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Amazon announced on February 4, 2026, that Dharmesh Mehta would leave his role leading Worldwide Selling Partner Services (SPS) to become CEO Andy Jassy’s Technical Advisor in March. Amit Agarwal will take over SPS and Customer Trust while continuing to lead International Emerging Stores. The announcement changes who oversees Amazon’s seller-facing operations, but it does not announce an immediate change to seller fees, enforcement rules or fulfillment policies.
Amazon’s announcement says Agarwal will report to Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores.
The leadership handoff
| Executive | Previous remit | New or continuing remit | Timing and reporting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dharmesh Mehta | Vice president of Worldwide Selling Partner Services | Andy Jassy’s Technical Advisor | Transition scheduled to begin in March 2026; exact date was not disclosed |
| Amit Agarwal | Senior vice president of International Emerging Stores | Worldwide Selling Partner Services and Customer Trust, while retaining International Emerging Stores | Reports to Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores |
Calling this a simple replacement would be incomplete. Mehta remains at Amazon in a senior advisory assignment, and Agarwal is adding two major organizations to an existing international-stores portfolio.
What Selling Partner Services does
Selling Partner Services is the Amazon organization that provides tools, operational support and infrastructure for independent merchants selling in Amazon’s stores. It is a major part of the third-party ecosystem, but it is not identical to every marketplace, advertising, retail or logistics function at Amazon.
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Seller operations and growth
SPS supports seller account tools, onboarding and assistance, as well as services intended to help merchants list products, manage orders and expand across Amazon stores.
Trust, enforcement and fulfillment
The organization intersects with customer-trust work, counterfeit and fraud controls, fulfillment and logistics, and supply-chain products. Those systems must balance two competing outcomes: preventing unsafe or inauthentic products while avoiding unnecessary disruption for legitimate sellers.
Automation and artificial intelligence
Amazon has also been developing generative-AI and automation features for seller workflows. The leadership change therefore affects a portfolio that combines policy enforcement, merchant tools and paid operational services rather than a single seller help desk.
Why the appointment matters to Amazon’s economics
Independent sellers accounted for more than 60% of units sold in Amazon’s store, according to Amazon’s February 4 announcement. GeekWire reported the figure as 62% for the period it discussed and attributed $42.5 billion in revenue to Amazon’s third-party marketplace in the most recent quarter covered in that report. Those figures are period-specific, not permanent measures of all Amazon revenue.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsBecause sellers supply a majority of units, SPS sits where several economic levers meet:
- Seller growth: more active merchants and broader selection can increase customer choice and order volume.
- Monetization: referral fees, fulfillment, logistics, advertising and other services generate revenue when sellers transact and adopt Amazon offerings.
- Customer confidence: effective authenticity and fraud controls protect the shopping experience that attracts demand.
- Regulatory exposure: fees, enforcement, data practices and fulfillment requirements receive scrutiny precisely because Amazon is so important to merchants.
The appointment is strategically significant, but the release does not establish a crisis, turnaround or new seller-policy program.
Amit Agarwal’s background
Agarwal has been at Amazon for nearly 27 years as of the announcement and is based in Seattle. He has led International Emerging Stores, covering store businesses in 10 countries, including India, Brazil, Mexico, Middle Eastern markets, South Africa and Australia.
Marketplace-building experience
He launched Amazon’s marketplace in India in 2013 and has operated businesses across developing and established markets. That experience gives him a record of building merchant ecosystems and adapting Amazon’s model to different regulatory and customer environments. Amazon has not said that international expansion was the specific reason for this appointment.
Rank #3
Prior Technical Advisor experience
GeekWire reports that Agarwal served as Jeff Bezos’s Technical Advisor from 2007 to 2009. He has also been a member of Amazon’s S-team senior leadership group since 2020. His earlier TA assignment makes the current move notable, but it does not prove that Amazon is preparing him for a particular future position.
Dharmesh Mehta’s record and new assignment
Mehta has worked at Amazon for more than 12 years. In a public LinkedIn update, he said he had spent about five years leading the seller business and Worldwide Selling Partner Services and expressed support for Agarwal’s appointment.
Coverage of his tenure highlighted work on seller tools, customer trust, counterfeit and fraud enforcement, logistics, supply-chain offerings and generative-AI products. GeekWire also connected that period with Amazon’s decision to phase out commingled inventory, a practice Amazon estimated would save brand owners $600 million annually in workaround costs. That estimate and the operational history come from GeekWire’s account, not the February 4 release.
Mehta is moving internally; Amazon did not announce his departure from the company or provide a detailed list of his Technical Advisor responsibilities.
Rank #4
- Author: Bungay Stanier, Michael.
- Publisher: Page Two
- Pages: 244
- Publication Date: 2016-02-29
- Edition: 1
What Amazon’s Technical Advisor role means
Technical Advisor is Amazon’s formal title. Outside coverage sometimes calls the job a CEO “shadow,” but that is an informal description and does not mean the holder is a chief of staff or has authority over every technical decision.
The role is generally used to expose a senior leader to the CEO’s company-wide priorities and to help develop future executives. Andy Jassy previously held a Technical Advisor role under Jeff Bezos when Bezos was CEO. That history makes Mehta’s appointment a meaningful leadership-development signal, while leaving his eventual assignment unspecified.
It would be overreach to call Mehta Jassy’s designated successor. Amazon’s announcement makes no such claim.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What sellers and brands should watch
The announcement itself does not change marketplace rules. Sellers and brands should instead watch for decisions in areas now under Agarwal’s expanded remit:
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Account health and enforcement
Changes to suspension processes, appeals, listing controls or counterfeit investigations would affect the balance between customer protection and seller friction.
Fulfillment and supply-chain services
Amazon may continue promoting fulfillment, logistics and supply-chain products. Adoption can simplify operations for merchants, but it can also increase dependence on Amazon and add service costs.
Seller-facing AI
Generative-AI tools could reduce the work required to create listings, analyze catalogs or manage support. Their value will depend on accuracy, transparency and how Amazon handles merchant data.
Customer Trust policies
Trust programs must reduce counterfeit and fraud without causing legitimate inventory to be flagged incorrectly. Brands should monitor authentication requirements, documentation requests and dispute outcomes.
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Agarwal will retain International Emerging Stores while taking on SPS. That combination could create opportunities to connect seller tools and global expansion, but Amazon has not announced a new international strategy.
What remains unresolved
- The exact date in March when the transition took effect was not provided in the announcement.
- Amazon did not describe Mehta’s specific day-to-day responsibilities as Jassy’s Technical Advisor.
- Alex Dunlap, Jassy’s outgoing Technical Advisor, was said to be moving to another Amazon leadership role, but that role was not identified.
- The release did not announce changes to seller fees, account enforcement, fulfillment requirements, AI products or international-market policies.
Amazon’s announcement and the available coverage therefore support a conclusion of continuity with a significant leadership-development component, not a confirmed strategic reset.
Sources
- Amazon: An update on Amazon’s Worldwide Selling Partner Services leadership
- GeekWire: Amazon names Amit Agarwal to lead seller services as Dharmesh Mehta becomes Andy Jassy’s new TA
- Dharmesh Mehta’s LinkedIn update
The Bottom Line
Amit Agarwal now oversees Selling Partner Services and Customer Trust while keeping his international-stores role; Dharmesh Mehta moves into Andy Jassy’s Technical Advisor position. The change places an experienced marketplace operator over a crucial seller organization and creates a visible leadership-development path, but it does not by itself announce new seller policies or establish a succession plan.
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