Amazon — SDE I (New Grad) Interview Format

Round 1 — Recruiter Screen

Duration: 30 mins

Format:

  • Background, motivation for Amazon
  • Eligibility check: graduation window, relocation, visa
  • Timeline and process overview
  • Often skipped for "Jobs for Grads" reqs
  • OA link may arrive directly by email instead

Round 2 — Online Assessment

Duration: 2.5 hours total

Platform: HackerRank, single monitor, Chrome or Edge only

Format:

  1. Coding Challenge, 100 mins, 2 problems
  2. Problem 1: traditional algorithm question, free language choice
  3. Problem 2: AI assisted code repository question
  4. Problem 2 gives an unfamiliar repo with failing tests and a built in AI assistant
  5. Language for Problem 2 locks once started
  6. Chat transcript with the AI is visible to the evaluator
  7. Work Simulation, 45 mins
  8. Inbox and chat scenarios, pick the best response
  9. Work Style Survey, 6 mins, unscored

Proctoring:

  • Photo ID and webcam photo required before start
  • Screen and webcam recorded during coding
  • No personal IDE allowed
  • One sitting only, timer cannot pause

Round 3 — Virtual Onsite Loop

Duration: 4 rounds, 60 mins each, same day

Platform: Amazon Chime, shared coding doc, no autocomplete

Focus:

  1. Coding round
  2. Medium difficulty DSA: trees, graphs, DP, recursion, arrays and strings
  3. Half the round is still Leadership Principles questions
  4. GenAI Fluency round
  5. Applied AI engineering: prompt design, LLM API calls, RAG basics
  6. Validating model output, hallucination risk
  7. Sometimes combined with a DSA question in the same slot
  8. OOD or lite System Design round
  9. May not appear for SDE I
  10. Class design or a small scaled down system
  11. SOLID principles, API and data model shape
  12. Bar Raiser round
  13. Run by an interviewer outside the hiring team
  14. Can veto the hire decision
  15. STAR format, Leadership Principles
  16. 3 follow up questions per story

Leadership Principles (16):

  • Customer Obsession
  • Ownership
  • Invent and Simplify
  • Are Right A Lot
  • Learn and Be Curious
  • Hire and Develop the Best
  • Insist on the Highest Standards
  • Think Big
  • Bias for Action
  • Frugality
  • Earn Trust
  • Dive Deep
  • Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit
  • Deliver Results
  • Strive to be Earth's Best Employer
  • Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

Final Round — Hiring Committee

Format:

  • No candidate facing round
  • Interviewers submit written feedback per principle
  • Interviewers meet to decide
  • Bar Raiser feedback carries the most weight
  • Bar Raiser can override the hiring manager

Overall timeline: 6 weeks, OA to decision.