Amazon interview, from the AI-assisted online assessment to the Bar Raiser.

Amazon says the process usually takes three to six weeks, with an update within two business days of a phone screen and five business days of the loop. The stages below follow amazon.jobs. The 2026 assessment format and what happens inside each round come from candidates, and are marked as reported.

In 2026 the Amazon online assessment for software engineers is a 100-minute coding section with one algorithm problem and one repository task done with a built-in AI assistant, then about 45 minutes of Work Simulation and a Work Style Survey of about 6 minutes, as candidates from June to October 2026 consistently describe it. Amazon announced the change in January 2026, writing that it had reimagined its technical assessments so candidates work with an interactive AI assistant on a real coding platform. Its SDE II prep page still describes the older version: two coding questions in 90 minutes on HackerRank, about 15 minutes of system design scenarios and about 10 of Work Style questions. Here is how each part works and how to approach it.

• The algorithm problem: One medium problem, scored on hidden test cases (candidates report 15). Your code must compile to move forward, and Amazon says efficient solutions earn more than brute force. Reported topics are dynamic programming, two pointers, sliding window and prefix sums. Get a correct solution first, then optimise.
• The AI-assisted repository task: A small app in Django, Spring Boot or Node, offered as a choice, with failing tests to fix or a feature to finish; intern candidates report about 60 minutes for it. Pick the framework you know best. Run the tests first and read the errors. Candidates say the assistant gives hints and explains files but will not write the code that passes the tests, so use it to navigate and check everything it suggests.
• The Work Simulation: Workplace scenarios where you rate each possible response from less to more effective; one 2026 candidate had three scenarios. Amazon describes the SDE II version as rating potential actions, with no diagrams. Answer as Amazon's principles would: put the customer first, own the problem, and act on data when you can.
• The Work Style Survey: Short multiple-choice statements, built by Amazon from its Leadership Principles. Answer honestly and consistently; the same trait comes back in different wordings.
• Proctoring and the rules: Invites in 2026 ask for a photo with your ID and record your screen and webcam. Amazon's student page says you may use public online resources but nothing behind a login, and that browser usage is logged. The only AI you should use is the assistant built into the task: in 2025 Business Insider reported Amazon telling candidates that other generative AI tools could get them disqualified.
• Results and retakes: Amazon says SDE II candidates hear within two days, and those who do not pass are encouraged to reapply in six months. Candidates in 2026 report waits from days to several weeks, and both full scores rejected and low scores on the AI task moving forward, so do not read too much into the number.

The format comes from candidates, and the mix can differ by role and country. Your invitation email lists the sections you will get; it is the final word.

A Bar Raiser is an interviewer from outside the hiring team, trained by Amazon to judge whether you would be better than half of the people already doing the job. Amazon says Bar Raisers are nominated, then trained by shadowing experienced Bar Raisers for three months to a year, and that the Bar Raiser makes the final decision with the hiring manager. Amazon has 16 Leadership Principles, and every interviewer in the loop, the Bar Raiser included, asks about some of them.

• What the Bar Raiser checks: Amazon's goal for the role: every new hire should bring skills better than 50% of their would-be peers in similar roles, with room to grow. Expect harder follow-ups on one or two stories. Prep guides often say the Bar Raiser has a veto; Amazon's own pages say the Bar Raiser decides with the hiring manager, and none of them uses that word.
• What a Bar Raiser round looks like: It varies. Candidates in 2025 and 2026 describe rounds that were only Leadership Principles with constant probing, and rounds that were mostly coding with about ten minutes of behavioural questions. Prepare for both.
• How the principle questions run: About two questions per interviewer, each followed by questions that go two or three levels into the same story: what exactly you did, what the numbers were, what you would change. Amazon suggests STAR or a context, task, actions and outcome shape, and says it is not the only way. Keep the first telling to about two minutes.
• Build a story bank: Recruiters in 2026 told candidates not to repeat a story across interviewers, and one recruiter suggested more than 20 stories for senior candidates. Write two stories per principle, with your own actions and a number for each result, and check which of them can cover a second principle.
• The two newest principles: Strive to be Earth's Best Employer and Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility were added in July 2021, and many prep lists still stop at 14. For the first, prepare a story about growing or protecting the people on your team. For the second, one about thinking through the wider effects of something you built.
• The debrief: Interviewers write detailed notes and meet to decide. Recruiter feedback quoted by one 2026 SDE II candidate: strong coding, one principle strong, one below the L5 standard. One weak principle can decide the outcome, so prepare every principle on the list your recruiter sends.

