I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Amazon (Londres, Inglaterra)
Interview
I had first an initial phone screening with a recruiter. Then I had a phone interview with the hiring manager after which I was asked to do a written exercise where you need to answer one of the standard Amazon questions. The objective is to see if you can write in a structured way, i.e. in the STAR format.
And then I was invited to 4 face to face interviews. The people who interviewed me were all very nice. But in my opinion, the problem with the Amazon interviews is, that they are 1) very strict with the STAR format and 2) don't care about competency.
To 1) I didn't get the job probably because I didn't put my answers into the STAR format, i.e. Amazon told me they felt I wasn't structured enough. Amazon wants to see how structured you are. But this feels entirely unnatural to me, to press every answer into ONE format. If I have to answer everything in the same format, I start feeling like a stupid robot. After my experience, I'm actually surprised about how successful Amazon is, because this process seems to cancel out all emotions and the chaos of creativity. That's just my opinion.
To 2) I was definitely more than qualified for this job. But again, Amazon seems to care only if you can put your answers into the STAR format, like a robot. They don't seem to care much about whether or not you're actually qualified for the job. This can be a really frustrating experience.
In addition: Amazon has a fixed set of questions they will ask you, which are based on their leadership principles. This means that there's not even room to ask any questions based on your competence. To me, this doesn't make sense.
However, the process itself was very smooth and quick.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time where you tried to understand a problem in your team and you had to go down several layers to solve it. How did you proceed? Which were the steps you took and which were the layers?
Tell me about a time where you strongly disagreed with your manager. What was it about and how did you handle it?
Tell me about a time where you felt like you needed to have a deeper level of know-how and expertise to do your job well.
Tell me about a time where you took a big risk – what was the risk, the decision process and the outcome?
These were my Writing Exercise Questions, of which I needed to pick one:
1. Most decisions are made with analysis, but some are judgment calls not susceptible to analysis due to time or information constraints. Please write about a judgment call you’ve made recently that couldn’t be analyzed. It can be a big or small one, but should focus on a business issue. What was the situation, the alternatives you considered and evaluated, and your decision making process? Be sure to explain why you chose the alternative you did relative to others considered.
2. What is the most inventive or innovative thing you’ve done? It doesn’t have to be something that’s patented. It could be a process change, product idea, a new metric or customer facing interface – something that was your idea. It cannot be anything your current or previous employer would deem confidential information. Please provide us with context to understand the invention/innovation. What problem were you seeking to solve? Why was it important? What was the result? Why or how did it make a difference and change things?
It had 6 rounds- heavily focussed on leadership principles. they really do cross question almost every other example.......... You get multiple interviewers across the organisation. I thought- the questions were repetitive after one point.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Mention a time when you could give the customer what they asked for ?
I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon in Jun 2026
Interview
No HR screen; you answer those questions over email. You do a ridiculous project simulation where you answer emails. Paradoxically it’s interesting yet cheesy at the same time. Very unique but not that difficult. Then the first real interview. Rarely with the direct hiring manager; usually someone else in the org but not this direct team. So it’s useless to research the department. In fact, it’s better to prepare your strong STAR examples. They probe deep, which is fine. They heavily expect numbers. The more you can spout out random numbers (it’s okay, no one will verify) the better. The final round is more of the same — Just more STAR interviews, 2 per session, 4 sessions total. The people in this round are even more critical and harsh than the previous rounds. All done by people who have worked here for 5+ years and have never left — or if they did they came from another FANG company. So they’re all typically arrogant and jaded and negative or on the way to getting there. Finally they all have this weird verbal communication style where they just talk on and on like they expect you to interrupt them — but it’s an interview so you have to be polite can’t interrupt them. So like what the heck.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A time you had to mediate a conflict between two stakeholders. A time you had to dig deep into the data.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Amazon
Interview
1. Initial Screening: It begins with a recruiter sync.
2. The "Loop": It's a 5-to-6-round panel interview focusing on deep technical skills, system design, leadership principles, or domain expertise depending on the role.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time when you had to take a risk or make a decision with incomplete information.
