Strategic Alliances - AWS Partner Development Specialist

ZS • Bellevue, WA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

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.

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.
• Customer-first mindset, high ownership, sound judgment, maturity, adaptability, and personal initiative in a fast-paced environment.
• Candidates must have authorization to work in the United States that does not now or in the future require employer sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree preferred.

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.

Benefits

• Comprehensive total rewards package that supports your health and well‑being, financial future, time away, and professional development.
• Robust skills‑building programs
• Multiple career progression paths
• Internal mobility
• Deeply collaborative culture

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior