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That's big compared to its current workforce. LinkedIn lists about 100 Amazon employees whose job function is in sales and whose profiles mention Amazon Web Services.
When
It has become an indispensable part of the modern startup—and for coders, part of the attraction was that you could just sign yourself up with a credit card and not deal with salespeople.
But now Amazon is increasingly competing with computing giants like IBM, Oracle, HP, and Microsoft, who want to keep corporate customers' business as they shift operations to the cloud.
So it makes sense for Amazon would want to build up a traditional
A handful of AWS salespeople have been in place since 2009. But it looks like the first serious hiring took place in 2011, with experienced salespeople like 10-year Microsoft veteran Darren Mowry joining.
Most of the junior salespeople we spotted on Linkedin appeared to have joined in recent months.
Amazon also has Dell, HP, and VMware alumni selling its Web offerings.
Sales jobs seem to be concentrated in Seattle, Wash.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; New York; and northern Virginia, where Amazon has a major East Coast data center.
Amazon has job listings in those cities and for positions around the world, suggesting an international expansion of the sales effort.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.