Amazon interview at a glance
Based on 51 real Amazon software engineer interview experiences shared by candidates, including 24 from India. Typical timeline: 2–4 weeks for most loops; senior loops can run longer.
Offer rate counts candidates who reported a final result. Most common round types: Coding, Behavioral, System Design, Technical, Data Structures & Algorithms. Source: Amazon interview experiences.
The Amazon SDE interview process
Here's what the Amazon SDE 1 / SDE 2 interview usually looks like, from first call to offer.
- Online assessment (SDE 1 and SDE 2)A timed HackerRank test with two coding problems plus work-style and behavioral sections, usually completed within a week or two of the invite.
- Recruiter or phone screenA 30–60 minute call on your background and motivation, sometimes with a coding question and early Leadership Principles questions.
- Loop: 1–2 coding rounds45–60 minute rounds with one or two data structures and algorithms problems. Interviewers pick their own questions, so the loop varies by team.
- Loop: system designHigh-level architecture scaled to your level. This round often separates SDE 2 from Senior SDE outcomes.
- Loop: low-level / object-oriented designCommon for SDE 1 and SDE 2: design classes and APIs for something like a parking lot, an elevator or a library system.
- Leadership Principles in every roundEach interviewer is assigned principles to probe. One interviewer is the Bar Raiser, from outside the team, who can veto the hire.
What Amazon interviewers look for
- Leadership Principles: Customer Obsession, Ownership, Dive Deep, Bias for Action, Deliver Results and others, using specific STAR stories with numbers.
- Coding: working, optimised solutions with clear complexity analysis.
- Design: sensible APIs, data models and scaling decisions at your level.
- Raising the bar: the Bar Raiser asks whether you are better than half the people already in the role.
Amazon interview round by round
What happens in each round, what the interviewer is really checking, and how to prepare.
Online assessment
About 60 minutes on HackerRank: two to five easy–medium problems, an AI-assisted task, and a work-style survey.
- What they check
- Clean working code, sensible decomposition, edge cases, and survey answers that fit Ownership, Customer Obsession and Bias for Action.
- How to prepare
- Partial credit counts, so get a correct solution passing first, then optimise. Answer the survey decisively and consistently.
Recruiter screen
30–60 minutes on your background and motivation; no coding.
- What they check
- A crisp career summary, measurable impact and early Leadership Principles signals.
- How to prepare
- Prepare a 45-second intro and ask which level you're being considered for and which principles the team values most.
Coding rounds
One or two problems per 45–60 minutes, usually followed by behavioral questions in the same round.
- What they check
- Fluency with trees, graphs, heaps, hashing, two pointers and sliding windows; moving from working to optimal; writing your own tests.
- How to prepare
- Bar Raisers notice candidates who test and try to break their own code before being asked. Make that a habit.
System design
A standard design prompt or a ‘reverse design’ where you critique an existing system's failure handling.
- What they check
- Requirements first, then APIs and data model, then depth; strong focus on reliability and availability.
- How to prepare
- Use a fixed framework: requirements → API → data model → architecture → bottlenecks and failures.
Low-level design
Object-oriented design of something like a locker, parking lot or file system.
- What they check
- Clean classes and interfaces, sensible use of design patterns, and code that's easy to extend.
- How to prepare
- Practise 8–10 LLD problems end to end, including writing the core class code.
Leadership Principles
Two or more behavioral questions in nearly every round, with deep follow-ups.
- What they check
- Specific stories, what you did, the data behind your decisions, and results with numbers.
- How to prepare
- Build 8–10 stories that each cover several principles, and practise answering ‘what would you do differently?’.
Amazon's online assessment now includes an AI-assisted task, where you work with an AI assistant on a real coding platform, next to a traditional coding problem. AI is not allowed in the live interview loop.
Real Amazon interview questions (recent)
Questions candidates reported from their own Amazon interviews, newest first. Open any one to see the full experience, every round and how it went.
Coding
- Construct a binary tree given its preorder and inorder traversals.Software Engineer · 2026-08 · India
- How would you remove duplicates in a string?Software Engineer · 2026-08 · India
- Find the longest substring without repeating characters.Software Engineer · 2026-08 · India
- PriotiyQueue Buffer serviceSoftware Engineer · 2026-08 · United States
- JAVA Project Bug FixesSoftware Engineer · 2026-08 · India
- Find the maximum subarray sum.Software Engineer · 2026-08 · India
- Leetcode 212 Word Search IISoftware Engineer · 2026-07 · United States
- Given n houses in a line with money in each, find the maximum amount a robber can steal, without stealing from two adjacent houses.Software Engineer · 2026-07 · United States
System design
- Design an event booking system.Software Engineer · 2026-10 · India
- Design a processing middleware framework which combines multiple requests, calls another service, and returns result.Software Engineer · 2026-09 · India
- Design an Amazon locker. (LLD Round)Software Engineer · 2026-08 · India
- Design an evaluation framework for ads ranking.Software Engineer · 2026-05 · United States
- Design a rate limiter.Software Engineer · 2026-05 · United States
Behavioral
- Why do you want to join Amazon?Software Engineer · 2026-09 · India
- What is your strongest technical expertise?Software Engineer · 2026-09 · India
- What is the project you are most proud of?Software Engineer · 2026-06 · India
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate.Software Engineer · 2026-05 · United States
- Tell me about a time you had to make a decision when you didn’t have all the information.Software Engineer · 2026-05 · United States
How to crack the Amazon interview
Prepare 8–10 detailed stories that each cover two or three Leadership Principles, with metrics. On the technical side, add object-oriented design practice to your DSA and system design work. Amazon can downlevel instead of rejecting, so performing well at your level matters.
Amazon is one of the largest tech employers in India, with engineering in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and other cities. Experienced hires usually interview for SDE 1 (L4) or SDE 2 (L5); SDE 2 expects solid system design.
A 16-week preparation plan
Arrays, strings, hashing, two pointers, sliding window, stacks, linked lists, binary search, recursion.
Trees, graphs (BFS, DFS, topological sort, shortest paths), heaps, intervals, dynamic programming, tries.
Scalability basics, caching, databases, queues, rate limiters, feeds, chat and storage designs, plus low-level / OOP design.
Timed mock interviews, behavioral stories in STAR format, resume polish and company-specific practice.
This is the same structure as the Top Tech Transition 16-week program, which adds live classes, a 500+ problem bank, 1-on-1 mock interviews with engineers from top tech companies and resume reviews.
Amazon interview FAQs
What is an Amazon Bar Raiser?
A trained interviewer from outside the hiring team who joins your loop to keep the hiring bar high. They usually lead a behavioral round and have a strong say in the final decision.
Can I be downleveled in the Amazon interview?
Yes. If your design or behavioral signal is below the level you applied for, Amazon may offer a lower level instead of rejecting you, for example SDE 1 instead of SDE 2.
How many Leadership Principles stories do I need?
Aim for 8–10 strong stories you can adapt. Expect two or more behavioral questions in nearly every round, with deep follow-ups on what you personally did.
How long does the Amazon interview process take?
Typically 2–4 weeks for most loops; senior loops can run longer. Across 51 recent Amazon software engineer interviews in our data, the median was 3 weeks from first round to decision.
How should I prepare for the Amazon interview?
Prepare 8–10 detailed stories that each cover two or three Leadership Principles, with metrics. On the technical side, add object-oriented design practice to your DSA and system design work. Amazon can downlevel instead of rejecting, so performing well at your level matters. A structured 16-week plan covering DSA, system design, behavioral stories and mock interviews works for most working engineers.