Research and AI Lead, APJ, AWS Global Education, WWPS

Description

AWS is seeking a senior business development leader to drive the regional go-to-market strategy for Academic Research and contribute directly to AWS’s global research strategy development. This role requires deep expertise in the higher education and research ecosystem, a track record of building and scaling market development initiatives, and the ability to engage effectively with university leadership, research executives, and government stakeholders. You will lead how AWS engages research institutions in region, build a strong pipeline of research opportunities, leverage global education and research assets for the benefit of customers, and provide direct feedback to inform the broader global research strategy.

In this role, you will work at the intersection of the research community and account managers in region to establish trust, identify high-impact opportunities, and build a strong pipeline across markets at varying stages of cloud maturity. You will define repeatable, scalable solutions for research customers, build coalitions across internal teams, partners, and institutional stakeholders, and establish AWS as the long-term strategic partner for research and education transformation. You will also be responsible for understanding the technology layer relevant to the research community, translating researcher needs into cloud benefits, and leveraging subject matter experts in areas like procurement, secure research environments, research data management, and AI for science.

This role provides direct feedback to inform global research strategy and coordinates across domains including commercial, nonprofit, healthcare, and government research communities in region.

Key job responsibilities
• Own the regional GTM strategy for academic research. Drive pipeline through direct institutional engagement, account team enablement, and scalable frameworks that BDMs and account teams can replicate across markets.
• Build and maintain executive relationships with chief research officers, university leadership, and relevant government officials. Lead EBCs, workshops, and multi-institutional convenings that position AWS as the strategic research computing partner.
• Understand researcher workflows well enough to connect customer needs to existing AWS solutions. Surface recurring product and partner gaps to the SA and product organizations with documented use cases that justify investment.
• Source and shape flagship research engagements (migrations, GenAI builds, HPC expansions) that SA and ProServe teams deliver, ensuring outcomes are documented as replicable models for the region.
• Develop use cases, playbooks, and competitive positioning for education-specific constraints such as data sovereignty, academic calendars, and responsible AI governance.
• Represent AWS externally through keynotes, publications, conferences, and government forums. Coordinate internally across product, SA, partner, marketing, and policy teams to align research GTM with broader AWS education priorities.

About the team
The AWS Global Education team helps universities, research institutions, school systems, and education technology companies use cloud and AI to transform how they teach, discover, and operate. We work globally across every education segment and combine deep sector expertise with the ability to drive real business outcomes.

Basic Qualifications

– 8+ years of technology related sales, business development or equivalent experience
– Experience building and managing a healthy sales pipeline focused on driving revenue, adoption, and market penetration
– Experience with C-level sales and strategic partnership building
– Experience designing and executing joint marketing plans with strategic alliance partners with global footprint
– degree in advanced technology, or 5+ years of cloud architecture and solution implementation experience
– Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams including Marketing, Product Management, Customer Service, Operations, Legal, Finance, and Senior Leadership
– Bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance, economics, computer science, data science, engineering, or other related field

Preferred Qualifications

– Master’s degree or above in public policy or equivalent
– Familiarity with modern application patterns (containers, serverless, microservices) and research-specific infrastructure requirements (secure enclaves, data sovereignty, large-scale data management).
– Experience with generative AI, foundation models, and machine learning solutions deployed in research or production environments.
– Experience influencing product roadmaps or shaping service offerings based on customer and market intelligence.
– Experience operating across international regulatory environments including data sovereignty, procurement frameworks, and academic governance structures.

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