Growing a career with Amazon Ads: Denise’s path to management

I studied engineering, but my first job was in market research. I ended up staying in that job for over nine years, focusing on insights—especially digital insights—and that led to an interest in digital advertising.

I only knew I was looking for something in digital. It was 2021, and online shopping had grown significantly during the pandemic. I’ve always been curious about how digital campaigns perform and love digging into the data behind them.

I wanted to amplify my vision, skills, and knowledge, and I knew I was looking for something a little different. The more I learned, the more I saw how the Account Management role brought together all the things I loved: data, insights, media, and digital retail. It felt like everything clicked.

We're strategic partners for our clients. That means helping them build media strategies based on their business goals and performance data and our ad tech products. We’re always asking “What’s the objective here?” and working out how we can help customers achieve it with data-driven insights—whether that’s testing something new, scaling what’s already working, or exploring different Amazon channels such as Twitch or Prime Video.

Analytical thinking is huge! Strategic thinking, too, because we’re planning media strategies across the year, and also adaptability. We manage many different types of clients, so we need to listen, ask the right questions, and really understand what each client is trying to achieve.

I’ve managed one or two people before, but now I lead a larger team. It’s not just about giving answers anymore; I'm learning to support my team in finding their own solutions.

This has been a mindset change because I feel valuable when I'm fixing a problem, but now I realize a manager is more of a guide. The onboarding and manager training at Amazon really helped me with this. It’s made me reflect on how I lead and how I listen.

You’re encouraged to propose, create, experiment; there’s a lot of trust. One thing I love is the idea of “two-way door” decisions. Not every choice has to be final. If something doesn’t work, you adjust. That mindset gives you confidence to try new things. In some companies, failure feels like a big deal. Here, it’s part of the process.

I love that we work with numbers and data. We're the go-to people when clients have questions or business needs. Sometimes they come to us with questions, and we can easily analyze the data and provide answers. Other times, it's more challenging. We might not have the answer available, so we have to figure out where to find the data and how to interpret it.

It's great when clients ask questions we haven’t considered before, as it makes us think differently—and often, insights from one client can be applied to another.

For those considering an Account Management position, success requires becoming a blend of a technical expert who deeply understands our advertising products (such as Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Demand-Side Platform [DSP]), a strategic communicator who builds and grows strong client trust, and, most importantly, a data strategist who is committed to opportunities to support our clients’ and Amazon’s business goals. And, as always, lean into Amazon’s culture, especially the Amazon Leadership Principles. They'll be the foundation for everything you do.