ZS Associates

Strategic Alliances - AWS Partner Development Specialist

ZS Associates$110K — $130K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree required; master's degree preferred.
  • 5+ years in strategic alliances or partner development; AWS experience preferred.
  • Proven ability to manage complex technology partnerships and build credibility with stakeholders.
  • Working knowledge of AWS partner programs and co-selling.
  • Strong program-management skills to handle multiple projects and deadlines.
  • Ability to engage with technical and commercial stakeholders about cloud solutions.
  • Excellent communication and cross-functional leadership abilities.

Responsibilities

  • Own the AWS relationship and maintain its health and governance.
  • Develop and execute a joint strategy for the AWS alliance.
  • Drive AWS funding and manage business case processes.
  • Build certifications and enablement across priority roles with ZS teams.
  • Manage opportunity registration and maintain quality of registered opportunities.
  • Advance AWS competencies and service validations through coordination and requirements tracking.
  • Grow pipeline and revenue through mapping, co-sell motions, and joint pursuits.
  • Activate go-to-market programs including campaigns and sales initiatives.
  • Run alliance operations with timely and accurate reporting and compliance management.
  • Mobilize stakeholders across various ZS functions for alliance execution.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive total rewards package supporting health and well-being.
  • Robust skills-building programs for professional development.
  • Flexible hybrid working model combining home and office work.
  • Internal mobility paths for career progression and growth.
  • Collaborative culture promoting meaningful work and team connections.
  • Support for travel to strengthen client relationships and broaden professional experiences.
Full Job Description
ZS's Strategic Alliances and Investments (SAI) group identifies, designs, and executes strategic partnerships across ZS's global business. Leveraging ZS's market intelligence, deep industry expertise, trusted client relationships, and credibility in the market, SAI works with partners to bring innovation to market and drive measurable client impact.

The Opportunity. We seek an experienced AWS Partner Development Specialist to own the overall management, health, and growth of ZS's relationship with AWS. This role combines strategic alliance leadership, field engagement, pipeline development, partner-program execution, and operational rigor. The successful candidate will serve as the connective tissue across AWS, ZS client and practice teams, and ZS corporate functions to translate the partnership into revenue, differentiated capabilities, and repeatable go-to-market outcomes.

What You'll Do
  • 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.

What You'll Bring
  • 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.
  • Customer-first mindset, high ownership, sound judgment, maturity, adaptability, and personal initiative in a fast-paced environment.

How Success Will Be Measured
  • Health and depth of the AWS relationship, including effective governance, executive sponsorship, field connectivity, and stakeholder satisfaction.
  • Growth in AWS-influenced and AWS-sourced pipeline, revenue, registered opportunities, and joint wins.
  • Funding secured, utilized, documented, and reconciled in support of agreed priorities.
  • Progress against AWS certification, accreditation, competency, validation, and designation goals.
  • Quality and timeliness of alliance operations, reporting, program compliance, and cross-functional execution.
  • Adoption and impact of joint solutions, marketplace motions, go-to-market programs, and enablement activities.

How you'll grow:
  • 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


Perks & Benefits:

At ZS, your growth matters. We offer a comprehensive total rewards package that supports your health and well-being, financial future, time away, and professional development. With robust skills-building programs, multiple career progression paths, internal mobility, and a deeply collaborative culture, you'll have the opportunity to do meaningful work, expand your capabilities, and thrive as part of a global community. For details on total rewards in United States, visit ZS US office locations | Where we work | ZS.

Hybrid working model:

We are committed to giving our employees a flexible and connected way of working. A flexible and connected ZS allows us to combine work from home and on-site presence at clients/ZS offices for the majority of our week. The magic of ZS culture and innovation thrives in both planned and spontaneous face-to-face connections.

Travel:

Travel is a requirement at ZS for client facing ZSers; business needs of your project and client are the priority. While some projects may be local, all client-facing ZSers should be prepared to travel as needed. Travel provides opportunities to strengthen client relationships, gain diverse experiences, and enhance professional growth by working in different environments and cultures.

About ZS Associates

ZS is a professional services firm that works side by side with companies to help develop and deliver products that drive customer value and company results. From R&D to portfolio strategy, customer insights, marketing and sales strategy, operations and technology, we leverage our deep industry expertise and leading-edge analytics to create solutions that work in the real world. Our most valuable asset is our people?a fact that?s reflected in our values-driven organization in which new perspectives are integral and new ideas are celebrated. ZSers are passionately committed to helping companies and their customers thrive in industries ranging from healthcare and life sciences, to high-tech, financial services, travel and transportation, and beyond.
Learn more about ZS Associates
Size
10,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1983

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