Amazon Interview Advice from a Senior Manager

I was a Bar Raiser at Amazon (a specially trained interviewer trusted to uphold hiring standards and veto bad hires). I’ve interviewed hundreds of people. Here’s what I wish more candidates knew. Whether you’re applying to Amazon or anywhere else, these principles still hold: • Answer the question. Sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed. Listen carefully. Be specific. Don’t ramble around the edges hoping something sticks. • Use real numbers. “Improved efficiency” is fluff. “Reduced cost per unit by 14% across 3 sites” is memorable. • Know your leadership principles. Amazon lives by them. Most great companies have their own. Learn them. Speak to them. • Own your story. Don’t say “we” if it was really you. Say what you did, how you did it, and what the result was. If you’re not clear, we won’t be either. • Structure is everything. Use STAR, or whatever works for you. But don’t wing it. “There was this one time…” is how stories start. Not how you land roles. • Be self-aware. If you failed at something, own it. The best candidates talk about mistakes confidently and what they learned. That’s growth, not weakness. • Don’t overprepare. You don’t need 30 examples. Come with 5 or 6 great ones. Know how each one maps across multiple leadership principles. Most will fit more than you think. • Ask smart questions. Not generic ones you found on Google. Ask about their challenges, their direction, their people. It shows you’re serious. If you remember anything: clarity beats clever. They’re not looking for polished. They’re looking for real. For more real-world leadership insights, subscribe to the newsletter. Link’s in the comments.

I spent 15 years at Amazon. I was a Bar Raiser for 12 of those years and a member of the Bar Raiser Core team (a handful of Execs who oversee the program) for 8 years. I conducted an average of 5 interviews per week across a wide variety of positions at Amazon, ranging from University Interns to Vice Presidents and Senior Vice Presidents. I was the initial on-campus interviewer for many MBA interns, some of whom are now senior Execs at Amazon, including Sam Heyworth (VP of Consumables) and Matt Garman (CEO of AWS). Finally, I was born in 1967, which means I am especially relevant right now—if you don’t understand that last part, ask a teenager. Now that I've gotten that bragging off my chest, the point of the post is that I know a thing or two about the interview and hiring process at Amazon, so if you are thinking about working there, I have a few tips to help you. 1. Study Amazon’s Leadership Principles. Amazon’s 16 Leadership Principles (LPs) are woven into every decision and every process —beginning with the hiring process. The criteria for who to hire and not hire are based on an evaluation of where each candidate (you) exceeds, meets, or falls short on each Leadership Principle. Unlike a test like the ACT where you could be asked to solve an endless variety of problems, the Amazon interview test is limited to 16 topics. The more time you spend studying the principles and thinking about how these would be put into practice, plus examples from your career where you have done so, the better prepared you will be. In other words, every question is going to be related to a leadership principle, e.g, “Tell me about a time when you had to Dive Deep into the data to analyze and solve a significant problem?” 2. Write down examples of your past work for each Leadership principle. In addition to being an open-book test, it is also an open-note test. Start a Word or Google Doc, create a heading for each LP, and be sure to include the short descriptors for each LP. These descriptors are everything—they explain what the LP means and the context for how it is applied. Think of at least one good example of a time when you exhibited the behavior described for each principle. Don’t use the same situation/example over and over again… more is more. Writing down your answers will force you to recall good examples and capture the details. Write out your examples and bring the document to the interview. Don’t worry, it is more than acceptable to have detailed notes in front of you for the interview. It demonstrates that you are serious and prepared. An Amazon interviewer has been trained to conduct interviews using behavioral interviewing techniques—a method based on a candidate’s past work experience. Behavioral interviewing is a far more reliable way to predict future performance than asking candidates what they “would” do in certain situations. (cont. in comments)

