Amazon’s recent workforce reduction has reshaped large parts of the company, with engineering roles emerging as the most affected category.
The layoffs, announced last month, spanned cloud services, devices, advertising, retail and grocery businesses.
State filings in New York, California, New Jersey and Washington confirmed that almost 40% of more than 4,700 cuts in those states involved engineering positions.
These filings represent only part of the wider job losses because reporting rules vary across states.
The reductions form part of Amazon’s largest employment shake-up in its 31 years.
Culture reset inside Amazon
The restructuring reflects a wider shift in the company’s approach to internal operations.
Amazon has been realigning its corporate structure after years of expansion that increased organisational layers and slowed decision-making.
The company has positioned these cuts as part of a broader culture reset designed to streamline processes and reduce complexity.
Reports indicate that further job reductions are expected in January as this transition continues.
Leadership has also directed more resources toward artificial intelligence, signalling a long-term belief that emerging technology will reshape the company’s workforce.
Impact across teams
The workforce changes touched multiple levels within engineering teams.
Mid-level software developers were hit hardest, according to state filing data.
The shift follows a wider trend in the tech sector, where reliance on AI coding tools has reduced demand for certain development roles.
Amazon has already entered this space with its own coding assistant called Kiro, competing with tools from Cursor, OpenAI and Cognition.
The restructuring also affected more than 500 product and programme managers, along with senior and principal staff.
The company has also scaled back investment in experimental or unprofitable units.
Over the past few years, Amazon has wound down or closed several projects, including a telehealth service, a children’s video calling device, a fitness wearable and a selection of physical retail concepts.
Gaming, AI tools and ads affected
Amazon’s gaming division experienced a significant reduction in roles.
State records show that studios in San Diego and Irvine, as well as the company’s central publishing unit, were hit.
Designers, artists and producers represented more than a quarter of the cuts in Irvine and around 11% in San Diego.
The company has paused much of its work on high-budget games, including projects related to multiplayer online titles.
Amazon has previously released MMOs such as Crucible and New World and has been developing a game linked to the Lord of the Rings franchise.
In addition to gaming, Amazon reduced headcount in its visual search and shopping teams.
These teams built tools like Amazon Lens and Lens Live, which allow users to search for products using their cameras or stored images.
Roles connected to software engineering, applied science and quality assurance were affected across locations in Palo Alto.
Amazon’s online advertising arm also saw significant cuts. More than 140 ad sales and marketing roles in New York were eliminated, representing roughly 20% of the 760 positions removed in the state.
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