Amazon Interview Questions - Land Your Dream Role at Amazon

Master Amazon interview questions with AI-generated practice. Prepare for the 16 Leadership Principles, behavioral rounds, system design, and coding interviews to ace your Amazon interview.

What Makes Amazon Interviews Unique?

Amazon interviews are famous for their rigorous focus on the 16 Leadership Principles. Every interview question is designed to assess how well you embody these principles. Unlike other tech companies, Amazon weighs behavioral questions equally with technical skills. Whether you're applying for SDE, PM, or operations roles, you must demonstrate ownership, customer obsession, and bias for action.

Typical Amazon interview process:

  • Online Assessment – Coding challenges + work simulation questions (SDE roles)
  • Phone Screen – 1-2 rounds of behavioral + technical questions (45-60 minutes each)
  • Loop Interview – 4-6 rounds covering behavioral, coding, and system design
  • Bar Raiser – One interviewer is a "Bar Raiser" ensuring hiring standards

Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles

Every Amazon interviewer evaluates you against these principles. Know them by heart.

1. Customer Obsession

Start with the customer and work backwards. Earn and keep customer trust.

2. Ownership

Think long-term. Act on behalf of the entire company, not just your team.

3. Invent and Simplify

Expect and require innovation. Find ways to simplify.

4. Are Right, A Lot

Have strong judgment and good instincts. Seek diverse perspectives.

5. Learn and Be Curious

Never stop learning. Be curious about new possibilities.

6. Hire and Develop the Best

Raise the performance bar. Develop leaders and coach others.

7. Insist on the Highest Standards

Relentlessly high standards. Drive to deliver quality products.

8. Think Big

Thinking small is self-fulfilling. Create bold direction that inspires.

9. Bias for Action

Speed matters. Many decisions are reversible and don't need extensive study.

10. Frugality

Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness.

11. Earn Trust

Listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully.

12. Dive Deep

Operate at all levels. Stay connected to details. Audit frequently.

13. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

Challenge decisions respectfully. Once decided, commit wholly.

14. Deliver Results

Focus on key inputs. Deliver with the right quality and timeliness.

15. Strive to be Earth's Best Employer

Work to create a safer, more productive, more diverse environment.

16. Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

Be humble. Create value for communities, the planet, and future generations.

50+ Common Amazon Interview Questions

👤 Customer Obsession

  • • Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer
  • • Describe a situation where you had to balance customer needs with business constraints
  • • How do you gather and use customer feedback?

🏆 Ownership

  • • Tell me about a time you took on something outside your responsibilities
  • • Describe a project where you owned the outcome end-to-end
  • • Give an example of long-term thinking over short-term gains

⚡ Bias for Action

  • • Tell me about a time you made a decision without complete information
  • • Describe a situation where speed was critical
  • • How do you balance analysis with action?

🤝 Earn Trust

  • • Tell me about a time you had to rebuild trust
  • • Describe a situation where you gave difficult feedback
  • • How do you handle disagreements with colleagues?

The STAR Method: Essential for Amazon Interviews

Amazon interviewers expect structured answers. Use STAR for every behavioral question.

S

Situation

Set the context. Describe the situation you were in. Be specific about when, where, and what the circumstances were. Keep it brief (1-2 sentences).

T

Task

Explain your responsibility. What were you trying to achieve? What was your specific role? Highlight what was expected of you.

A

Action

Describe what YOU did. Focus on your individual contributions, not the team's. Be specific about steps you took. This is the longest part (60% of your answer).

R

Result

Share the outcome. Quantify results when possible (%, $, time saved). Include what you learned. Even failures can be powerful if you show growth.

Amazon Interview Focus by Role

💻

Software Development Engineer (SDE)

Heavy coding (LeetCode medium-hard), system design (L5+), and Leadership Principles.

  • • 2 coding rounds, 1 system design, 2-3 behavioral
  • • OA includes work simulation + coding
  • • Emphasis: Ownership, Deliver Results
📊

Product Manager (PMT)

Product sense, metrics, strategy, and heavy behavioral focus on LPs.

  • • Product design, metrics cases, strategy
  • • Working backwards (PR/FAQ) exercise
  • • Emphasis: Customer Obsession, Think Big
📈

Data Scientist / Applied Scientist

ML/statistics, SQL, coding, and applied problem solving.

  • • Statistics, ML algorithms, case studies
  • • SQL + Python coding
  • • Emphasis: Dive Deep, Are Right A Lot
📦

Operations / Program Manager

Process improvement, metrics, stakeholder management.

  • • Operational scenarios, process design
  • • Heavy LP focus (4-5 rounds behavioral)
  • • Emphasis: Insist on Highest Standards, Deliver Results

Technical Interview Preparation

💻 Coding (SDE Roles)

  • • Focus: Arrays, strings, trees, graphs, dynamic programming
  • • Difficulty: LeetCode medium to hard
  • • Practice: 100-150 problems across all patterns
  • • Tip: Verbalize your thought process throughout

🏗️ System Design (L5+)

  • • Design distributed systems at Amazon scale
  • • Topics: Rate limiter, URL shortener, feed systems
  • • Discuss trade-offs (CAP theorem, consistency vs availability)
  • • Show understanding of AWS services

📊 Object-Oriented Design

  • • Design parking lot, elevator system, library
  • • SOLID principles, design patterns
  • • Clear class hierarchies and interfaces
  • • Consider edge cases and extensibility

Your Amazon Interview Prep Roadmap

📚

Week 1-2: Learn the Leadership Principles

Memorize all 16 LPs. Prepare 2-3 STAR stories for each principle. Focus on stories that show impact with quantifiable results.

💻

Week 3-4: Technical Preparation

Solve 50-100 LeetCode problems (focus on Amazon tagged). Practice system design for your level. Review data structures and algorithms.

🎤

Week 5-6: Practice Behavioral Questions

Practice STAR stories out loud. Record yourself. Get feedback from others. Prepare for follow-up questions that dig deeper.

🎯

Week 7-8: Mock Interviews

Do full mock interviews (technical + behavioral). Simulate the loop format. Practice under time pressure. Review and improve weak areas.

Amazon Interview Pro Tips

Use "I" not "we" — focus on YOUR contributions

Quantify results — "increased by 30%" beats "improved"

Prepare failure stories — show what you learned

Ask clarifying questions — don't assume

Don't badmouth previous employers or colleagues

Don't give vague or hypothetical answers

Don't skip the result — always end with impact

Don't memorize scripts — be natural and conversational

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