Amazon also uses AI transcription in some interviews, only with your consent, and says opting out does not affect how you are evaluated. Only your loop's interviewers, the Bar Raiser and the hiring manager can read the transcript.

Amazon says all candidates are evaluated through its 16 Leadership Principles, that all of them matter equally, and that it cannot tell you which ones your interview will cover. In 2026 some recruiters still sent a list of principles to prepare; one candidate's list had eight. These are the patterns the questions keep testing:

• Your own part, in the first person. Amazon's loop page says it is helpful to use "I" instead of "we", and to back what you did with data or results
• Detail that survives follow-up questions. Candidates report interviewers digging two or three levels into every claim, and say exaggerated details collapse fast
• A different story for each principle. Recruiters in 2026 told candidates the panel compares notes and spots a story used twice
• Failure told honestly. Amazon's own sample question asks about a risk you took, a mistake or a failure, and what you learned
• Disagreeing and then committing. One commenter's account: you are marked down if you never raised the concern, and also if you raised it and refused to let it go
• Judgement about AI. Several 2026 loops had a Leadership Principle round or question about how you use generative AI in your work

Amazon asks Leadership Principle questions in every round, and the ones 2026 candidates report most are about work outside your area of responsibility, a tight deadline, and a time generative AI got something wrong. The questions here are reported by 2026 candidates or asked in the form Amazon gives on its own loop page; the technical themes follow the assessment tasks and design rounds candidates name.

Levels.fyi averages for Amazon software engineers in the United States, from more than 41,000 submissions, read on 12 October 2026; Luxembourg figures are from the same site in US dollars, with no L7 data. Amazon's stock vests unevenly, with most of it in years three and four; Levels.fyi spreads the grant and any sign-on bonus evenly over four years to get these totals, so your first-year pay can look quite different. Ask the recruiter for the pay year by year.

1. Read Amazon's prep page for your level on amazon.jobs. SDE II, SDE III, SDM, TPM and PM each have their own.
2. Check your assessment invite for the sections and the time. Do the practice test if one is offered, and pick the framework you know best for the repository task.
3. Practise one medium dynamic programming or sliding window problem a day in a plain editor, with code that compiles first time.
4. Practise fixing a failing test in an unfamiliar Django, Spring Boot or Node project, using an AI assistant for hints only.
5. Write two stories for each Leadership Principle on your recruiter's list, each with your own actions in the first person and a number for the result.
6. Prepare one story about using generative AI in your work, including a time it got something wrong.
7. Say each story aloud, then answer three follow-ups on it: what exactly did you do, how did you measure it, what would you change.
8. From SDE II: practise one object-oriented design and one system design at Amazon scale, out loud, with the trade-offs.
9. Ask the recruiter for the offer's pay year by year, including how the sign-on bonus and the stock vest.

This guide covers Amazon's software engineering hiring, with notes on managers, programme and product managers, and Luxembourg. Process and loop sizes are quoted from amazon.jobs; the 2026 assessment format, round contents and questions come from candidate reports and are marked so. Your recruiter's description of your loop is the final word. For management and leadership roles the loop is similar but the bar shifts to people, delivery and strategy, so pair it with the leadership interview prep hub. The bar for your exact role comes from the role-by-role guides, and the prep that actually transfers is spoken, so run a mock interview before the real one.

Also interviewing at Netflix, Google Zurich or Meta London? Their guides follow the same format, from the first screen to the offer.

