Is an AWS certification worth it? What 915 job postings say
915 open job postings from 428 employers name an AWS certification. 27% require it; the rest list it as a nice-to-have. It's asked for most in cloud & devops jobs, where 8% of postings name it.
27% of the 915 postings that name it require it. It signals experience: 94% of the postings that state a level are senior or above.
- Employers name it
- 4283rd of 40 we track
- Require it
- 27%of postings that name it
Who should take it?
Built from what the 915 postings ask for, not from opinions.
Take it if you…
- aim at cloud & devops jobsNamed in 8% of cloud & devops postings
- target employers that screen for it27% of the postings that name it require it
- already have years in the field94% of these postings are senior or above
Skip it (for now) if you…
- want it to land your first jobOnly 3% of the postings that name it are junior or intern roles
Recognition: one of the most widely recognised certifications we track, 3rd of 40 by the number of employers that name it (428). We can't yet measure whether an AWS certification gets a particular person hired: that needs outcomes from people who earned it.
How much it counts in each kind of job
Share of each job family's postings that name an AWS certification, and how many of those require it.
Job titles
An AWS certification shows up most in Security Engineer, DevOps Engineer and Software Engineer postings. Ranked by the number of different employers, so one big hirer can't fill the list.
| Job (level and location removed) | Employers | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Security Engineer | 31 | 39 |
| DevOps Engineer | 31 | 36 |
| Software Engineer | 23 | 26 |
| Cloud Engineer | 19 | 21 |
| Site Reliability Engineer | 18 | 22 |
| Cloud Security Engineer | 15 | 17 |
| Solutions Architect | 14 | 17 |
| Platform Engineer | 14 | 15 |
Required or a plus?
How the 915 postings that name an AWS certification ask for it.
Who it's for: seniority
Level stated in the job title, 558 postings.
Who asks for it
Employers with the most postings
- Accenture Federal Services · 37
- Brillio · 28
- Dark Wolf Solutions · 21
- Mactores · 12
- TENEX.AI · 11
- GuidePoint Security · 9
- Ippon Technologies · 9
- Redhorse Corporation · 9
- AnaVation · 8
- Camunda · 8
Where the jobs are
55% are fully remote (of 477 postings that say).
58% of the postings are in the United States: the job boards we read lean towards US tech companies, so other markets are under-represented.
What these jobs pay
Advertised US base pay in postings that name an AWS certification and publish a salary range (332 postings).
Often asked for together
Other certifications named in the same postings as an AWS certification.
Share of the postings that name an AWS certification. Postings often list several certifications as alternatives (“CISSP, CISM or equivalent”).
Compared with similar certifications
An AWS certification is named by more employers than any other certification in its group.
| Certification | Level | Exam fee | Employers | Required | Senior or above | Junior or intern |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS certification (any) | – | – | 428 | 27% | 94% | 3% |
| Azure certification (any) | – | – | 280 | 30% | 93% | 3% |
| Google Cloud certification (any) | – | – | 129 | 33% | 95% | 2% |
| AWS Security – Specialty | Professional | $300 | 122 | 23% | 95% | 1% |
| Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) | Expert | $165 (US) | 84 | 36% | 99% | 1% |
| AWS Solutions Architect – Professional | Professional | $300 | 72 | 24% | 100% | 0% |
| Azure Administrator (AZ-104) | Associate | $165 (US) | 67 | 34% | 81% | 5% |
| Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) | Entry level | – | 54 | 42% | 69% | 19% |
| AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner | Entry level | $100 | 51 | 30% | 61% | 32% |
| Google Professional Cloud Architect | Professional | $200 | 50 | 25% | 95% | 2% |
How we count
- Source. 199,799 unique open postings from company job boards on Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, crawled November 2026.
- Named only. A posting counts when it names an AWS certification (any of the vendor's exams, or its certifications in general), not the bare word “certified”. Certifications offered as a benefit (“we pay for your exam”) don't count.
- Required or a plus. Read from the section and the sentence the mention sits in.
- Checked by hand. In 150 random matches the extractor had never seen, 148 named the right certification and 147 had the right type.
- Minimum sample. Seniority, locations and pay are shown only with at least 30 postings behind them.
- Limits. A posting is what an employer asks for, not who they hire. The boards lean towards tech companies and the US.
FAQ
Is an AWS certification worth it in 2026?
It depends on the job you're aiming at. 428 employers name it in 915 open postings, most often in cloud & devops (8% of that family's postings). 27% require it. For those jobs it can decide whether your application gets past the first screen.
Will an AWS certification help me get an entry-level job?
Rarely on its own. Only 3% of the postings that name it and state a level are junior or intern roles; 94% are senior, lead or staff. Employers treat it as a mark of experience, not a way in.
How much do jobs that ask for an AWS certification pay?
US postings that name it and publish a salary advertise a median base pay of $170K (middle half $143K–$198K, 332 postings). Compared with a job without a certification at the same company, same job family and level, they advertise 1.9% more. That's what the job pays, not what the certificate adds.
Which certifications are asked for together with an AWS certification?
Most often Azure certification (any) (named in 30% of the same postings), CISSP (named in 20% of the same postings) and Google Cloud certification (any) (named in 16% of the same postings).
Not sure a certification is your gap?
See all 40 certifications side by side, or check the skills employers in your target role ask for.