Amazon: Leadership Principles
Intermediate · 22 min read · Company Guides, Big Tech
All 16 principles, the questions behind them, the Bar Raiser and how deep the follow-ups go.
Amazon runs the most structured behavioral interviews in big tech. Every interview, technical or not, is tied to its Leadership Principles (LPs), and interviewers are assigned principles to probe. Amazon's own interview guide says technical roles spend about half the interview time on behavioral questions.
How the loop works
What Amazon says it wants in answers
From Amazon's own interview guide:
The 16 Leadership Principles, in interview terms
The descriptions below are summaries in our own words; read the full text on Amazon's site.
Practice questions for every principle
Two or three questions per principle, worded differently from the table above, so you can practise recognising the principle behind the wording:
Map your story bank to the principles
You don't need sixteen stories. One story usually covers two or three principles. Here's how a set of eight stories might map:
Amazon-specific tips
Sources
Key takeaways
- Amazon ties every interview to its 16 Leadership Principles; about half of a technical loop is behavioral.
- Answer with STAR in 2–3 minutes, "I" statements, metrics and lessons learned.
- A Bar Raiser from outside the team keeps the standard high; expect deep follow-ups.
- One story covers several principles; prepare two for the most-tested ones and don't repeat stories in a loop.