About This Role

Are you an accomplished certification designer ready to shape the future of data

center workforce credentialing through rigorous exam development, psychometric

excellence, and data-driven program innovation across AWS’s global Data Center

Communities?

AWS Data Center Learning’s mission is to develop the best data center workforce

on Earth. The organization is responsible for providing training, certification,

and career development pathways to all new and existing AWS data center

employees worldwide. Our team is constantly looking to optimize the experience

and provide our operations teams with a work-ready, credentialed workforce.

Our Certification team is seeking a Senior Certification Designer who moves

beyond traditional assessment design and leads collaborative job-task analysis

workshops to blueprint and build industry-leading certification programs. In

this role you will act as a credentialing strategist, psychometric practitioner,

and empathetic designer, partnering with cross-functional teams to build

certification ecosystems that span exam development, item writing, blueprint

design, credential management, and certification pathway architecture. This

position requires consistent collaboration with Senior Leaders in Data Center

Operations, Safety, Security, Logistics, Planning, Delivery, and other teams to

design and deliver valid, reliable, and defensible certification programs. You

will consult with technical subject-matter experts, apply psychometric

principles and emerging technologies, and use data-driven iteration to produce

certification experiences that drive measurable workforce capability outcomes.

We are looking for a professional who designs and delivers innovative

certification solutions at scale. The ideal candidate will have proven mastery

of exam development methodologies, job-task analysis, item writing best

practices, psychometric principles, and credentialing standards (such as ISO

17024 or equivalent). You must be able to manage multiple complex certification

projects simultaneously, mentor fellow designers, and drive the future

certification development roadmap. The ideal candidate demonstrates ownership of

outcomes, thinks big about scalable credentialing solutions, dives deep into

psychometrics and operational challenges, and maintains the highest standards

while moving fast to meet business needs.

As the Senior Certification Designer, you will represent our organization across

Data Center Communities. This entails translating organizational competency

frameworks into actionable certification strategies that balance rigor and

agility: modular, scalable exam architectures that adapt to evolving workforce

needs. Your role will require communicating at all levels of the organization,

working with senior leaders, and building relationships across global time zones

and geographies.

Key job responsibilities

- Design and manage end-to-end certification programs—from exam blueprinting and

item development through field testing, standard setting, and credential

maintenance.

- Facilitate job-task analysis workshops and apply competency-mapping principles

to create defensible certification blueprints.

- Lead item writing workshops, guiding SMEs in developing high-quality exam

items (multiple choice, scenario-based, performance-based) aligned to blueprint

domains.

- Apply psychometric techniques (classical test theory, IRT, item statistics,

standard-setting methodologies) to ensure exam validity and reliability.

- Use performance analytics and candidate feedback to iterate on exam design,

optimize item banks, and demonstrate program quality.

- Lead cross-functional certification projects in matrixed environments,

mentoring junior designers and raising credentialing standards.

- Design scalable, modular item banks and certification architectures supporting

multiple credential levels, roles, and geographies.

- Manage the full certification lifecycle and communicate strategy alignment

with senior leadership across Global Data Center Operations.

A day in the life

Your morning kicks off with a little detective work—diving into item bank

analytics and pass/fail dashboards, hunting down those sneaky underperforming

items with lousy discrimination indices or bias flags waving for attention.

Next, you'll pop into strategic meetings with senior leaders from Data Center

Operation, playing translator between "here's what's breaking in the field" and

"here's what our certification roadmap needs to fix." By mid-morning, you're

running a job-task analysis workshop with subject-matter experts—think: sticky

notes flying, task criticality debates getting spicy, and knowledge requirements

taking shape for a shiny new data center operations credential. After lunch

(fuel up, you'll need it), you're leading an item writing jam session—coaching

SMEs on crafting scenario-based questions that actually make people think,

red-penning drafts for technical accuracy, and making sure everything maps back

to those all-important blueprint weightings. Your afternoon? It's a

choose-your-own-adventure: maybe you're wrangling a standard-setting panel for

an updated cert form, geeking out over item-level psychometric reports with a

senior psychometrician or teaming up with the learning experience crew to make

sure prep resources and exam objectives are best friends. Through it all, you're

the person holding the big picture and the fine details—making sure every

certification that ships is valid, reliable, defensible, equitable, and actually

measures the stuff that matters most for the workforce.

About the team

Our mission is to develop the best Data Center workforce on Earth. The AWS Data

Center Certification team sets the trusted standard that empowers the world's

most skilled data center workforce. We create rigorous, scalable certification

programs that validate that builders within Data Center Operations demonstrate

the technical competencies needed to work safely, securely, and effectively. The

team designs credential pathways that span a builder’s entire career journey:

from foundational role-based certifications and safety credentials to advanced

operational qualifications for tenured employees. Our certifications provide

individuals with meaningful, portable credentials and provide the organization

with a verified, defensible record of workforce capability. Our work directly

underpins the safety, availability, and operational excellence of AWS’s global

data center infrastructure. Basic Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree or

equivalent in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Technical Training,

Design, or a related field

- Bachelor's degree or equivalent, or 5+ years of with Learning & Development

and course facilitation experience

- Experience applying concepts of learning science, educational psychology, and

instructional design principles to learning solutions

- Experience developing or delivering training programs across multiple sites or

regions

- Experience working with data analytics and using these metrics to identify

problems, or experience in profee auditing, coding, and documentation

requirements

- Demonstrated mastery of job-task analysis methodologies and the ability to

facilitate SME workshops that produce defensible, competency-aligned

certification blueprints. Preferred Qualifications: - Master's degree or

equivalent in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Technical Training,

Design, or a related field

- Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent certification

- Experience with graphic training systems, multimedia content creation, and

Learning Management Systems (LMS) administration

- Experience mentoring trainers, using data analytics for training effectiveness

measurement, and leading change management initiatives

- Professional certification in credentialing or assessment (e.g., Certified

Credentialing Specialist (CCS), Certified Assessment Designer, or equivalent).

- Master’s degree or equivalent in Educational Measurement, Psychometrics,

Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Instructional Technology, or a closely

related field.

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis

of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our

customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or

adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the

interview or onboarding process, please visit

https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations

[https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations] for more

information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please

contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package

will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final

compensation will be determined based on factors including experience,

qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits

including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life &

AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health

Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy

Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave.

Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits

[https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits].

USA, WA, Seattle - 138,300.00 - 187,100.00 USD annually

About This Role