Amazon Software Engineer candidates report an online assessment, a technical screen, and a multi-interview loop that pairs LeetCode-style coding with frequent Leadership Principles questions.
$148K
Avg. Base Comp
$215K
Avg. Total Comp
3-6 rounds
Typical Rounds
6 weeks
Process Length
The Amazon Software Engineer interview is, in candidate reports, a blend of timed coding and heavy behavioral questioning. Several candidates describe an online assessment first, followed by a recruiter or technical screen and then a loop of multiple interviews. Loop length varies by report, from three interviews on one day to six 45-minute sessions.
The coding is mostly LeetCode medium difficulty, with some harder problems. Reported questions include trapping rain water, an LRU cache, spiral matrix traversal, number of islands, and zero-sum subarrays. Interviewers in several reports wanted an optimized answer rather than brute force. One candidate was expected to talk through approach, edge cases, and time and space complexity while coding.
Leadership Principles come up throughout. Some candidates describe whole rounds of behavioral questions, and others describe a couple of questions inside each technical interview. Reported prompts include a time you failed, a disagreement, a difficult decision, and use of Gen AI. Prepare concise STAR stories that show ownership.
One candidate warned that weak design preparation can hurt you even when the coding goes well. Reports mention object-oriented design, a 3-tier web app, a warehouse modeling problem, and system design. Some also describe OS, networking, Linux, and project deep dives. Most reports in this set ended without an offer, though at least one candidate did report an offer.
Synthesized from 787 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report an online assessment early in the process. It typically has two algorithmic problems of easy-to-medium or medium-to-hard difficulty. One candidate reports that it also included situational judgment questions. Time management and an efficient solution appear to matter most.
Several candidates describe a recruiter or HR conversation about their background, interest in the role, and logistics. Reports differ on whether it comes before or after the online assessment, so the order may vary.
Candidates report a live coding interview with one or two LeetCode-style problems. Interviewers typically expect you to talk through your approach, edge cases, and time and space complexity, and to reach an optimized solution rather than brute force. Leadership Principles questions may also appear.
Candidates report between three and six interviews in the loop, some about 45 minutes each. Rounds may include data structures and algorithms, object-oriented or system design, and CS fundamentals such as OS and networking. One candidate also reported a debugging and code optimization session. Expect to explain tradeoffs.
Behavioral questions appear in nearly every report, either as dedicated rounds or woven into technical interviews. Candidates describe prompts about failure, conflict, hard decisions, and customer obsession. One reports a hiring manager round focused on ownership. Have specific STAR stories ready.
