Engineering roles formed 40% of the 4,700 eliminated in Amazon

In October, Amazon had revealed intentions to reduce its workforce by 14,000 corporate staff members. This was said to be the largest round of layoffs since 2023, and while it impacted various businesses and departments, including advertising, retail, cloud computing and grocery stores, the maximum brunt seems to have been borne by those in engineering roles. In fact, as per a CNBC report, almost 40 per cent of the total 4,700 roles eliminated recently were engineering roles, across various levels. The impact on SDE II roles or those at the middle level was disproportionate.

This data was revealed in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, filings.
Amazon has been trying to bring down costs and expenses to make up for the excessive hiring it indulged in during the pandemic when the demand had surged.

It is known to everyone that Amazon has been focussing on artificial intelligence (AI) in recent times but the recent job cuts, according to the company, have nothing to do with embracing AI or due to financial issues. Andy Jassy, the company’s CEO had reportedly said that the rapid expansion and growth of the business had simply resulted in more workers than required, and therefore, unnecessary layers that had to be eliminated.

It isn’t surprising that engineering roles were primarily affected because engineering makes up a significant portion of the Amazon workforce. Therefore, any restructuring exercise across the company is bound to affect engineering roles. Also, since those in engineering roles draw the most attractive salaries, it is natural for a cost-cutting exercise to target these roles.