Amazon's job cuts, which hit more than 14,000 employees last month, span nearly every part of the company's operations, including cloud computing, devices, advertising, retail and grocery. But the brunt of the cuts fell on one job category: software engineers.
Amazon's job cuts, which hit more than 14,000 employees last month, span nearly every part of the company's operations, including cloud computing, devices, advertising, retail and grocery. But the brunt of the cuts fell on one job category: software engineers.
According to official reports filed with the states of New York, California, New Jersey and Washington (the state where Amazon's headquarters are located), among the more than 4,700 laid-off employees in these regions, about 40% were engineers, writes CNBC.
The layoffs affected various levels of software engineers, but documents show that SDE II positions, or mid-level employees, were hit the hardest.
In her resignation letter, HR head Beth Galetti emphasized the importance of innovation, which the company will now implement with fewer employees, including engineers.
“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate faster than ever before,” Galetti wrote. “We believe we need to be leaner, have fewer layers, and have more accountability to move faster for our customers and our business.”
Recall that Amazon plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs. This is the largest layoff at the company since the end of 2022, when approximately 27,000 positions were cut.
