CrackingWalnuts
Checked 3 August 2026. Amazon publishes the 16 Leadership Principles and the Bar Raiser role. Round counts and timeline are commonly reported by candidates, not published. Source: amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles.
| Round | Duration | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Screen (Coding plus LPs) | 60 min | One medium problem plus 2 LP questions. |
| Coding Round | 60 min | Medium problem with LPs woven in. Cleanliness matters. |
| System Design | 60 min | End-to-end design with deep dive on one component. |
| Senior Design (Architecture) | 60 min | Multi-service architecture or service deep dive. |
| Bar Raiser | 60 min | Deep LP probing across 5 to 7 principles. Veto. |
| Hiring Manager | 60 min | LPs, team fit, scope of work you would own. |
Targeted guidance per round in this loop. Each section links to the matching track on the site. There is no shortcut list, the bar moves loop to loop, so build the pattern recognition and the stories from real practice.
Work the pattern templates until the recognition is instant. Trace one mock problem per pattern. Practice stating time and space complexity out loud before you write code.
Amazon SDE III / Senior SDE (Senior Software Engineer) has 2 design rounds: System Design (60 min): End-to-end design with deep dive on one component.; Senior Design (Architecture) (60 min): Multi-service architecture or service deep dive.. Bar is owning a non-trivial design end to end, with capacity numbers, a clear data model, and one deep dive you can defend under push-back. Pick problems from the track at the scale this loop tests and rehearse the structure: requirements, numbers, high-level design, data model, API, deep dive on one part, trade-offs.
Senior bar. The rubric shifts from execution to ownership at scope, judgment, cross-functional impact, and being calibrated on what is hard. Every story needs alternatives considered and what you would do differently. Map each story to one or two of the 16 Leadership Principles.