Amazon interview questions and preparation

What are the Amazon Leadership Principles and why do they matter?

They are Amazon's published set of principles — including customer obsession, ownership, bias for action, dive deep and deliver results — and they are the scoring framework for the behavioural interview.

Interviewers are each assigned principles to assess and write up evidence against them. If your answer contains no evidence for the assigned principle, it scores poorly however impressive the story.

Interview processes change. Treat the stages below as what candidates commonly report rather than a guaranteed sequence, and confirm the detail with your recruiter.

What is the Amazon interview process?

Candidates commonly report a recruiter screen, one or two phone or video interviews, and a final loop of several back-to-back interviews, often including a 'Bar Raiser' from outside the hiring team.

For technical roles the loop mixes coding or design rounds with behavioural questions; for non-technical roles it is mostly behavioural plus a role-specific exercise.

What questions does Amazon ask?

Behavioural questions phrased as "tell me about a time…", each targeting a principle, with heavy follow-up.

• Tell me about a time you had to make a decision without complete data
• Describe a time you disagreed with your manager
• Tell me about the most complex problem you have dug into
• Give an example of raising the bar on quality
• Tell me about a time you failed to meet a commitment

How should you prepare Amazon STAR stories?

Prepare ten to twelve stories with numbers, each mapped to two or three principles, and rehearse the follow-up detail — Amazon interviewers dive deep.

• Write each story with real figures: volumes, timelines, percentages
• Be ready for "what exactly did you do?" three layers down
• Keep the first-person voice throughout
• Have at least two failure stories, not one

What is a Bar Raiser interview?

An interviewer from another team, trained to keep the hiring standard consistent, who has significant influence on the decision and typically probes hardest on the principles.

Frequently asked questions

How many interview rounds does Amazon have?

Commonly a screen plus a final loop of four to six interviews. The exact structure varies by role, level and location — ask your recruiter.

Do I need to memorise the Leadership Principles?

Do not recite them, but know them well enough to recognise which one a question is targeting so your evidence lands on it.

How many stories should I prepare?

Around ten to twelve distinct examples, each usable for more than one principle, so you are not forced to repeat a story in the loop.

What should I ask Amazon interviewers?

Ask what success looks like at six months, how the team handles disagreement, and what the biggest current constraint on the team is.

Sources

• Amazon Leadership Principles
• Amazon jobs — interviewing

Keep preparing

• Amazon product manager interview
• The STAR method
• Tell me about a time you failed
• Product manager interviews