Meet James Hamilton: an eccentric engineer and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s trusted aide.
Here’s how he became one of the company’s most powerful leaders. 👇
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Hamilton worked closely with Jassy for over a decade to grow Amazon Web Services from a fledgling cloud-computing unit into a $60 billion global enterprise.
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One of Jassy's first moves as CEO was to promote Hamilton to Amazon's S-team, a group of about two dozen of the company's most powerful decision-makers.
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Peter Vosshall, a former VP and distinguished engineer at Amazon, told Insider that Jassy and Hamilton make “a great one-two punch.”
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Since joining Amazon in 2008, Hamilton has been involved in AWS' biggest projects — all while working from his custom-built, 52-foot Nordhavn yacht, the Dirona.
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Those familiar with Hamilton say his promotion was well deserved, not just for his expertise, but his humble demeanor.
When asked about his new role, Hamilton shrugged it off.
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Hamilton plans to be more hands-on in his new role.
After years of working from his boat, he got an apartment in Seattle to work more closely with colleagues, sources said.
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Still, for those familiar with Hamilton's work, such as former AWS VP Tim Bray, this should be a relatively easy transition, as Hamilton is known for his swift responses to emails.
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As Hamilton works closely with Jassy, distinguished and principal engineers are hopeful their influence on Amazon will only grow.
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