Amazon layoffs: Tech giant’s mega job-cut drive eliminated this one specific role the most, data shows
Amazon had in October announced that it will lay off 14,000 corporate employees. The Amazon layoffs, its largest in three years, have affected every part of the company’s businesses — rom cloud computing and devices to advertising, retail and grocery stores.
However, one job category saw the most impact — engineers.
According to a report by CNBC citing documents filed in New York, California, New Jersey and Washington, about 40% of the nearly 4,700 job cuts in these places were engineering roles.
Amazon, which joined several other big tech companies in announcing major layoffs, reported the data in Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, filings to state agencies.
The filings, which represent a segment of the data, show that the Amazon layoffs in October impacted a mix of software engineer levels. However, SDE II roles, or mid-level employees, were affected disproportionately.
This comes despite human resources chief Beth Galetti said in her memo announcing the Amazon layoffs mentioned that the company now specifically needs engineers as it moves on to manage work with fewer people.
“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before,” Galetti wrote.
“We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business,” she added.
According to the report by CNBC quoting WARN data, over 500 product managers and program managers were laid off after the October announcement, representing more than 10% of the total job cuts.
Senior manager and principal level roles were also eliminated as part of the layoffs at Amazon.
Amazon layoffs
Amazon had in October announced that it will cut 14,000 job roles across divisions.
The corporate workforce of Amazon comprises about 350,000 personnel, meaning the 14,000 cuts announced in October represent about 4% of that headcount.
“The reductions we’re sharing today are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs,” Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, had said in a blog post.
CEO Andy Jassy had repeatedly said he was determined to cut management layers and ease bureaucracy that began afflicting Amazon after a pandemic-era hiring binge.
