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 | 60 min | Strategy conversation. |
| System Design Strategy | 90 min | Multi-year technical strategy across services. |
| Architecture Review | 60 min | Critique an Amazon-scale architecture. |
| Cross-Org Influence | 60 min | How you align teams and leaders. |
| Bar Raiser | 60 min | All 16 LPs at org and company scope. |
| Technical Vision (Writing) | Take-home | Written strategy memo for a real scenario. |
| VP / S-team Round | 45 min | Vision, leadership style, company fit. |
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 Senior Principal Engineer (L8) has one design round: Architecture Review (60 min): Critique an Amazon-scale architecture.. Bar is multi-year architectural bets and cross-org technical strategy. You should be naming specific decisions you would defend in a roomful of senior engineers. 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.
Principal bar. Multi-year bets, executive-level communication, cross-org influence, and growing Staff engineers. The behavioral rounds often outweigh technical-depth rounds in the final hiring decision at this level. Map each story to one or two of the 16 Leadership Principles.
Write a real strategy memo for a problem you understand. Edit it twice. Read your own writing back the next morning. Aim for clear prose, specific recommendations, named trade-offs.