Inside the role: How one AWS solutions architect fuels pharma drug discovery

“Solutions architects play a pivotal role in contributing to better customer outcomes in every industry we serve,” said Joe Palomina, a senior solutions architect manager for AWS Healhcare and Life Sciences and Chalfant’s manager. “In healthcare and life sciences, the work we do with our customers has the ability to help all of humanity. The computer power that AWS brings has the potential to solve problems that h ave been perplexing scientists for the entirety of our lives.”

While many solutions architects have technical backgrounds, there are plenty of examples of successful people in the role from non-technical fields. AWS also offers training programs to help employees upskill and grow into these roles from other verticals. Chalfant studied computer science and biology at Purdue University. He spent the early years of his career working on computational aspects of a massive effort to sequence and map DNA, training biologists in the use of informatics tools and productionizing research software to run at scale.

What drew him into becoming a solutions architect, he explained, was his general interest in Amazon as a cloud computing leader. He was also interested in bringing his career full circle from working for big pharma to advising big pharma customers on how to put the most innovative technology to use in the most extraordinary ways possible.

“I’m working with these customers on problems that nobody else in the world is working on,” Chalfant said. “It’s really fun.”

In health and life sciences, as well as other industries, AWS solutions architects perform four basic functions: education, technical direction, technology enablement, and being the voice of the customer.

From an education standpoint, solutions architects spend considerable time instructing researchers on ways to use technologies like HPC and generative AI to improve and accelerate their most critical work. Chalfant, for example, recently collaborated with a customer who was looking to migrate its enterprise resource planning system to the cloud, requiring the automation of manual processes.

“I stepped in and taught a Python class,” he said. “Python has little to do with AWS, but it's going to get them where they need to go. So, I taught them basic software engineering skills.”

Whereas teaching might be pretty basic, Chalfant noted he could just as easily leave a classroom and head over to a health or life science company’s boardroom to provide broad strategic counsel about technology for members of the C-suite. Part of that might also involve making specific recommendations about the tools, resources, and support a customer would need to achieve its strategic goals – a discipline known as technology enablement.

Sometimes, by speaking to customers, he might also hear concerns that need to be brought to the attention of AWS services teams, in which case he might then serve as the voice for that customer.

It's rarely dull or tactical. In fact, the work is often high visibility, high impact, and high reward.

“We’re always taking these big swings, which is exciting,” Chalfant said. “It keeps you on your toes.”

Landing a solutions architect role in the AWS Global Life Sciences organization takes someone with the right technical skills and command of Amazon’s Leadership Principles.

“We look for people who are agents of change,” Chalfant said. “We need the folks who see how things have always been done but won't rest with that; they want to improve it. Solutions architects at AWS have a passion to constantly improve and innovate.”

In the solutions architect role, Chalfant said ownership is one of the most important and rewarding Leadership Principles infused into the day-to-day culture. It allows employees to deliver for customers without a lot of obstacles standing in the way.

“You can go fast if you don't have to ask permission from a lot of layers of management,” Chalfant said. “If I know exactly what my customer needs, I can ask for the resources and implement whatever mechanisms I need to help the customer."

The candidates most likely to capture hiring managers’ attention would be those with “multi-disciplinary” backgrounds, Palomina said. In other words, someone who instead of just being a scientist, IT systems engineer, or salesperson has spent time in all three professions.

Being customer-obsessed is helpful as well. AWS solutions architects are known for the way they live, breathe, and address customer needs—constantly striving to earn and keep customer trust.

“This is a truly fulfilling job,” Palomina said. “The last five years of my career have been the most rewarding phase of my professional life because of what I’ve learned, the resources AWS provides us, the things my team has been able to do in health and life sciences, and the impact we’re having. It’s special.”

Interested in building cutting-edge solutions that power businesses worldwide? Visit our jobs page to discover exciting solutions architect opportunities at AWS.