Veterans have deep roots in our history. At Amazon, we believe they will also help shape our future. Over 60,000 service members and military spouses currently work at Amazon, and we are on our way to achieving our pledge of hiring more than 100,000 total by 2024.

Here at Amazon Freight we’re creating our own pathways for service members and their families to begin or advance meaningful careers, as well as learn new skills and transition into the workforce. Their backgrounds in the military are an especially good fit at Amazon where, as Jeff Bezos says, “we actively seek leaders who can invent, think big, have bias for action, and deliver results on behalf of our customers.” In other words, members of the military embrace many of the same Leadership Principles Amazon follows.

Meet Jacob Moeller, a retired veteran and one of the first Military Spouse Fellows to join the Amazon Freight team. In September 2022, he began Amazon’s Fellowship program, which invites military spouses to work for 12 weeks before securing a full-time role. Nicole Moeller, his wife, still serves in the Air Force as an intelligence analyst.

Jacob heard about the Hiring Our Heroes program through friends. The program addresses the difficulty that veterans and their spouses face when translating their experiences and skills into civilian jobs. Through Hiring Our Heroes, he met Alex Nester, a Senior Manager of Solutions Engineering at Amazon Freight, who offered him a fellowship on the shipper support team.

In the Air Force, Moeller was part of a special operations team that moved cargo and conducted rescue missions. He deployed with the teams for Hurricane Rita in 2005 and in 2011 rescued 17 students and children of military families who were in Japan after an earthquake. The children were safely returned to their families as part of the first official mission flown in support of Operation Tomodachi.

At Amazon, Moeller is putting into practice what he learned in the Air Force as well as his master degree in logistics and transportation from the American Military University.

“There is quite an overlap between the Amazon Leadership Principles and what I experienced in the military,” says Moeller “For example, bias for action. We were encouraged to make decisions with confidence.” Translating his ability to act swiftly, be frugal, and problem solve makes him excited for a career in freight. “I enjoy making someone else’s life easier.”

On the shipper support team, Moeller troubleshoots problems for Amazon Freight’s shipper partners. This includes small challenges like ensuring on-time delivery and larger challenges such as rerouting or holding loads in the event of a hurricane or a natural disaster. Regardless of the circumstances, he is able to focus on getting shipments delivered for customers.

He also draws upon his Air Force experience to train new members of the Amazon Freight support team, which is rapidly growing. “The Air Force has a rigid and hierarchical structure and training programs, which has helped me improve the training for the freight solutions team so that Amazon Freight can keep growing and retain great people.”

Amazon’s Alex Nester, also a veteran, leads the shipper support team focused on quality and process improvement to meet the company’s future freight volume forecast. “Like Jake, I was drawn to Amazon by talented individuals. I met the Amazon team at a Service Academy Career Conference, and I was struck by the intelligence of the group, the straightforward approach they took to problem solving, and the fact that they operate at enormous scope and scale.”

Leveraging Amazon’s Military Veteran recruiting team, Nester says, “it’s a clear win-win where Amazon solves a problem by bringing in talented people and supporting them and provides opportunities for veterans who want to pursue employment. It’s a way to bring people together with the same virtues and give back.”

If you are interested in career opportunities for veterans and their military spouses, learn more here or attend an event.