Amazon Senior Consultant - AVS ProServe (AWS Professional Services) Interview Process

If you are preparing for the Amazon Senior Consultant - AVS ProServe (Amazon Web Services Professional Services) role, you’re likely facing a comprehensive interview process that assesses your technical expertise, consulting abilities, and alignment with Amazon’s leadership principles. As someone who has gone through this interview process, I’ll provide a detailed, first-hand account of what to expect and how to prepare for success.

Overview of the Role

As a Senior Consultant in the AVS ProServe (AWS Professional Services), your role revolves around helping customers migrate to AWS, optimize their cloud infrastructure, and improve their business operations by leveraging AWS solutions. You will work directly with clients, providing expertise in cloud architecture, infrastructure automation, and enterprise transformation. You’ll often collaborate with technical teams and clients’ leadership to define strategies and execute AWS cloud projects.

This position is both technical and customer-facing, which means the interview will evaluate both your technical skills and your ability to interact with clients, deliver solutions, and navigate complex organizational challenges.

Interview Process Overview

The Amazon Senior Consultant - AVS ProServe interview process generally involves the following stages:

1. Application & Initial Screening
2. Phone/Video Interviews
3. On-site Interview (or Virtual On-site)
4. Final Interview (Behavioral and Leadership)

1. Application & Initial Screening

Once your application is reviewed and you pass the initial screening, a recruiter will reach out to schedule a phone interview. This first stage typically involves a 30- to 45-minute conversation with an HR representative or recruiter.

What to Expect in the Screening:

• Overview of Your Background: The recruiter will want to understand your previous consulting experience, especially around cloud technologies and AWS. Expect questions like:

  • Can you describe your experience with AWS and how you’ve leveraged it in previous projects?
  • What’s your experience working with clients on cloud adoption or migrations?

• Motivation & Fit: The recruiter will gauge your interest in the position and Amazon’s culture.

  • Why are you interested in working for Amazon, and particularly within AWS Professional Services?
  • What excites you about consulting with AWS and helping clients with their cloud transformations?

• Logistics & Role Clarification: They will also discuss the logistics of the role, including expectations and the contract length, as well as confirm your availability and compensation expectations.

2. Phone/Video Interviews

The next stage usually involves two technical phone interviews. These interviews focus on technical problem-solving, consulting skills, and your understanding of AWS products and cloud architectures. You may have one interview with an AWS technical expert and another with a senior consultant or hiring manager.

Technical & Consulting Questions:

• Consulting and Customer-Facing Skills: You’ll be asked about your experience consulting with clients, understanding business needs, and aligning technical solutions with those needs.

  • Tell me about a time you helped a client design a cloud solution. What steps did you take to understand their needs and how did you align AWS services to their business goals?
  • How would you approach a client who is unsure about the business value of moving to the cloud?

• Technical Expertise in AWS: Be prepared for questions that test your knowledge of AWS services and cloud architecture.

  • How would you design a highly available and fault-tolerant architecture using AWS services like EC2, S3, and Route 53?
  • Explain how you would help a client migrate their on-premises database to Amazon RDS, and what considerations would you need to account for?
  • What is your experience with automation tools like CloudFormation or Terraform, and how have you used them in previous projects?

• Problem-Solving Scenarios: You’ll likely encounter case study-style questions, where you need to demonstrate your ability to solve client issues by leveraging AWS solutions.

  • Imagine a client is running a high-traffic website on AWS, and they’re experiencing performance issues. How would you diagnose and address the problem?
  • If a client is looking to reduce costs on their AWS bill, how would you conduct a cost optimization review, and which tools would you use?

Behavioral Questions: Amazon places significant emphasis on Leadership Principles, so you can expect to be asked behavioral questions based on these principles.

• Tell me about a time you had to challenge a client’s assumptions or way of thinking. How did you handle the situation?
• Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult team member. How did you ensure that the project was successful?

3. On-site Interview (or Virtual On-site)

The on-site or virtual on-site interview typically lasts half a day and involves multiple rounds of interviews. You’ll meet with senior consultants, managers, and possibly technical leads.

Key Elements of the On-Site:

• Technical Deep Dive: Expect a detailed technical discussion, possibly involving whiteboard exercises or live coding challenges (depending on the role). You may also have to explain complex cloud solutions and answer questions about specific AWS services and architectures.

  • Design an architecture that can handle the needs of a globally distributed, low-latency application. What AWS services would you use and why?
  • You’re tasked with building a serverless solution using AWS Lambda. What considerations would you have regarding performance and security?

• Client-Facing Scenarios: You might be given a hypothetical client situation where you need to outline a solution that involves multiple AWS services.

  • If a client needs to migrate their entire data warehouse to AWS but is concerned about security and compliance, how would you address these concerns while proposing a solution?

• Cultural Fit and Collaboration: Amazon is known for its collaborative work environment, so expect to be assessed on your ability to work in teams, communicate effectively, and exhibit Amazon’s Leadership Principles.

  • Tell me about a time you had to deliver difficult news to a client. How did you approach the conversation?
  • How do you prioritize tasks and manage deadlines in a fast-paced, client-driven environment?

4. Final Interview (Leadership and Behavioral)

The final round typically includes interviews that focus on leadership, client interactions, and cultural fit. This may be with senior leaders or hiring managers from AWS Professional Services.

Common Questions:

• Leadership Principles: Be ready to answer questions based on Amazon’s 16 Leadership Principles. Your answers should reflect how you exhibit these principles in your work.

  • Tell me about a time you took ownership of a project that was behind schedule. How did you ensure its success?
  • Describe a time when you had to mentor a junior colleague. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?

• Consulting Mindset: They will also assess your ability to think strategically and handle complex business challenges.

  • Describe a situation where you had to balance competing priorities. How did you make decisions and manage stakeholder expectations?

Preparation Tips for Success

• Deepen Your AWS Knowledge: Focus on AWS core services like EC2, S3, Lambda, CloudFormation, RDS, and IAM. Be prepared to discuss these in depth, and know how to use them in different scenarios.
• Prepare for Behavioral Questions: Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to prepare answers for behavioral questions based on Amazon’s Leadership Principles.
• Consulting Mindset: Be ready to showcase your consulting experience. Prepare examples of how you have interacted with clients, understood their pain points, and developed cloud solutions tailored to their needs.
• Understand Client Challenges: Get familiar with the common challenges businesses face when migrating to AWS, such as cost optimization, data security, and legacy system integration. Be ready to discuss how you would solve these challenges.
• Practice Case Studies: Review case study questions and practice structuring your answers with a clear methodology. Make sure to explain the reasoning behind your solution.