Head of Solutions Architecture, Amazon External Payments

Amazon External Payments (AEP) is building the payments infrastructure that powers agentic commerce. As a modular platform serving multiple high-growth partners, AEP requires a Solutions Architecture function that acts as a force multiplier, enabling partners and merchants to integrate, adopt, and scale with minimal friction.

We are seeking a Head of Solutions Architecture to lead a global team of Solutions Architects. You will define how the SA function operates, design the technical engagement model across our partner ecosystem, and develop the people, processes, and artifacts that accelerate integration velocity and partner success. This is a leadership role with a transformational mandate: you will evolve an established team to meet a new charter and operating model.

Key job responsibilities
Strategic Architecture & Partner Collaboration
- Partner with Product, Engineering, and partner teams to co-design the technical architecture of AEP's platform, influence roadmap decisions, and define how solutions scale across partners
- Serve as the connective tissue between GTM and the technical organization, translating partner needs and market signals into architectural requirements
- Lead joint architecture design sessions with partner engineering teams to define integration patterns, API contracts, and solution blueprints
- Evaluate emerging technology trends (agentic AI, identity, fraud) and inform platform strategy with a forward-looking technical point of view

Engagement Model & Enablement
- Define the SA engagement model: how the team partners with Product, Engineering, partner teams, and GTM to deliver solutions
- Design layered coverage: strategic advisory for complex architecture decisions vs. scaled self-service enablement (reference architectures, developer tooling, integration guides)
- Own capacity planning, ensuring the team prioritizes high-impact strategic work over transactional support
- Drive creation of reusable assets: reference architectures, solution patterns, and API adoption frameworks that reduce repetitive effort

Business Outcomes
- Define and own success metrics: partner satisfaction, platform adoption, architecture quality, and integration velocity
- Serve as trusted technical advisor to senior partner and product stakeholders, shaping joint roadmaps
- Represent the SA function to senior leadership with insights on platform health, partner technical alignment, and strategic opportunities

Team Leadership
- Lead a global, distributed team of Solutions Architects; own hiring, performance management, career development, and retention
- Create structured career paths and technical depth standards; develop future leaders
- Foster a culture of strategic thinking, knowledge sharing, and technical excellence

About the team
Amazon External Payments is at the frontier of agentic commerce, building modular payments infrastructure that enables AI-powered shopping experiences across Amazon's partner ecosystem. The Solutions Architect team is the technical bridge between platform capabilities and partner go-to-market success, embedding with partners to accelerate integration, unblock complexity, and drive merchant activation.

This role is ideal for a leader who thrives in transformation, loves redesigning organizations as much as architectures, and wants to elevate a team at the intersection of payments infrastructure and generative AI. - 10+ years of infrastructure architecture, database architecture and networking experience
- 5+ years of managing a technical team of solution architects, sales engineers or similar technical roles experience
- Bachelor's degree - Experience in management of technical, enterprise customer facing resources or equivalent
- Experience in payments or e-commerce
- Familiarity with agentic AI, generative AI, or conversational commerce as they relate to payments.

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 for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

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. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, WA, SEATTLE - 201,000.00 - 272,000.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 201,000.00 - 272,000.00 USD annually