Benjamin Caparoon

About Benjamin Caparoon

I\'ve spent 15 years building things that scale — authorization systems used by millions of Amazon customers, device management platforms supporting the entire Kindle fleet, engineering teams that started as one person and grew to over 100.At AWS I own two globally distributed teams, a multi-million dollar P&L, and a three-year roadmap. But the work I\'m most proud of isn\'t the systems — it\'s the engineers who grew into senior and staff roles on my watch.I believe great engineering leadership looks like this: set a ridiculously high bar, remove every obstacle in your team\'s way, then get out of the road.Outside of AWS, I build things with my hands — woodworking, software side projects, a YouTube channel with views. I think building things — whether it\'s a platform or a cutting board — requires the same discipline: know what you\'re making, plan for failure, and care about the craft.If you\'re building something that needs an engineering leader who can operate at scale, grow teams from zero, and drive the kind of outcomes that show up in annual reports — let\'s talk.

Experience

1. Software Development Manager

   Amazon Web Services (AWS)

   Aug 2020 — Present · Austin, TX, US

   Entrusted with two organizations and a multi-million dollar budget shortly after joining Amazon — a signal of trust I\'ve worked to justify every quarter since.I lead 16–18 engineers across two globally distributed teams delivering multi-region AWS services to millions of customers and hundreds of dependent systems across Amazon and AWS.Key accomplishments: Architected Amazon\'s Context Based Authorization System (CBAS) — re-platformed a 20-year-old monolithic roles/rights system to a real-time, cloud-native microservices authorization platform on AWS, enabling fine-grained access control at Amazon scale. Led migration of Amazon\'s Mobile Device Management platform (RAFT) from a Kindle-specific legacy system to a device-agnostic, security-hardened platform — delivering $1.5M in annual cost savings and a 35% reduction in operational load. Own full P&L, capital planning, and multi-million dollar technology budgets across both organizations; define and execute 3-year strategic roadmaps and annual delivery plans aligned to corporate goals. Drive full-cycle talent management — recruiting, onboarding, performance reviews, and career development for 16+ engineers — maintaining a high-trust, high-accountability culture with strong retention and measurable growth to senior and staff levels. Established engineering best practices, on-call runbooks, and operational excellence standards that improved system reliability and increased team delivery velocity. Championed Amazon Leadership Principles across both organizations; mentored engineers into senior and staff-level roles through structured 1:1 coaching, goal-setting frameworks, and high-visibility stretch assignments.

Education

• WGU Texas

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Software Development

Skills

• Web Design
• SEO
• Creative Direction
• Digital Marketing
• Photoshop
• Graphic Design
• Advertising
• E-Commerce
• Photography
• Web Analytics
• Jquery
• Css
• Web Development
• After Effects
• Corporate Branding
• Marketing
• Sem
• Video
• Google Analytics
• Brand Development
• User Experience
• Interaction Design
• Email Marketing
• Html5
• Usability
• Css3
• Art Direction
• C#
• Information Architecture
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Premiere
• Strategic Partnerships
• User Interface Design
• Branding & Identity
• Management
• .net
• Website Development
• Video Editing
• Corporate Identity
• Asp.net Mvc