As a Sr Principal Technologist and Bar Raiser at Amazon who's conducted hundreds of interviews, I've seen how difficult getting quality interview practice can be. Now, AI tools are changing the game. ## Amazon Interviews: Hard Yet Predictable Amazon interviews present a mind-bogglingly high bar: you must demonstrate you're better than 50% of current employees at your level. However, the structure follows a consistent pattern centered on Leadership Principles (LPs). https://lnkd.in/e7Dd8PHG Each interviewer typically explores 3 LPs in an hour, probing deeply into your experience—what you did, why you chose that approach, challenges faced, and lessons learned. For technical roles, expect additional focus on domain expertise, coding skills, and fundamentals relevant to your specialty. ## Using AI as Your Interview Coach Here's my recommended approach: 1. **Gather your materials as text files:**   - The specific job description   - Your resume   - Amazon's Leadership Principles 2. **Create a practice environment:**   Upload these text files to an AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) with a prompt like this (the part about "one by one" is crucial):   *"Act as an interview coach specializing in Amazon interviews. Read my resume, job description, and Amazon's Leadership Principles. Ask me behavioral questions one by one, probing into my experience and each LP. Include follow-up questions focusing on how/why I did things, challenges, and learnings. Conclude with STAR method assessment and improvement suggestions."* 3. **Practice strategically:**   - Focus on telling concise stories with meaningful metrics   - Get comfortable with the depth of follow-up questions   - Use AI feedback to refine your examples and delivery   - Utilize voice interfaces available in some AI tools to practice speaking about your experiences out loud—this builds verbal fluency crucial for the actual interview ## Why This Works What makes this approach effective is the unlimited practice and structured feedback without the cost of a coach. The AI won't get tired of asking you to elaborate or challenge your thinking—exactly what Amazon interviewers do. Also, every interaction with those tools is unique and it won't get repetitive. By simulating the intense questioning style and receiving feedback through the STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Results), you'll develop the muscle memory needed to navigate the real interview confidently. Remember to use these tools not just for rehearsing answers, but for genuinely reflecting on your experiences through the lens of Amazon's culture. The best candidates demonstrate authentic alignment with Leadership Principles, not memorized responses. Have you tried AI for interview prep? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments.

Here’s a 60-day roadmap to prepare for an interview at Amazon - no matter what role you’re targeting. I’ve helped professionals across functions - product, program, tech, marketing, and operations prepare for these interviews, and the formula stays the same: structure, clarity, and mindset. Here's how you can prepare for your Amazon interview and increase the chances of getting hired. 1. Understand Amazon’s Hiring Process (Days 1–5) Before you prepare, learn what you’re preparing for. Amazon’s interview loop typically includes: → Role-specific technical/functional rounds → Leadership Principles (LP) interviews → Bar Raiser round Read through the 16 Amazon Leadership Principles - these are not buzzwords. They guide every interview and decision. 2. Build Your Leadership Principles Bank (Days 6–20) Create 2–3 solid examples from your past for each principle. Use the STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for every story. Focus on ownership, problem-solving, dealing with ambiguity, and delivering results. Tip: Amazon interviewers will dig deep. Be ready to answer follow-ups like, “What did you learn?” or “What would you do differently?” 3. Master Role-Specific Expertise (Days 21–35) Identify the 5–6 competencies that define success in your target role. → For Product: Customer obsession, data-driven decisions, execution. → For Program: Cross-functional alignment, delivery, influence. → For Tech: System design, scalability, LP alignment. → For Ops or Marketing: Metrics, ownership, and execution. Gather clear, quantified examples that demonstrate these skills. 4. Practice Behavioral Interviews (Days 36–50) This is where most candidates fail. Don’t memorize scripts, rehearse clarity. Practice answering questions like: → “Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager.” → “Tell me about a time you delivered under pressure.” → “Tell me about your biggest failure.” Record yourself. You’ll catch filler words, tangents, and missing impact. 5. Mock, Reflect, Refine (Days 51–60) Do 2–3 full mocks - ideally with someone who has experience interviewing or hiring at Amazon. After each round, refine your answers, tighten your STARs, and trim your stories. The final week is about polishing, not learning. And one last thing, Amazon interviews aren’t just about competence. They’re about fit. Interviewers are asking themselves: “Would I trust this person to own big problems and deliver results independently?” If you can make them say yes to that question, you’re ready. P.S. Follow me for more job search and interview prep roadmaps - built from real experience helping professionals land offers at companies like Amazon, Atlassian, and Meta.

I thought my Amazon interview would be about my resume. So I prepared every metric. Every achievement. Every STAR story. But the questions were different: → “Tell me about a time you influenced without authority.” → “What did you learn from a failure?” → “How do you handle ambiguity?” That’s when it clicked. The resume gets you in the room. The interview tests how you think. I realized they were not really focused on my past at all. They were trying to figure out who I’d be when things got hard, unclear, or high-stakes. That’s what they’re really evaluating: → How you communicate → How you adapt → How you make decisions without a title That interview changed how I coach today. We still care about resumes. But we spend more time preparing people to show judgment, clarity, and leadership under pressure. Because careers don’t move forward on credentials alone. They move forward when people can clearly see your value. 💡 When you prep for your next interview, ask yourself: Am I just explaining what I’ve done or showing how I think about what comes next?

