AWS Plans to Double Size of Sales Team as Microsoft Looms

Amazon Web Services, faced with declining sales growth and mounting competition from Microsoft, plans to double the size of its current sales team this year, according to a person with direct knowledge and three people who have been briefed on the cloud provider’s plans. 

Part of the hiring spree, announced at a sales kickoff meeting in Chicago in mid-January, will go toward hiring salespeople who have deep technical knowledge in areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data analytics, the people all said. These specialized salespeople will work in tandem with existing generalist AWS sales staff to close large corporate deals, answering technical questions from customers and speeding up the sales process. Details of the sales expansion at AWS haven’t been reported previously.