Senior Engineering Leader

Jonathan
Lewis Clark

12+ years at Amazon building and scaling distributed systems, high-performing engineering organizations, and consumer AI products.

Seattle, WA

Trajectory

Career Elevation

Apr 2022 – Present

Senior Manager, Alexa Daily Essentials

Amazon · Seattle, WA

  • Leading 61-person engineering organization (49 SDEs, 6 SDMs, 1 TPM, 4 interns) across 9 product charters
  • Delivered 54.5% infrastructure cost reduction within 5 months
  • Delivered SVP-level goal for AI-backed intelligent features (Calendar Insights)
  • Leading GenAI charter with science team mandate for AI/ML model deployment
  • Org growth arc: 34 (join) → 68 (peak) → 61 (current)
Nov 2018 – Apr 2022

Senior Manager / SDM III, AWS Step Functions

Amazon Web Services · Vancouver, BC

  • Scaled engineering organization from 2 → 8 → 22 engineers
  • Led escalation manager group of 16 EMs across Events & Workflows
  • Promoted three times in four years (SDM II → SDM III → Senior Manager)
Apr 2018 – Nov 2018

SDM II, AWS Step Functions

Amazon Web Services · Vancouver, BC

  • Grew initial team from 2 to 8 within 5 months
  • Led all engineering for AWS Step Functions
Apr 2016 – Apr 2018

Software Development Engineer II

Amazon Web Services · Vancouver, BC

  • Developed frontend interface for AWS Step Functions
  • Designed backend features for security, scalability, and availability
Jun 2014 – Apr 2016

Software Development Engineer

Amazon.com · Vancouver, BC

  • Fire Phone, RDS Aurora, Simple Workflow Service (SWF)
  • Deep work in distributed systems: ACID transactions on DynamoDB, write-ahead logging, consistent hashing

Entrepreneurship

Ventures

BudgiePlanner

Active

Founder & CEO

2024 – Present

AI-powered budgeting and financial planning product built on Claude/Anthropic models using Claude Code.

Visit

Gretchen

Completed

Founder

2023 – 2024

Legal AI assistant product for email. Solo founder, operated in parallel with Amazon role.

Medimap Systems

$1.5M Raised

Co-Founder & CTO

2015 – 2017

Healthcare marketplace connecting patients to walk-in clinics. Achieved 72% market share across Canada. Raised $1.5M seed round. Built while working full-time at Amazon.

Expertise

Technical Skills

Core Strengths

Distributed SystemsWorkflow OrchestrationCloud Infrastructure (AWS)Engineering LeadershipAI/ML Product Delivery

Languages & Frameworks

Java / SpringPythonNode.jsReact / React NativeAngular

Infrastructure

DynamoDBRDS AuroraStep FunctionsLambdaCI/CD Pipelines

AI & Emerging Tech

Large Language ModelsClaude / Anthropic APIClaude CodeChatGPT / OpenAI

Scale

Leadership

61
Engineers Led
6
SDM Direct Reports
17+
People Managers
~8yr
SDE I → Sr. Manager
“The thread that runs through my career is building and scaling — taking something from zero or near-zero and growing it into a high-performing system and team.”

In 2022, I deliberately moved from AWS to Alexa — from B2B to B2C, from infrastructure to product, into AI and science. I found a different operating culture and brought what I knew: within five months, I delivered a 54.5% infrastructure cost reduction.

Beyond Work

Interests

Summits Reached

10,781'
Mt. Baker
11,627'
Mt. Temple
14,148'
Mt. Democrat
14,410'
Mt. Rainier
14,421'
Mt. Massive
14,433'
Mt. Elbert

Canoeing

Bowron Lake Circuit, Spatsizi & Upper Stikine Rivers

Running

Youngest participant in the 2004 Vancouver Marathon at age 12

Sports

Golf, Rugby (6 years), Soccer (2 years)

Travel

Exploring new places and cultures around the world

Family

Proud dad to a 4-year-old daughter

Fitness & Biking

Regular gym workouts and cycling

Education

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science

University of British Columbia

2014