I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Bengaluru) in May 2014
Interview
Amazon approached through a consulting recruiter, who found my CV on one of the job portals. In my case, it moved forward very quickly - a HR person from Amazon called me and described the team. Then the director of the department (who was in Seattle) talked to me in detail about what the team does and explain the interview process. The HR also forwarded some material about Amazon values and what are the expectations from a SDM, etc.
After the discussion with the Director, there were 2 telephonic rounds - one with an Engineer and one with a SDM. Throughout the process, the HR contacts were extremely helpful and did proper follow-ups. I guess I blew the 2nd round with the SDM. Although, I did get a feeling that the SDM had not reviewed my CV and after 15 mins I had to point out that I have never worked on the things he was asking about and I am just trying to build from first principles. He could not change the track, however and the call abruptly ended. I knew that this was the end :).
The HR reverted within a day with the rejection news. I am thankful for the quick turnaround.
Phone screen, 5 1 hour interviews for loop
Each hour was dedicated to 2 LPs. System design was more collaborative than i anticipated which was a pleasant surprise. The phone screen mostly focused on my previous experiences
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Standard LP based scenarios, system design was actual system the team owns
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Amazon (Tokyo) in Feb 2026
Interview
The interview process is straightforward but intense.
First interview was with another Software Dev Manager in the same team. After that the famous loop interview where I had to take 5 interviews in a row over two days ( using paid holidays at work ). Recruiter gave a lot of information about possible questions and helped with materials. However, I had to use same stories few times as the different interviewers asked same questions few times.
Everything is okay, I had a good time during the interviews and it was a good exercise. However, I simply do not understand why they have to call to reject? I am not a customer to be obsessed with. A straight cut rejection via email works better than taking time out of my busy schedule.
If they used this time to share some feedback, that would be useful. If they do not share any reason why I have to continue formal small talk just to get the rejection on my face?
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A time you were driving toward a goal and realized more than halfway in that it may not be the best goal.
Had 1 round of System design interview. I thought the interview went ok, if not bad, it went decently well. Received a rejection response, while asking to apply 6 months later.