Q&A with Robert Friedman Sr. Tech Product Manager, Air Science & Tech Middle Mile

Tell us about yourself and how your military experiences prepared you for Amazon!

I am currently a Sr. Manager - Product Tech for Air Science & Tech (AST), the dedicated technology team for Amazon Air - Middle Mile Org. Working at Amazon is my second career journey where, I lead a cross-functional team of Product / Program Managers and technology specialists that help build technology-based products for our primary business partner, Amazon Air. I’ve been with Amazon for nearly six years, and the majority of this time has been on AST or on the Amazon Air business team.

My transition away from active duty, out of the Marine Corps was a Program Manager for a defense contractor that manufactured unmanned aerial systems. In this role, I learned both the science and the art of program management: how to drive projects to completion, interact with customers, gather requirements, and convert those requirements to understandable actions for engineers. My experience and transitioning out of active duty was easier because I kept one aspect of my career consistent which was staying within the aerospace industry and the defense industry. I rotated into supply chain at Amazon as a technology company after I had already gained experience as a Program Manager.

What are some of the skills that helped you Transition from Active Duty to your Career now?

I would say there are 2 specific areas where my military experience has benefited me at Amazon: leadership and prioritization. Leadership is at the core of being a Marine, specifically servant leadership principles that state a leader serves for the benefit of the Marines that he or she is entrusted to lead. My responsibilities were to mentor my team, create an environment for them to be successful, understand when to be stern versus lenient, and create the conditions for each individual to grow professionally. I now lead my team at Amazon in the same way; I empower team members and create a safe working environment, one where individuals are not afraid to make mistakes.

Prioritization is another skill that I learned as a Marine, especially as an aviator, that I have been able to apply at Amazon. From my first day as a pilot, I was taught to Aviate, Navigate, then Communicate. I begin by aviating, or flying the aircraft to secure the safety of my aircraft and myself. I then navigate to ensure that I am headed in the right direction before I communicate to airspace control agencies or my wingmen as the last priority. This relates to my team at Amazon, as we all have many tasks to perform, so it is important to understand what tasks must we complete first, to keep Amazon Air flying, then, which tasks must we complete to keep us pointed in the right direction. Lastly, we need to understand which tasks we can complete last.

You were an active duty Marine for 21 years. What did you do in the Marine Corps?

I graduated from the Navy Strike Fighter Weapons School (TOP GUN) and served as a Marine and an F/A-18 pilot in various leadership positions. Some of my career highlights include three deployments aboard aircraft carriers, first aboard the USS Nimitz and twice aboard the USS John C. Stennis, one of which was three months after 9/11 to fly combat missions over Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. I also served as Commanding Officer and was privileged to lead 220 sailors and marines of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron – 323, the Death Rattlers.

A few more of my most memorable experiences include flying combat missions and enforcing the No-Fly Zone over Iraq in the late 1990s, serving as an instructor at the USMC Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course, with MAWTS-1 and deploying a full year to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In total, I have deployed five times. My last few years were spent attending the DoD Top-Level School in Washington D.C. and serving at the Pentagon. Overall, I lived a very charmed life for my career in the Marine Corps and feel very blessed for all the opportunities that I received.

What accomplishment at Amazon are you most proud of?

My proudest accomplishment is that I was one of the first members of our Air Science & Technology team. In 2018, the Middle Mile Tech organization was funded to create a team supporting AIR-specific technology-based products. I was luckily given the opportunity to form the first Product Management team, to help set the technology roadmap, to shape our partnership with operating partners, and to map the way that we define and build technology-based products.

We had a total of 16 team members and had the daunting task of figuring out how to tackle many manual processes. The air-cargo business was very different than the line haul transportation network that Amazon was familiar with. For instance, the team needed to understand the FAA-regulatory environment to ensure we were building technology that complied with federal regulations. I am incredibly proud to have been one of the members to contribute to and witness the many wins to these challenges in the team’s early stages.

What adds excitement to your role and team?

My philosophy that I’ve carried throughout my working career is to foster an environment of teaching and learning. I believe that we all have something we can learn from each other, and this is a topic I discuss with each of my team members on their first day. Consequently, the “thing” that makes me most excited to come to work is the feeling of satisfaction when someone says to me, “I haven’t thought of it that way before.”

For instance, there is a design philosophy that I learned from a fellow aviator from my Marine Corps days. He taught me that training is a crutch for poor engineering. Another way to look at this philosophy is that we should design our products to be so intuitive that no training is required to use it nor to discover all of the functionality. When I work with the Product and Program Managers on my team, I pass along and teach this philosophy, challenging them to build our tools in a way that no training is needed.

The Air Science & Tech team has established several mechanisms to foster a culture of learning and teaching. At a technical-level, we hold Tech Design Discussions to share best practices, receive peer reviews, and to showcase the work that our development teams are conducting. Our Research and Applied Science members facilitate a Bi-weekly Research Lecture Series where academic-like research papers are presented and defended. We also have a Bi-weekly Lunch & Learn series to present any relevant information to broaden the knowledge base of our greater team. A recent example is a session covering flight schedule standardization and how internet travel service providers are able to ingest flight schedules from many of the commercial carriers and present the best option to each of us as consumers.

What do you do for fun/work-life balance?

My wife and I are empty-nesters and live in the greater Seattle area with our two cats and two dogs. I really enjoy building things, mostly home-improvement projects. I seem to always have a large project underway at the house. Over the past five years, I have remodeled the basement in our house, including a full bathroom remodel and installation of a walk-in shower. I replaced all of the 70-year old galvanized pipe from the same house and installed copper tubing, built a hardwood deck, and a stand-alone gazebo with an outdoor kitchen.

I take great advantage of the amazing summers in Seattle. When I’m able, my wife and I like to get out on the Puget Sound to sail, motorboat or just to fish from the shore. Salmon fishing in the Puget Sound is awesome and every-other year the Pink Salmon migrate into the Sound. Two years ago, several times a week during the summer, I would start my day by waking up at 5:00 AM, driving five minutes to a park close to my house, casting out a fishing line and returning home an hour later with at least two salmon.