I'm currently a senior pentester with experience in both consulting and in-house security. A recruiter reached out to me about a Technical Account Manager (TAM) role at AWS, and I'm curious if it'll be a good fit for my skills and background.
1. Are TAMs typically on-call 24/7 for the clients they work with?
2. How important is security knowledge in the TAM role? What does the career progression look like? I'm tempted by the opportunity at AWS, but I'm also a bit wary about the shift from security-focused work to project management and general account management.
Thanks for any insights!
4 Answers
TAMs don't typically work on-call 24/7. You definitely can bring your pentesting expertise into the TAM role, but it’ll be more about providing strategic advice than hands-on work. If you’re prepared for the shift, you might eventually find opportunities that align more closely with your security background through different internal roles at AWS.
I worked at AWS for 7 years and was a TAM for 6 months. Honestly, it felt more like being a glorified scheduler, just coordinating between customers and specialists. You’ll need to keep track of what your customers are using and find the right experts to help them out. It can feel a bit mundane, but it really depends on how engaging the clients are and the tasks at hand.
1. Nope, TAMs aren't on-call all the time. There’s some level of awareness for customer issues, but it's usually not a constant thing.
2. You might find ways to specialize in security, but generally, TAMs are more generalists. You’ll be interacting with customers on various issues, which might not include security as a top priority. But still, your pentesting skills will be useful in various ways. Just expect to balance that with the general TAM role.
1. Yes, when emergencies happen, TAMs can be paged for updates, but you’re not typically in an on-call rotation. In my experience, I’ve only been paged once in a whole year.
2A. If you’re keen on security, you can join the Specialist community focused on security to become a Security Specialist TAM, which is a more security-focused role.
2B. Also, TAMs now focus on helping customers become more operationally mature and secure rather than administrative tasks. Certain sectors like the Public Sector are more aligned with security roles as well!
That’s good to know! The focus on maturity and security sounds interesting, I appreciate the insight.