Sr. Certification Designer, Data Center Certifications

Are you an accomplished certification designer ready to shape the future of data center workforce credentialing through rigorous exam development, psychometric excellence, and data-driven program innovation across AWS’s global Data Center Communities?

About the role

AWS Data Center Learning’s mission is to develop the best data center workforce on Earth. The organization is responsible for providing training, certification, and career development pathways to all new and existing AWS data center employees worldwide. Our Certification team is seeking a Senior Certification Designer who moves beyond traditional assessment design and leads collaborative job-task analysis workshops to blueprint and build industry-leading certification programs.

In this role, you will act as a credentialing strategist, psychometric practitioner, and empathetic designer, partnering with cross-functional teams to build certification ecosystems that span exam development, item writing, blueprint design, credential management, and certification pathway architecture. You will collaborate with Senior Leaders in Data Center Operations, Safety, Security, Logistics, Planning, Delivery, and other teams to design and deliver valid, reliable, and defensible certification programs. You will consult with technical subject-matter experts, apply psychometric principles and emerging technologies, and use data-driven iteration to produce certification experiences that drive measurable workforce capability outcomes.

As the Senior Certification Designer, you will represent our organization across Data Center Communities, translating organizational competency frameworks into actionable certification strategies that balance rigor and agility. Your role will require communicating at all levels of the organization, working with senior leaders, and building relationships across global time zones and geographies.

Responsibilities

• Design and manage end-to-end certification programs—from exam blueprinting and item development through field testing, standard setting, and credential maintenance.
• Facilitate job-task analysis workshops and apply competency-mapping principles to create defensible certification blueprints.
• Lead item writing workshops, guiding SMEs in developing high-quality exam items (multiple choice, scenario-based, performance-based) aligned to blueprint domains.
• Apply psychometric techniques (classical test theory, IRT, item statistics, standard-setting methodologies) to ensure exam validity and reliability.
• Use performance analytics and candidate feedback to iterate on exam design, optimize item banks, and demonstrate program quality.
• Lead cross-functional certification projects in matrixed environments, mentoring junior designers and raising credentialing standards.
• Design scalable, modular item banks and certification architectures supporting multiple credential levels, roles, and geographies.
• Manage the full certification lifecycle and communicate strategy alignment with senior leadership across Global Data Center Operations.

A day in the life

Your morning kicks off with a little detective work—diving into item bank analytics and pass/fail dashboards, hunting down underperforming items with poor discrimination indices or bias flags. Next, you'll attend strategic meetings with senior leaders from Data Center Operations, translating field challenges into certification roadmap adjustments. By mid-morning, you're running a job-task analysis workshop with subject-matter experts—facilitating criticality debates and shaping knowledge requirements for new data center operations credentials.

After lunch, you lead an item writing session, coaching SMEs on crafting scenario-based questions that assess real-world thinking, ensuring technical accuracy and alignment with blueprint weightings. Your afternoon may involve wrangling a standard-setting panel for an updated certification form, reviewing psychometric reports with a senior psychometrician, or collaborating with the learning experience team to align prep resources with exam objectives.

Throughout the day, you balance the big picture and fine details to ensure every certification is valid, reliable, defensible, equitable, and measures what matters most for the workforce.

About the team

Our mission is to develop the best Data Center workforce on Earth. The AWS Data Center Certification team sets the trusted standard that empowers the world's most skilled data center workforce. We create rigorous, scalable certification programs that validate technical competencies needed to work safely, securely, and effectively. The team designs credential pathways spanning a builder’s entire career journey: from foundational role-based certifications and safety credentials to advanced operational qualifications for tenured employees. Our certifications provide individuals with meaningful, portable credentials and the organization with a verified, defensible record of workforce capability. Our work directly underpins the safety, availability, and operational excellence of AWS’s global data center infrastructure.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Technical Training, Design, or a related field.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent, or 5+ years of experience in Learning & Development and course facilitation.
• Experience applying concepts of learning science, educational psychology, and instructional design principles to learning solutions.
• Experience developing or delivering training programs across multiple sites or regions.
• Experience working with data analytics to identify problems or experience in professional auditing, coding, and documentation requirements.
• Demonstrated mastery of job-task analysis methodologies and the ability to facilitate SME workshops that produce defensible, competency-aligned certification blueprints.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or equivalent in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Technical Training, Design, or a related field.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent certification.
• Experience with graphic training systems, multimedia content creation, and Learning Management Systems (LMS) administration.
• Experience mentoring trainers, using data analytics for training effectiveness measurement, and leading change management initiatives.
• Professional certification in credentialing or assessment (e.g., Certified Credentialing Specialist (CCS), Certified Assessment Designer, or equivalent).
• Master’s degree or equivalent in Educational Measurement, Psychometrics, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Instructional Technology, or a closely related field.

Pay

USA, WA, Seattle - $138,300.00 - $187,100.00 USD annually.

Benefits

• Sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs).
• Comprehensive health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance, and optional supplemental life plans).
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Mental Health Support, and 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 amazon.jobs/en/benefits.