After interviewing hundreds of candidates as a Principal Solutions Architect at AWS and previously at Fortune 50 companies, here are three common mistakes candidates make. Fix these to ace your next interview: 1/ Don't commit to an interview yet You never thought you'd get that interview call in your dream company. But getting an interview call doesn't equate to a great interview. If you are ready, then go for it. But if you are not, then you can't wing it, and in the worst case, if you get strongly declined, you will be barred from giving another interview for one year. I told the AWS recruiter that I was not ready and asked for extra time. She agreed, and as a result, I prepared and aced my AWS interview. As my fav musical character, Hamilton, says, "Don't throw away your shot." 2/ Don't ignore the STAR format - What if you give a great behavioral answer but NOT in STAR format? Unfortunately, Amazon (and other big tech companies) are pretty clear about this. The interviewers are expected to take notes in STAR format, and recruiters are expected to set expectations for candidates to give the answer in this format. So, candidates who answer in this STAR format will be prioritized over others who don't. The rules of the game are laid out; you either blame the game and sit on the sidelines or jump in and win, which is what we will do. 3/ Practice, practice, practice - Your willingness to win must match your willingness to prepare. Plenty of times, when observing a mock interview, my students say, "These questions are so easy, I know all the answers." But when they are in the hot seat, they mess up the answers themselves! Learning and speaking are controlled by different brain functions, and one isn't equal to the other. In an interview, you won't get all the questions you know, but you MUST knock out the questions you know the answer to out of the park! 4/ Delight not meet - here's an extra tip! Competition is fierce, and you must separate yourself from the pack. For example, if interviewer asks "How will you scale your application for big traffic day?", EVERYONE will say about autoscaling group, and load balancer. But the candidate who talks about scheduled scaling, VM hibernation, lightweight AMI, RDS proxy and other, will pull ahead. So, think about other common interview questions, and think how you can add additional nuggets of wisdom. Question to readers: Have you made any of the above mistakes (I know I have!)? And what is one mistake YOU realized after giving an interview? Today, my colleagues and fellow veteran interviewers Ethan Evans, Omar Halabieh, and Steve Huynh are sharing their top tips to ace your next interview. Make sure to check them out! #interview #bigtech #systemdesign

🚀 Amazon Interviews: Keys to Success ✨ After sitting on both sides of the table—going through Amazon’s interviews and serving as a Bar Raiser—I learned something important: To stand out and ace the interview, you have to engineer your stories strategically. Here are four lessons that can help anyone—whether you’re applying internally or externally—ace the challenge. 1️⃣ Go Beyond the Basic STAR (Situation–Task–Action–Result) Stories: Surface-level answers won’t cut it. Amazon interviewers dig deep—so layer in details, metrics, and reflection. Share what you did, what you learned, and HOW you were able to achieve results. 2️⃣ Anchor Everything in Metrics & Mechanisms: Every story should have a measurable impact. How did you know you succeeded? What mechanism or process ensured it lasted? Amazon values scalable, data-driven results. 3️⃣ Map Your Stories Across the Amazon Leadership Principles: Build a story bank. Each example should connect to multiple Leadership principles (e.g., a cost-saving project exhibiting Deliver Results, could also demonstrate Invent & Simplify). This keeps your answers versatile and engaging. 4️⃣ Demonstrate That You’ll Raise the Bar: Amazon isn’t just hiring for today— Amazon is hiring people who elevate the standard. Share moments where you didn’t just deliver, but created lasting change for your team, customers, or the business. 💡 Pro tip: Reflection is a secret weapon! Reflection shows maturity and leadership. Turning experience into insight makes your story memorable—and transforms good candidates into great ones. 🔥 So, if you’re preparing for an interview: practice discussing your experiences and dive deep in the STAR format. Quantify your impact, connect the experiences back to the principles, and close with reflection. Here’s to raising the bar! Fight On, Together! ✌🏾❤️ #Leadership #Amazon #CareerGrowth #InterviewTips #HireandDevelopTheBest #BarRaiser

