Amazon interview questions: what each interviewer asks, principle by principle

The Amazon interview at a glance

• 2 to 7 peopleManagers, teammates, stakeholders, and a Bar Raiser: someone from another team whose focus is hiring quality.
• 45 to 60 minutesWith each interviewer, with a few minutes at the end for your questions.
• 2 or 3 questionsPer interviewer, each about a success or a challenge and how you handled it.
• 16 principlesEvery candidate is evaluated through the Leadership Principles. No brain teasers.
• Zoom or ChimeFor remote interviews. In person, Amazon asks you to arrive 15 minutes early.
• 5 business daysHow soon Amazon says you can expect to hear back after the loop.

16 Leadership Principles, one practice question each

Amazon publishes the principles but not a question list for each one. The names below are Amazon's. The one-line summaries and the practice questions are ours, written from Amazon's descriptions, so you can prepare a story for every principle.

• Customer Obsession

  Start from what the customer needs and work back from there.

  Tell me about a time you changed your plan because of what a customer needed.

• Ownership

  Act for the whole company and the long term, including work outside your job.

  Tell me about a time you took on a problem nobody had asked you to fix.

• Invent and Simplify

  Look for new ideas and simpler ways of doing the work.

  Tell me about a time you made a process simpler. What changed?

• Are Right, A Lot

  Make good calls, and look for views that might prove you wrong.

  Tell me about a decision you made without all the data. Were you right?

• Learn and Be Curious

  Keep learning and go looking for new things to learn.

  Tell me about something you taught yourself recently and how you used it.

• Hire and Develop the Best

  Raise the bar with each hire and help people grow.

  Tell me about a time you helped someone on your team get better at their job.

• Insist on the Highest Standards

  Keep the bar high and fix problems so they stay fixed.

  Tell me about a time you would not sign off on work that was not good enough.

• Think Big

  Set a bold direction and explain it so others follow.

  Tell me about the biggest idea you pushed for. What happened to it?

• Bias for Action

  Move fast when a decision can be undone, and take calculated risks.

  Tell me about a time you acted before you had all the information.

• Frugality

  Get more done with less.

  Tell me about a time you delivered with less budget, time or help than you wanted.

• Earn Trust

  Listen, speak candidly, and own your mistakes.

  Tell me about a time you admitted a mistake to your team or your manager.

• Dive Deep

  Know the details, and dig in when the numbers and the stories disagree.

  Tell me about a time the numbers did not match what people were telling you.

• Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

  Push back with respect, then commit fully once a decision is made.

  Tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision. What did you do after it was made?

• Deliver Results

  Hit the key goals on time and with quality, even after setbacks.

  Tell me about a time you hit a goal after something went badly wrong.

• Strive to be Earth's Best Employer

  Make work safer, better and fairer for the people around you.

  Tell me about a time you made work better for the people you work with.

• Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

  Think about the side effects of your work and leave things better.

  Tell me about a time you spotted a side effect of your work that others had missed.

Amazon's tip is to "show range": have stories ready that show different strengths, including a risk you took, a success, a failure and a time you grew. One story can fit more than one principle, so you need fewer stories than principles.

How the Amazon interview loop works

1. Before the loopSome roles ask for a writing sample. Amazon runs meetings on written memos of one to six pages, so clear writing counts.
2. Some technical roles: an assessmentFor SDE II, Amazon describes 90 minutes for two technical questions, 20 minutes of systems design, and an 8-minute work style survey on the principles.
3. The loopTwo to seven interviews of 45 to 60 minutes each, including a Bar Raiser from another team.
4. AfterAmazon says to expect a reply within five business days, and to follow up with your recruiting contact if an interview ran out of time.

This page covers the behavioral questions, which every Amazon interviewer asks. It does not cover the coding questions in software engineering interviews.