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Profiles in Pay: Ramsay Hanafi

Learn about life as an Amazonian through the eyes of one of Amazon Pay Londoner’s building strategic partnerships with payment service providers.

Published as part of our best blog posts of 2019, originally posted 10/31/19

Ever wondered what it is like to work at Amazon? Curious about the type of people who thrive in one of the world’s most customer-centric companies?

In this month’s profile, we get an inside look at Ramsay Hanafi’s, one of Amazon Pay UK’s Senior Channel Partner Managers. Ramsay takes us through the cornucopia of activities that happen in a given day, what stands out about the culture of Amazon, some of his passions outside of work.

How would you describe yourself in 2-4 sentences?

A learner. Life, people and travelling have taught me the importance of staying true to your principles. Among my twelve are wisdom and the humility to always learn from experiences.

When did you join Amazon, what’s your position, and how would you describe your role? Have you worked at prior teams at Amazon?

I’m fortunate to be celebrating my second year with Amazon in the New Year. My role is building strategic partnerships with payment service providers, who in turn help our customers access more ways to pay.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I consider being ‘peculiar’ a part of the Amazonian DNA. I’d say the aim is to have nothing ‘typical’ in a day; nevertheless, if I was to describe one day, it starts with a bike ride into our lovely offices in Shoreditch, partner meetings, business case development activities, major programme management, lunch with a teammate, extra projects related to fostering diversity, mentoring and, if it’s Friday, ‘whine-bar’ with the team to reflect on the week.

What do you enjoy about the Amazon culture? Or what’s one thing you’ve learned since your time at Amazon?

Over the course of my career, working for true ‘principle-based’ companies have been the most enjoyable. And so far at Amazon and within the UK Amazon Pay team, we’ve got it right. Amazonians are encouraged to live the most authentic version of themselves, yet subscribe to tenets (unless you know better ones) as guiding principles to deliver a unique experience for customers and ourselves. As Jeff B. said, “it isn’t about work-life balance, it’s about ‘work-life harmony’”. That makes a heck a lot of sense to me. #workhardhavefunmakehistory

What is your favourite leadership principle and why?

Ownership. Leaders are owners…they never say ‘that’s not my job’. Taking a page from Stephen Covey, it starts with the ‘private victory’ before you are able to deliver impact and be effective. I love working people who think and act that way, but more importantly is that it starts with you.

How does Amazon support your career goals?

By this point in my life, it’s clear career happiness is linked to growing. At Amazon, I’d say we foster this by, first, setting high standards to stretch people out of their ‘comfort zone’ (and tolerating mistakes as part of the learning process). Second Amazon is always inventing and building scalable experiences to delight customers. Third the company is always defining, tracking and measuring success. Forth, a belief that permeates through the walls of offices is a belief that every day is Day 1, meaning keep it fresh!

What are some of your passions outside of work? What are you most excited about outside of work?

Exploring local parks and camping with my boys Riad and Rowen. Walks on Hampstead Heath with my dog who is aptly named Heath. Cooking with my wife Sachli.

What’s your super power or a something about you most people at work may not be aware of (secret talent, hobby, aspiration, etc.)?

Drawing. I love everything about the process and the endless techniques involved with sketching and creating art.

If you had a personal motto, what would it be?

I wish I knew as much as I did when I was seventeen.

Learn more about working at Amazon Pay through our career site.