Amazon’s Massive Layoffs Hit Mid-Level Software Engineers The Most: Report

• Documents submitted to government agencies in New York, California, New Jersey, and Washington reveal a huge portion of job cuts targeted engineers. 
• Software engineers, particularly those in mid-level roles, known as SDE II, were among the hardest hit. 
• In late October, the company announced that it would reduce its corporate workforce by about 14,000 roles.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has carried out sweeping job cuts this month, and a disproportionate share has reportedly affected its engineering workforce. 

According to a CNBC report, state filings indicate that nearly 40% of the roughly 4,700 roles eliminated in key U.S. states were technical positions.

Layoff Scope of Cuts

 Documents submitted to government agencies in New York, California, New Jersey, and Washington, Amazon’s home state, reveal that a large portion of the recent job reductions targeted engineers. The cuts span across Amazon’s vast array of divisions, including cloud computing, retail, advertising, and even devices. However, software engineers, particularly those in mid-level roles, known as SDE II, were among the hardest hit, according to the report. 

Why The Layoffs?  

Under the leadership of CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon has doubled down on leaner operations, aiming to remove layers of management and speed up decision-making.

In late October, the company announced that it would reduce its corporate workforce by about 14,000 roles.

Amazon is reallocating resources toward artificial intelligence, even as senior human resources executive Beth Galetti said the generation of AI is the most transformative technology since the internet, enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before. She added that Amazon was convinced the company needed to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership.

What Is Retail Thinking?

Amazon stock inched higher by 0.3% in Friday’s premarket. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Amazon remained in ‘bearish’ territory amid ‘low’ message volume levels. 

AMZN stock has lost 1% year-to-date and gained over 9% in the last 12 months. 

Also See: Gene Munster Says Nvidia’s Optimistic Guidance Signals AI Boom Is Far From Over

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