AI adoption is accelerating across every function in workplaces globally, and to meet the rapidly growing need and land an in-demand job, you need certifications and microcredentials that position you as having proven AI skills for the role.
Recent data from Lightcast shows that job postings citing one or more AI skills carry salary premiums of 28% on average, while of course, the greatest salary boosts go to technical IT focused roles, where you can see as much as a 47% salary boost. Additionally, reports show that microcredentials increase your chances of being hired by as much as 96%.
Thankfully, Amazon’s AWS literally just dropped some new certifications and microcredentials on the market this week, so you can get ahead and add these industry-recognizable, credible certifications to your resume before everyone else jumps on the trend, making you unique.
3 AI Certifications From AWS That Lead To High-Paying Jobs
Just a note: certifications vary from microcredentials offered by AWS, which notes on its website that microcredentials validate your skills to help you stand out in the job market, and are complementary to their certifications. Through the microcredentials (the last two of the three listed here) you can gain an AWS validation of your deep, technical knowledge and hands-on expertise in complex scenarios.
1. AWS Certified Generative AI Developer – Professional
This certification offered by AWS helps you verify your AI dev skills, specifically in areas like “building production grade applications on AWS or with open-source technologies, general AI/ML or data engineering experience,” as well as “a minimum of one year of hands-on experience implementing generative AI solutions,” the website says.
You’d also need familiarity with AWS, including its cloud infrastructure, deployment, cost optimization, and security.
With this certification, you’d increase your chances of being hired for a role like AI software developer, which pays an average yearly salary of $103,877 in the U.S. according to Salary.com.
2. AWS Serverless Demonstrated
This microcredential evidences your tangible capability in performing tasks such as (from the website):
- Deploying a REST API
- Configuring a Step Functions state machine
- Designing and implementing an event-driven system
- Optimizing AWS Lambda functions for various scenarios
The exam lab takes 90 minutes to complete (you’ll need to do this in one sitting) and it’s recommended that you’re already familiar with AWS Cloud Quest and Serverless Developer learning paths.
A serverless developer makes $153,608 on average in the United States, according to Glassdoor data.
3. AWS Agentic AI Demonstrated
Agentic AI is the hot AI topic of 2025 and will continue to be in 2026 as more workplaces integrate AI agents, build their own custom agents, and deploy them as teammates. This rising trend makes your expertise in agentic AI invaluable. With this AWS Agentic AI Demonstrated microcredential (where you’ll be working with Amazon Bedrock), you can prove your hands-on agentic skills to employers.
Companies like Walmart are hiring for agentic AI professionals and are offering salaries of as much as $220,000 for this skill.
It’s also worth noting that until the beginning of January 2026, AWS is allowing any learner to access exam prep materials for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and AI Practitioner, as well as practice exams, completely for free. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to build your confidence and gain a certification before getting your microcredential.
For example, once you’ve completed the AI Practitioner learning materials and passed the exam, you can then be ready for the Agentic AI microcredential and add another layer of credibility to your resume.
The artificial intelligence job market is progressing very quickly. If you want to win in this game, it’s not enough just to say that you know about AI. What separates you from being a mere AI hobbyist to actually being viewed as an in-demand solution to a business problem is when you’re able to demonstrate and validate practical AI fluency. The three certifications in this article are a great starting point.