Amazon Business Intelligence candidates report an SQL-centered process: a screen or online assessment, technical rounds, and a loop where Leadership Principles stories carry heavy weight, often ending with a Bar Raiser.
$138K
Avg. Base Comp
$185K
Avg. Total Comp
3-5 rounds
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Candidates describe Amazon's Business Intelligence interviews as SQL first, Leadership Principles close behind. Most reports begin with a recruiter or phone screen or an online assessment. Several candidates then describe a loop in which SQL, dashboard or visualization discussion and behavioral questions share the time. Reports vary by level and team, so treat the stage order as typical rather than fixed.
On the technical side, candidates mention joins, CTEs, window functions such as LAG and ranking, aggregations and the classic second-highest-salary problem. Some report live SQL coding where explaining the logic clearly under time pressure mattered as much as the query itself. A few describe MCQs on query behavior or performance scenarios. Others were asked to design a dashboard for a metric drop, explain incremental versus full-load pipelines, or discuss A/B testing, and some were asked about Python.
Behavioral depth is the other half. Candidates report STAR-style questions on customer obsession, dive deep, ownership and deliver results, with repeated follow-ups on their exact contribution. One candidate advised saying "I" rather than "we". Follow-up questions tend to probe how deep and honest each story is, so prepare examples with concrete, quantified results. A Bar Raiser round is reported by several candidates. Outcomes in the reports are mixed, including offers and rejections.
Synthesized from 48 candidate reports by our editorial team.
Had an interview recently?
Share your experience. Unlock the full guide.
Real interview reports from people who went through the Amazon process.
Share your own interview experience to unlock all reports, or subscribe for full access.
Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Amazon
Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| Customer Orders | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Experiment Validity | |
| Average Quantity | |
| Manager Team Sizes | |
| Month Over Month | |
| Button AB Test | |
| Flight Records | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Top 3 Users | |
| Longest Streak Users | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Project Pairs | |
| Compute Deviation | |
| Address Schema | |
| Rolling Average Steps | |
| Retailer Data Warehouse | |
| Download Facts | |
| Total Time in Flight | |
| Daily Retention Summary | |
| Monthly Product Sales | |
| Group Success | |
| Size of Joins |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report an initial recruiter or phone conversation covering their resume and past data projects. Some also describe a short SQL exercise or a leadership question in this stage. Be ready to summarize one project clearly, including your own contribution and the business impact.
Several candidates describe an online assessment mixing SQL problems with multiple-choice and work-style or leadership questions. Reported SQL topics include joins, window functions and output-prediction questions. Some candidates also mention Tableau, Power BI or Python. Format and length vary by team, so confirm the details with your recruiter.
Candidates typically describe a roughly one-hour technical round that combines live SQL with questions on past work. Reported topics include window functions, CTEs, aggregations, query optimization and dashboard or metric-drop scenarios. Some candidates also report ETL or data modeling questions. Explain your reasoning aloud as you write queries.
Candidates who reached the loop report several rounds, with reported counts ranging from two to five. These mix SQL, data visualization and business judgment with Leadership Principles questions. A few mention A/B testing, statistics or stakeholder-conflict scenarios. Expect repeated follow-ups and prepare several STAR stories that each map to different principles.
Several candidates describe a Bar Raiser round that is behavioral, centered on Leadership Principles and a deep dive into past projects. Outcomes in the reports vary, with offers and rejections both described. Some candidates also report waiting weeks for scheduling or feedback, so timelines may differ.
