We’re seeking a Principal Manager, Startup Solutions Architecture to lead our
technical engagement with the Canadian startup ecosystem. This role combines
people leadership, technical depth, and regional expertise. The successful
candidate will manage a team of Solutions Architects, set technical strategy for
the Canada region, and directly support founders and CTOs of early-stage and
high-growth startups.
Canada’s startup ecosystem has distinct strengths — AI research hubs in Toronto,
Montréal, and Edmonton; strong communities in fintech, climate tech, and health
tech; and government-backed innovation programs that provide early funding. The
Manager for Canada must understand these dynamics and ensure our SA team is both
deeply technical and locally relevant, helping Canadian startups scale on AWS
while building globally competitive businesses.
Key job responsibilities
Leadership & People Management
- Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of Startup Solutions Architects
across Canada.
- Set technical priorities, coach on career development, and create a culture of
builder-first, hands-on engagement with startups.
- Ensure consistent execution of technical depth and startup empathy across the
team.
- Partner closely with Canadian startup account managers, BD teams, and
ecosystem programs (VCs, accelerators, incubators).
Regional Technical Strategy
- Develop and execute the technical engagement strategy for Canada’s startup
ecosystem.
- Tailor global mechanisms to Canadian needs, with emphasis on GenAI, data
strategy, and regulated industries.
- Represent AWS in Canada’s startup and research communities, building
relationships with universities, accelerators, and industry groups.
- Provide input to global SA leadership on trends emerging from Canada (AI/ML,
fintech, climate tech).
Hands-On Technical Leadership
- While primarily a manager, stay hands-on enough to maintain credibility with
founders and CTOs.
- Guide startups on cloud-native architectures, Kubernetes/EKS, DevOps/SRE
practices, and serverless-first design.
- Provide expertise on GenAI workloads: foundation model usage,
training/fine-tuning, inference scaling, and cost optimization.
- Advise on data strategy: proprietary data as a moat, data labeling, pipelines,
compliance (especially PIPEDA in Canada), and ML readiness.
Scaling & Mechanism Building
- Drive creation of reference architectures, reusable assets, and enablement
programs that scale across the Canada SA org.
- Build technical enablement programs for Canadian founders, including workshops
on cloud-native, AI/ML, and data foundations.
- Partner with Canadian accelerators (Creative Destruction Lab, NextAI,
Communitech, etc.) to deliver impactful technical programming
Basic Qualifications: - 10+ years of management of technical, enterprise
customer facing resources or equivalent experience
- 10+ years of infrastructure architecture, database architecture and networking
experience
- Bachelor's degree
- Experience architecting/operating solutions built on any cloud service
provider like Azure, AWS, GCP, OCI, etc. Preferred Qualifications: - Strong
familiarity with Canada’s startup ecosystem, including government programs
(IRAP, SR&ED), AI research hubs, and local funding dynamics.
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis
of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our
customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or
adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the
interview or onboarding process, please visit
https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations
[https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations] for more
information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please
contact your Recruiting Partner.
