Strategic Alliances - AWS Partner Development Specialist

About the role

The AWS Partner Development Specialist role is within ZS’s Strategic Alliances and Investments (SAI) group. This role focuses on managing and growing the relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS), driving revenue through strategic partnerships, and ensuring alignment across ZS client and practice teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the AWS relationship: Manage the overall health and well-being of the alliance, establish governance and operating rhythms, maintain stakeholder maps, coordinate executive engagement, and serve as the primary point of accountability for the partnership.
• Develop and execute joint strategy: Create and maintain the AWS alliance plan, including priorities, target industries and accounts, joint solutions, investment requirements, success measures, and quarterly business reviews.
• Drive AWS funding: Identify, secure, track, and optimize applicable AWS funding and investment programs; coordinate business cases, submissions, approvals, delivery evidence, and financial reconciliation with internal stakeholders.
• Build certifications and enablement: Increase AWS certifications and accreditations across priority roles by setting targets, mobilizing learning plans, monitoring progress, and partnering with ZS talent, practice, and delivery leaders.
• Manage opportunity registration: Establish a disciplined process to identify and register eligible opportunities, maintain registration quality and status, resolve exceptions, and connect ZS sellers with the appropriate AWS field teams.
• Advance AWS competencies: Lead the pursuit and ongoing maintenance of relevant AWS competencies, service validations, and partner designations by coordinating requirements, evidence, audits, references, and remediation actions.
• Grow pipeline and revenue: Own partnership revenue and pipeline objectives; drive account mapping, co-sell motions, joint pursuits, marketplace opportunities, and conversion of AWS-sourced and ZS-sourced demand.
• Activate go-to-market programs: Develop joint campaigns, events, sales plays, enablement, presentations, demos, and reusable assets that make it easier for ZS and AWS teams to position and sell together.
• Run alliance operations: Maintain dashboards, forecasts, action logs, partner-portal data, benefits utilization, program compliance, contracts, communications, and reporting. Ensure operational details are accurate, timely, and decision-ready.
• Mobilize ZS stakeholders: Collaborate across client teams, industry and practice leaders, marketing, finance, legal, procurement, operations, learning and development, and delivery teams to execute alliance priorities.
• Represent the partnership: Act as a trusted advisor and internal AWS expert, communicate program changes and opportunities, remove execution barriers, and advocate for ZS within AWS and for AWS across ZS.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; master's degree preferred.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in strategic alliances, partner development, cloud ecosystems, business development, or enterprise technology sales; direct AWS partner-program experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a complex, multi-dimensional technology partnership and build credibility with senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of AWS partner programs and motions, including funding, certifications, opportunity registration, competencies, co-selling, and marketplace activation.
• Proven ability to build pipeline, influence sales cycles, and connect alliance activity to measurable revenue and client outcomes.
• Strong program-management and operational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, dependencies, and reporting requirements.
• Ability to understand cloud, data, analytics, and AI solutions sufficiently to engage technical and commercial stakeholders and translate capabilities into business value.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, executive presence, structured problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• A customer-first mindset, high ownership, sound judgment, maturity, adaptability, and personal initiative in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategic alliances, partner development, cloud ecosystems, business development, or enterprise technology sales.
• Direct AWS partner-program experience.
• Strong program-management and operational skills.
• Understanding of cloud, data, analytics, and AI solutions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, executive presence, structured problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Skills

• Strategic alliance leadership
• Field engagement
• Pipeline development
• Partner-program execution
• Operational rigor

Benefits

At ZS, we offer a comprehensive total rewards package that supports your health and well-being, financial future, time away, and professional development. This includes:

• Cross-functional skills development & custom learning pathways
• Milestone training programs aligned to career progression opportunities
• Internal mobility paths that empower growth via s-curves, individual contribution and role expansions

Pay

Competitive compensation package based on experience and qualifications.

Schedule

Hybrid working model with flexibility between remote and on-site work.