How I’d Prepare for an Interview as a Program Manager at Amazon Amazon interviews are a different game. It’s not just “tell me about a project.” It’s: • Did you own it? • Did you think 3 steps ahead? • Did you show up like a bar-raiser? Here’s how I’d prep to make sure I didn’t just survive the loop…I crushed it: 1/ I build my story bank ↳ 3 projects. 1 launch. 1 blocker. 1 failure. ↳ Each one mapped to leadership principles 2/ I go deep, not wide ↳ Metrics, decisions, tradeoffs, escalations ↳ If I didn’t drive it, I don’t use it 3/ I write my bullets like a press release ↳ “Launched X in 6 weeks, saved Y hours, unblocked Z team” ↳ Results > buzzwords 4/ I practice high-pressure Q&A ↳ “Tell me about a time you got pushback from a VP” ↳ Clarity under pressure is the job 5/ I prep to lead the room ↳ “Here’s the context, here’s the risk, here’s how I solved it” ↳ Every answer is a leadership demo Interviews don’t reward perfect resumes. They reward clear ownership and composure. What’s your #1 tip for standing out in an interview? ➕ I write for PMs who operate at a high level…even under pressure: https://lnkd.in/e6qAwEFc

🚀 𝗠𝘆 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 🎉 Since sharing my exciting news about joining Amazon, many of you have reached out asking about my interview experience. Today, I’m excited to break it down and share my learnings, which I hope will help anyone navigating a similar process. ⏳ 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 1️⃣ ͟A͟p͟p͟l͟i͟c͟a͟t͟i͟o͟n͟: I applied through an employee referral and was contacted by a recruiter within a week. This was followed by a few admin questions like location preferences, visa status, and availability. 2️⃣ P͟h͟o͟n͟e͟ ͟I͟n͟t͟e͟r͟v͟i͟e͟w͟: This was a resume-driven conversation with the Hiring Manager, filled with behavioral questions. I used the 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥 method to frame my answers and ensured they aligned with the role’s responsibilities. 👉 𝘗𝘳𝘰 𝘛𝘪𝘱: Highlight the IMPACT of your work. 3️⃣ F͟i͟n͟a͟l͟ ͟I͟n͟t͟e͟r͟v͟i͟e͟w͟ ͟L͟o͟o͟p (2 Days, 5 Rounds): 4 Behavioral Rounds focused on Leadership Principles and situational responses. 👉 𝘗𝘳𝘰 𝘛𝘪𝘱: Prepare two examples for each principle. Repeating examples is fine, but having variety strengthens your answers. 1 Technical Round: This round was intense! It started with basic SQL questions (joins, percentage calculations), but the final question escalated quickly to a Leetcode Hard problem that was truly challenging. The problem itself was ambiguous and required a deep understanding of SQL. The solution involved multiple window functions and CTEs, which made it tricky to even know where to begin. 👉 𝘗𝘳𝘰 𝘛𝘪𝘱: Practice Leetcode Medium and Hard problems, and focus on explaining your thought process—the interviewer is as much interested in how you think as in the solution itself. 🎓 𝗠𝘆 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 1️⃣ G͟o͟ ͟B͟e͟y͟o͟n͟d͟ ͟S͟t͟a͟n͟d͟a͟r͟d͟ ͟P͟r͟e͟p͟: I reached out to colleagues who had interviewed for similar roles and got some insights that shaped my strategy. Never underestimate the value of connecting with people who’ve been through the process. 2️⃣ S͟t͟a͟y͟ ͟C͟o͟m͟p͟o͟s͟e͟d͟: Interviewing for tech roles with #FAANGs requires a ton of preparation. Instead of rushing to answer, I took a moment to think and responded with clarity. Remember, interviews aren’t just about showing your skills—they’re about connecting with the interviewer. 3️⃣ L͟e͟a͟d͟e͟r͟s͟h͟i͟p͟ ͟P͟r͟i͟n͟c͟i͟p͟l͟e͟s͟ ͟&͟ ͟S͟T͟A͟R͟ ͟A͟r͟e͟ ͟N͟o͟n͟-͟N͟e͟g͟o͟t͟i͟a͟b͟l͟e͟: Amazon’s #LeadershipPrinciples and the #STAR format are the backbone of the entire interview process. I can’t stress enough how critical these two elements are. Master them, and you’ll have a framework that’ll help you excel in the interview and in your career. 🌟 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗽 To everyone working through interviews, remember this: Preparation, patience, and clarity will take you far. The right opportunity is closer than you think! #Amazon #InterviewExperience #BIE #JobSearch #InterviewTips #CareerGrowth #Leadership #JobInterview