diff --git a/aws-runtime/protocols/http/common/src/aws/sdk/kotlin/runtime/http/retries/AwsDefaultRetryPolicy.kt b/aws-runtime/protocols/http/common/src/aws/sdk/kotlin/runtime/http/retries/AwsDefaultRetryPolicy.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4e3a32978bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aws-runtime/protocols/http/common/src/aws/sdk/kotlin/runtime/http/retries/AwsDefaultRetryPolicy.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0.
+ */
+
+package aws.sdk.kotlin.runtime.http.retries
+
+import aws.sdk.kotlin.runtime.AwsServiceException
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.ServiceErrorMetadata
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.http.response.HttpResponse
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.retries.RetryDirective
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.retries.RetryErrorType.*
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.retries.impl.StandardRetryPolicy
+
+public object AwsDefaultRetryPolicy : StandardRetryPolicy() {
+    internal val knownErrorTypes = mapOf(
+        "BandwidthLimitExceeded" to Throttling,
+        "EC2ThrottledException" to Throttling,
+        "IDPCommunicationError" to Timeout,
+        "LimitExceededException" to Throttling,
+        "PriorRequestNotComplete" to Throttling,
+        "ProvisionedThroughputExceededException" to Throttling,
+        "RequestLimitExceeded" to Throttling,
+        "RequestThrottled" to Throttling,
+        "RequestThrottledException" to Throttling,
+        "RequestTimeout" to Timeout,
+        "RequestTimeoutException" to Timeout,
+        "SlowDown" to Throttling,
+        "ThrottledException" to Throttling,
+        "Throttling" to Throttling,
+        "ThrottlingException" to Throttling,
+        "TooManyRequestsException" to Throttling,
+        "TransactionInProgressException" to Throttling,
+    )
+
+    internal val knownStatusCodes = mapOf(
+        500 to Timeout,
+        502 to Timeout,
+        503 to Timeout,
+        504 to Timeout,
+    )
+
+    override fun evaluateOtherExceptions(ex: Throwable): RetryDirective? = when (ex) {
+        is AwsServiceException -> evaluateAwsServiceException(ex)
+        else -> null
+    }
+
+    private fun evaluateAwsServiceException(ex: AwsServiceException): RetryDirective? = with(ex.sdkErrorMetadata) {
+        (knownErrorTypes[errorCode] ?: knownStatusCodes[statusCode])
+            ?.let { RetryDirective.RetryError(it) }
+    }
+
+    private val ServiceErrorMetadata.statusCode: Int?
+        get() = (protocolResponse as? HttpResponse)?.status?.value
+}
diff --git a/aws-runtime/protocols/http/common/test/aws/sdk/kotlin/runtime/http/retries/AwsDefaultRetryPolicyTest.kt b/aws-runtime/protocols/http/common/test/aws/sdk/kotlin/runtime/http/retries/AwsDefaultRetryPolicyTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4adfc4b2ca4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aws-runtime/protocols/http/common/test/aws/sdk/kotlin/runtime/http/retries/AwsDefaultRetryPolicyTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package aws.sdk.kotlin.runtime.http.retries
+
+import aws.sdk.kotlin.runtime.AwsErrorMetadata
+import aws.sdk.kotlin.runtime.AwsServiceException
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.ServiceErrorMetadata
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.http.Headers
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.http.HttpBody
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.http.HttpStatusCode
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.http.response.HttpResponse
+import aws.smithy.kotlin.runtime.retries.RetryDirective
+import kotlin.test.Test
+import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+
+class AwsDefaultRetryPolicyTest {
+    @Test
+    fun testErrorsByErrorCode() {
+        AwsDefaultRetryPolicy.knownErrorTypes.forEach { (errorCode, errorType) ->
+            val ex = AwsServiceException()
+            ex.sdkErrorMetadata.attributes[AwsErrorMetadata.ErrorCode] = errorCode
+            val result = AwsDefaultRetryPolicy.evaluate(Result.failure(ex))
+            assertEquals(RetryDirective.RetryError(errorType), result)
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun testErrorsByStatusCode() {
+        AwsDefaultRetryPolicy.knownStatusCodes.forEach { (statusCode, errorType) ->
+            val modeledStatusCode = HttpStatusCode.fromValue(statusCode)
+            val response = HttpResponse(modeledStatusCode, Headers.Empty, HttpBody.Empty)
+            val ex = AwsServiceException()
+            ex.sdkErrorMetadata.attributes[ServiceErrorMetadata.ProtocolResponse] = response
+            val result = AwsDefaultRetryPolicy.evaluate(Result.failure(ex))
+            assertEquals(RetryDirective.RetryError(errorType), result)
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/docs/design/README.md b/docs/design/README.md
index 0cbcf0edbf5..565df41b8ed 100644
--- a/docs/design/README.md
+++ b/docs/design/README.md
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ These designs extend or augment the [Smithy Kotlin Designs](https://github.com/a
 ## Detailed sub-designs
 
 * [Endpoint resolution](endpoint-resolution.md)
+* [SDK-specific Retries](retries.md)
diff --git a/docs/design/retries.md b/docs/design/retries.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..55f7d7ca1f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/design/retries.md
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# SDK-specific Retry Design
+
+* **Type**: Design
+* **Author(s)**: Ian Botsford
+
+# Abstract
+
+The AWS SDK for Kotlin uses a specialization of the generalized
+[**smithy-kotlin** Retry Design](https://github.com/awslabs/smithy-kotlin/blob/main/docs/design/retries.md). This
+document covers those specializations (but does not re-hash the generalized design).
+
+# SDK implementation
+
+The SDK uses the following customizations/specializations over the generalized
+[**smithy-kotlin** Retry Design](https://github.com/awslabs/smithy-kotlin/blob/main/docs/design/retries.md):
+
+## Retry policy
+
+The generalized `StandardRetryPolicy` is subclassed to provide support for information only available in AWS-specific
+exception types:
+
+```kotlin
+object AwsDefaultRetryPolicy : StandardRetryPolicy() {
+  internal val knownErrorTypes = mapOf(
+    "BandwidthLimitExceeded" to Throttling,
+    "RequestTimeoutException" to Timeout,
+    "TooManyRequestsException" to Throttling,
+    …
+  )
+
+  override fun evaluateOtherExceptions(ex: Throwable): RetryDirective? = when (ex) {
+    is AwsServiceException -> evaluateAwsServiceException(ex)
+    else -> null
+  }
+
+  private fun evaluateAwsServiceException(ex: AwsServiceException): RetryDirective? = with(ex.sdkErrorMetadata) {
+    knownErrorTypes[errorCode]?.let { RetryDirective.RetryError(it) }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+This policy utilizes the error code provided in the exception to derive a retry directive based on a known list. This
+list may grow/change over time.
+
+# Revision history
+
+* 9/27/2021 - Created