What’s it like to be a technical account manager at AWS in Israel?

Life at AWS asked five technical account managers (TAMs) in Tel Aviv to tell us more about their roles and career journeys to Amazon Web Services (AWS). We also asked about the technical and soft skills required to be a successful TAM, how they help customers make a positive impact on society, and whether they have any advice for future TAMs at AWS.

Before joining AWS, I was a full stack software engineer for more than 10 years. During my previous roles, I worked mainly with on-premise infrastructure and internal customers and I was curious about learning about the cloud and also moving to a customer-facing role. That is how I learned about the TAM role and decided that it could be a good fit for my interests.

My customers are scaling up startups under Enterprise Support that are looking for help in their journey to the cloud across several aspects:

• Technical guidance – help customers with designing and reviewing their architecture
• Cost Optimization – customer workloads
• Reaching operational excellence – help customers resolve issues faster

I need to have wide knowledge around the core services (S3, EC2, EBS, VPC). In addition, I need to have knowledge that are related to the services my customers are using. Other than that, talking/presenting to customers, managing meetings with C-level executives, and building my skills through demos and workshops.

I joined the Cloud Operations expert group where I answer requests from customers globally when they need guidance and or troubleshooting help with Cloud Intelligent Dashboards. Cloud Intelligent is an open-source framework that gives customers the power to get high-level and granular insight into their cost and usage data.

I also joined AWS GetIT education program designed to encourage young students, especially girls aged 12-14, to consider a career in technology. I also support TAMs from my team with business review preparations and how to find cost optimization opportunities.

Invest time in learning—you will need it to close the knowledge gap and also to be up to date with all the technological changes.

I started my career as a developer 20 years ago. I was lucky to learn software development from amazing people. Like our applications, I did the full lifecycle: started as a Java developer working with J2EE applications, later re-architected the applications to microservices, adopted Docker and Kubernetes and finally started my journey to cloud. The AWS TAM role provided me an opportunity to work in a challenging environment where I could explore the endless possibilities of the cloud and improve my technical and customer-facing skills.

My role as a technical account manager is to support AWS’s customers on their journey to the cloud. My role requires a combination of technical activities (like dive deep sessions with customers, workshops, solution designs, demos, and automations), financial management (cost optimization, cost management), and government activities (strategic and management business review) in order to accelerate the customer’s cloud adoption.

At AWS, it is always is Day One. The Learn and Be Curious Leadership Principle is critical in my role. To understand customer needs, I am learning and adjusting my skills on a daily basis including public certifications—AWS solutions architect, AWS certified DevOps engineer, AWS certified data analytics—and internal certifications such as AWS public speaker and Gameday operator).

Israel is a start-up nation. At AWS, we are helping people and companies to innovate and concentrate on their business needs, to be successful and deliver results faster.

Yes! I am an onboarding buddy to new hires, taking part of technologies sessions in the Israel AWS technology community. I find a very rewarding experience to share my knowledge with other TAMs.

I enjoy helping customers build cloud strategy,  and impact their progress and achievements.
As an owner, I am free to shape a very large part of what the job looks like. I build my own plan, develop my strategy, and get all the support I need.

To acknowledge that no one can know everything—enjoy the ride and never stop learning!

I love traveling, morning runs and cooking.

My journey began in the military service at the Intelligence Corps as system administrator,. My first role in the tech industry was during my studies in information systems engineering. A few years later, I decided I want to work with the latest technologies in a more challenging role, and what better place to do so than AWS?

TAM is the “go-to person” for the customers, and my job is to assist them in leveraging the AWS Cloud in the most efficient ways following AWS best practices. I’m also the voice of the customer inside AWS—my knowledge of the customers' business and technologies allows me to reflect their interests internally.

I believe the baseline for the job is good learning skills and communication skills. A significant part of being a TAM is building relationships with our customers. Sometimes you’ll have to prove yourself technically, and other times personally.

Since I joined AWS I’ve never stopped learning, getting familiar with AWS services, and AWS's unique culture. There is a lot of freedom to learn and develop yourself in areas that you are interested in.

Adopting new technologies can be hard task. I introduce my customers with the technology I think they will benefit from— I explain the advantages and we calculate the effort it will take. You have to come prepared and willing to assist them with knowledge transfer and the cloud adoption process.

Give yourself time to learn, dive deep, and never be afraid to go to your teammates with questions.

I’m learning to my Master of Science at Tel Aviv University. It's not easy, but I’m owning my schedule so it’s up to me to get things done and allow myself time to learn.  

I love to start my mornings with Pilates—it helps me stays focused during the day. I’m also working toward my Master degree in data sciences. In my spare time, I enjoy meeting my friends and try the good food Tel Aviv has to offer.

Be confident, take your time to learn and share your ideas—they have more value than you might think.

I have started my journey as a PC technician, but was always driven to learn more. I was approached by AWS while working in SysOps. I took the opportunity to apply at such a forward-thinking company after reading about the role of TAM. It resonated with me and here I am now.

As a TAM, I am the advocate for my customers inside AWS and it is my duty to make sure they have everything they need to take advantage of everything AWS can offer—and do it in the most correct and cost-efficient way possible.

As a TAM you never stop learning, from the deepest understanding of specific services to how to have conversations with C-level executives or speak in front of thousands of people.

Every time I help my customers become more agile—to grow faster and adopt new technologies—they make the world safer, faster, and more sustainable.

In addition to helping my clients, I help mentor and guide new TAMs, operate GameDays, and champion inclusion, diversity, & equity efforts.

To see the project that's been months in planning bear fruit, and the satisfaction of learning new technologies.

At times, it is hard to persuade people to embrace new ways of thinking and working after years of something that has become an obsolete or inefficient practice.

Take a deep breath, it’s going to be fine. Take one step at a time, and never be afraid to ask questions.

I play tabletop wargames, and that involves purchasing, assembling, printing, and painting miniatures. In addition, I dabble in Dungeons & Dragons and looking to start an all AWS team in Tel Aviv. Fitness is another passion since a healthy and focused body results in a healthy and focused mind and soul.

Never give up, you can achieve anything if you are determined enough, no matter your starting point. As long as you maintain a “can-do” attitude and thirst for knowledge, you can reach any goal.

I started my career working as support at an Israel internet service provider company around nine years ago. Since then, I have held different support positions with various vendors. My last role before joining AWS as TAM was managing a group of professional services on-site engineers and TAMs in the Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) region for Radware.

The TAM role at AWS is part of the Enterprise Support organization and we have a very short list of customers that each of us works with. Customers can come from different industries or phases of their development. My customers range from very small startups at the beginning of their cloud journey to Enterprise and very well-established companies.

AWS has hundreds of services and a TAM needs broad understanding of technologies across various domains. Regarding soft skills, the most important part is to be customer-centric, or as we say it at AWS, customer-obsessed. Interpersonal skills are very helpful since TAMs interact with various internal teams, plus an ability to make fast and smart decisions in high-impact situations.

Yes, I had to learn about artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and analytics domains since my customers are heavily using those services on AWS. There are plenty of ramp-up/enablement possibilities and training programs inside AWS for internal teams.

One of my first customers moved from an on-premise data center to AWS—this decreases carbon footprints and has a positive impact on the environment.

I was a judge at AWS GetIT for Israeli schools and I am also participating in a program for EMEA women leadership where we prepare for Ted Talk style presentations. I also volunteer for SheCodes, teaching Israeli women about building applications on AWS.

Working with the customers and solving their issues/architectural challenges.

Rewarding, challenging, meaningful.

I play electric guitar, love snowboarding, swimming since I live near the beach, and dancing on the weekends.