TLDR
- Amazon eliminated over 14,000 positions in October, with engineers representing nearly 40% of the 4,700 jobs cut across Washington, New York, New Jersey, and California according to WARN filings.
- The layoffs hit various departments including cloud computing, devices, advertising, retail, and grocery stores, with SDE II mid-level engineers being disproportionately affected.
- CEO Andy Jassy aims to transform Amazon into “the world’s largest startup” by reducing bureaucracy and layers of management that slowed decision-making after extended hiring sprees.
- Amazon plans additional job reductions in January 2025 while shifting resources to invest more heavily in artificial intelligence technology.
- The cuts also impacted over 500 product and program managers, video game divisions, telehealth services, fitness devices, visual search teams, and advertising departments with 140 marketing and sales roles eliminated in New York.
Amazon cut through its engineering workforce like a hot knife through butter in October. The company’s recent mass layoff of more than 14,000 employees hit engineers harder than any other job category.
Documents filed with state agencies show the damage. Nearly 40% of the roughly 4,700 positions eliminated across Washington, New York, New Jersey, and California were engineering jobs. These Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings reveal only part of the picture since reporting requirements differ by state.
The scale is staggering for Amazon’s 31-year history. This represents the company’s steepest round of cuts ever. Amazon joins a growing list of tech companies slashing jobs in 2025 even as profits climb.
According to Layoffs.fyi, about 113,000 tech jobs have been eliminated across 231 companies this year. The trend started in 2022 as businesses adjusted to post-Covid realities.
CEO Andy Jassy has been reshaping Amazon’s corporate culture for years now. He wants the company to operate like “the world’s largest startup.” His approach emphasizes doing more with less and cutting organizational bloat.
The company expects to conduct more job reductions in January. CNBC previously reported these additional cuts are already planned.
Engineering Levels Hit Hardest
The WARN filings show a clear pattern in the engineering cuts. Mid-level employees holding SDE II roles took the biggest hit. These positions represent engineers with several years of experience.
Software engineer positions at various levels were eliminated. But the concentration at the mid-level suggests Amazon is reshaping its engineering structure. The company isn’t just trimming fat.
More than 500 product and program managers also lost their positions. Senior-level staff across multiple departments faced cuts too.
AI Investment Drives Strategy
Human resources chief Beth Galetti announced the layoffs with a focus on innovation. She wrote that this generation of AI is “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet.” Companies can now innovate faster than ever before, she claimed.
Amazon insists AI isn’t driving most of the job cuts. The company says reducing bureaucracy and emphasizing speed are the bigger goals. But the timing tells a different story.
Jassy predicted in June that Amazon’s corporate head count will shrink as AI improves efficiency. The technology is already reshaping white-collar work at the company.
Amazon released its own AI coding assistant called Kiro. The tool competes with platforms like Cursor, OpenAI, and Cognition. These AI coding assistants are making traditional software development jobs harder to find.
Jassy explained on Amazon’s earnings call that the cuts address a “culture” issue. Extended hiring sprees left the company with “a lot more layers” and slower decision-making. He wants to fix that problem now.
The cuts spread across multiple business units. Amazon’s cloud computing, devices, advertising, retail, and grocery operations all saw reductions. Video games, advertising, and AI search took big hits.
The company scaled back risky or unprofitable ventures. Its telehealth service got the axe. Fitness devices are gone too. The video game division saw significant cuts.
Amazon’s visual search team built AI tools like Amazon Lens. That team got downsized. The online ad business cut over 140 marketing and sales roles in New York alone.
The company filed WARN notices in its home state of Washington and three other major states. More data may emerge as other states process their filings. Each state has different reporting requirements and timelines.
Wall Street analysts maintain a Strong Buy rating on Amazon stock. Based on 40 Buy ratings and three Hold ratings from the past three months, the average price target sits at $294.71 per share.
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