• 01Amazon Jobs, the interview looptwo to seven interviewers including a Bar Raiser from another team, 45 to 60 minutes each, STAR and "I" instead of "we", the sample failure question, writing samples, a reply within five business days, read 12 October 2026
• 02Amazon Jobs, SDE II interview prepthe online assessment as Amazon describes it, four 55-minute interviews, at least one system design question, code that compiles, no pseudo code, two or three behavioural questions per interviewer, read 12 October 2026
• 03Amazon Jobs, SDE II online assessment prepcoding on HackerRank in 90 minutes, system design scenarios rated by effectiveness, Work Styles, seven days to start, results within two days, reapply in six months, read 12 October 2026
• 04Amazon Jobs, SDE III interview prepa 60-minute phone screen with a senior leader, five 55-minute interviews, the subsystem design expectation, read 12 October 2026
• 05Amazon Jobs, university SDE online assessmentthe first step for full-time and intern SDE roles, public resources allowed, browser usage logged, the Work Simulation, read 12 October 2026
• 06Amazon Jobs, interview process FAQthree to six weeks, replies within two and five business days, AI interview transcription by consent and who can read it, read 12 October 2026
• 07Amazon Jobs, Leadership Principlesthe 16 principles, unchanged, read 12 October 2026
• 08About Amazon, two new Leadership Principles (1 July 2021)Strive to be Earth's Best Employer and Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility
• 09About Amazon, the Bar Raiser (30 October 2019)better than 50% of would-be peers, nomination, three months to a year of shadowing, the final decision with the hiring manager
• 10About Amazon, how Amazon uses AI in hiring (22 January 2026)technical assessments rebuilt so software engineering candidates work with an interactive AI assistant on a real coding platform
• 11About Amazon, in-person interviews (24 July 2025)virtual and on-site options, four to six interviews including the Bar Raiser
• 12Business Insider, Amazon and AI in job interviews (27 February 2025)recruiter guidance not to use generative AI tools during interviews unless explicitly permitted, on pain of disqualification
• 13Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon SDE OA 2026 (3 October 2026)the new format: 100-minute coding with one algorithm problem and one AI-assisted repository task, 45-minute Work Simulation, 6-minute Work Style Survey; comments on Django and Spring Boot tasks and three simulation scenarios
• 14Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon SDE online assessment, new format (19 June 2026)the earliest report found of the repository question with an AI coding assistant
• 15Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon SDE intern online assessment (12 August 2026)40 plus 60 minutes, scores out of 15 and out of 6
• 16Reddit r/leetcode, AWS Berlin new grad (10 September 2026)the Django issue tracker task, the highest-bid allocation problem, a loop of two technical rounds, a GenAI round and a Bar Raiser
• 17Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon online assessment problem (25 June 2026)the merge branches with minimum conflicts problem, reported again on 29 July
• 18Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon assessment invite (1 August 2026)photo ID, screen and webcam recording
• 19Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon SDE II offer (27 June 2026)a phone screen, then coding, inventory stock management, Design Amazon S3 and a coding plus GenAI round; verbal offer three days after the loop
• 20Reddit r/leetcode, AWS L6 loop (18 September 2026)five interviews on one day, Bar Raiser, low-level design, hiring manager system design
• 21Reddit r/leetcode, Leadership Principle stories (26 September 2026)eight principles named by the recruiter, follow-ups two or three levels deep, recruiter advice not to repeat stories
• 22Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon loop questions (11 September 2026)the deadline and outside-your-area questions, a hiring manager and GenAI round
• 23Reddit r/leetcode, Amazon SDE II feedback (18 September 2026)recruiter feedback: strong coding, one principle strong, one below the L5 standard
• 24Reddit r/cscareerquestions, passed the loop, waiting on placement (2 August 2026)an email saying a completed stage is not a guarantee of an offer
• 25About Amazon, workforce update (28 January 2026)about 16,000 roles, and continued hiring in strategic areas; the October 2025 update cut about 14,000
• 26About Amazon EU, Amazon in Luxembourg in 2025 (21 May 2026)more than 4,250 permanent employees, eight corporate sites, the European headquarters since 2003
• 27Levels.fyi, Amazon software engineer pay, United Statesaverages by level, the uneven vesting schedule and how sign-on bonuses are averaged, read 12 October 2026
• 28Levels.fyi, Amazon software engineer pay, Luxembourgaverages for SDE I to SDE III in US dollars, read 12 October 2026

Interview processes change. This reflects widely-reported and sourced conditions as of 2026 — confirm specifics with your recruiter, and treat it as a map rather than a guarantee.