical engineering decisions. You will also create technical content and present at startup events to raise awareness and trust within the community.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of design, implementation, or consulting in applications and infrastructures experience.
• 4+ years of specific technology domain areas experience (e.g., software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics).

Responsibilities

• Work hands-on with early-stage founders to design architectures scalable for growth.
• Help startups navigate GenAI landscape and production-ready AI products.
• Guide founders through GenAI challenges: costs, latency, accuracy, safety, best practices.
• Assist in building data foundations: vector databases, data pipelines, RAG, fine-tuning workflows.
• Build relationships within San Francisco's startup ecosystem and with accelerators/VCs.
• Bridge founder feedback to product and engineering teams.
• Create technical content like blog posts, reference architectures, sample code.
• Share expertise at startup events, demo days, meetups to build trust.

Skills

Applications & infrastructure design

Cloud computing experience

Consulting experience

Tools

AWS

Job description

Overview

Are you passionate about startups? Do you get excited about helping founders solve hard technical problems at the earliest and most critical stages of building their company? We're looking for a Solutions Architect who wants to be deeply embedded in San Francisco's startup ecosystem. Come join us!

Early‑stage startups are unlike any other customer. Founders are moving fast, resources are tight, and the technical decisions they make today can either unlock their growth or become a bottleneck six months from now. Many of these companies are coming straight out of top accelerators like Y Combinator or are freshly backed by leading VC firms, and they need a trusted technical advisor in their corner.

In this role, you'll work directly with early‑stage founders across a wide range of industries including AI/ML, FinTech, ClimateTech, healthcare, consumer, B2B SaaS, and more. You'll help them make smart, pragmatic architectural decisions that set them up to move fast without breaking things later. You'll have the chance to build real, lasting relationships with these founders and establish yourself as one of the first trusted technical voices in their journey.

You won't be handing founders a generic playbook. One week you might help a first‑time founder think through their architecture before they've written a single line of code, another week you might help a seed‑stage company figure out how to scale after an unexpected viral launch, or work through a compliance challenge with a FinTech startup that needs to move quickly but can't afford to cut corners.

Beyond your direct work with founders, you'll also get time to stay sharp and keep your technical skills fresh. You'll act as a voice for the startups you work with, making sure the right products and features are being built for their needs. And you'll have plenty of opportunities to share your knowledge more broadly by writing technical content and presenting at startup and developer events across San Francisco's ecosystem.

Key job responsibilities

• Work hands‑on with early‑stage founders to design and iterate on architectures that are practical for where they are today but built to scale as they grow
• Help startups navigate the fast‑moving GenAI landscape, from selecting the right foundation models and AI services to building production‑ready AI‑powered products and services
• Guide founders through the real challenges of building GenAI applications, including managing model costs, latency, accuracy, safety, and AI best practices
• Support startups in building the right data foundations to power their AI products, whether that's vector databases, data pipelines, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), or fine‑tuning workflows
• Build and deepen relationships within San Francisco's startup ecosystem, including top accelerators like Y Combinator, incubators, and leading VC firms
• Be a voice for your founders, connecting their feedback and needs directly to product and engineering teams to help shape the tools and services being built for them
• Create technical content tailored to early‑stage startups, such as blog posts, reference architectures, and sample code, that helps founders move faster and spend less time reinventing the wheel
• Share your expertise at startup events, demo days, and developer meetups across the San Francisco ecosystem to build trust and visibility in the community

Basic Qualifications

• 2+ years of design, implementation, or consulting in applications and infrastructures experience
• 4+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working within software development or Internet‑related industries
• Experience migrating or transforming legacy customer solutions to the cloud
• Experience working with AWS technologies from a dev/ops perspective
• Experience working with end user or developer communities

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service, and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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.

USA, CA, San Francisco – 151,000.00 – 204,300.00 USD annually

USA, NY, New York – 144,500.00 – 195,400.00 USD annually

Company: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

Job ID: A10475201