Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has appointed Dharmesh Mehta, VP of Worldwide Selling Partner Services, as his technical advisor starting March. The role, internally called a "shadow," puts Mehta in most of Jassy's meetings across Amazon's businesses.
This matters because shadow advisors typically ascend to major leadership roles. Jassy held the position under Jeff Bezos in the early 2000s before becoming AWS CEO. The pattern is clear: shadowing the CEO is succession planning in action.
Mehta leads Amazon's seller services, which includes Fulfillment by Amazon, advertising, and AI tools like Seller Assistant and A+ Content. Under his watch, the average Amazon seller grossed over $295,000 in 2024, with 55,000 sellers exceeding $1 million. Jassy has called the seller partnership "retail's most compelling and substantial collaboration."
The timing is notable. Amazon has pushed hard on AI-driven seller tools and marketplace growth. Mehta appeared with Jassy at Amazon Accelerate in September 2025, emphasizing seller partnerships. Now he gets a front-row seat to how Jassy runs the entire company.
What this means in practice: Mehta will absorb Amazon's operating model, decision-making process, and business strategy across all divisions. The role is less mentorship, more immersive exposure to executive operations. It's how Amazon trains future leaders without formal programs.
The shadow approach differs from typical executive development. Most companies use rotational programs or mentorship pairings. Amazon's model embeds high-potential leaders directly into the CEO's workflow. The trade-off: intense learning curve, limited scale. You can only shadow one person at a time.
Not everyone sees Amazon's seller focus as benign. Some sellers have complained about platform policies, with skepticism visible in Seller Central forums. Mehta's promotion suggests Amazon is doubling down on its marketplace strategy regardless.
Three things to watch: whether Mehta gets a P&L role after shadowing, how Amazon's seller AI tools evolve under his influence, and whether other tech giants adopt similar succession mechanisms. The shadow role works for Amazon. The question is whether it scales beyond companies with Bezos-era institutional memory.