Amazon Leadership Principles (LP) interview questions will make or break your candidacy with Amazon. How many Amazon Leadership Principle questions should you expect? How many LP questions will be asked by each interviewer? Will they cover all 14 Amazon LPs during your interview? Today I’m going to share with you a recent Amazon virtual Onsite Loop interview loop. It’s done via Amazon Chime.
- Position: Software Development Engineer (SDE)
- Level: 6
- Interviewer 1: 2 LP questions
- Invent and Simplify: “Tell me about a time when you gave a simple solution to a complex problem”
- Ownership: “Tell me about a time you went above and beyond.”
- Interviewer 2: 2 LP questions.
- Dive Deep: “Give me an example of when you used data to make a decision/solve a problem”
- Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: “Describe a situation where you thought you were right, but your peers or supervisor did not agree with you. How did you convince them that you were right? How did you react? What was the outcome?”
- Interviewer 3: Hiring manager, no LP questions. The hiring manager asked LP questions during the phone screen.
- Interviewer 4: 2 LP questions.
- Deliver Results: “Tell me about a time where you not only met the goal but considerably exceeded expectations. How were you able to do it?”
- Think Big: “Tell me about a time you took a calculated risk in order to achieve a professional goal. What were the tradeoffs? What was the outcome?”
- Interviewer 5: 2 LP questions.
- Bias for action: “Give me an example of a calculated risk that you have taken where speed was critical. What was the situation and how did you handle it? What steps did you take to mitigate the risk? What was the outcome?”
- Customer obsession: “Give me an example of a change you implemented in your current team or organization to meet the needs of your customers. What has been the result?”
Observations:
- Most interviewers (with the exception of the hiring manager) were assigned 2 leadership principles.
- A total of 8 Amazon LPs were covered during this onsite loop. Five LPs are left out: Hire and Develop the Best, Insist on the Highest Standard, Frugality, Earn Trust, and Are Right, A Lot.
- Some of the LPs are less relevant to this role. For example, Hiring and Developing the Best is a question for managers but this role is an individual contributor role.
- Depending on the role you’re interviewing for, you can guess which LPs are less important/relevant. However, you should still prepare for all LPs just in case. But, you can redouble your effort on a subset of them during your preparation.
Need help to nail your upcoming interview with Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft or other tech firms? Sign up for my 1-on-1 personalized interview coaching programs. Check out my coaching page with details, a list of recent job offers, and client testimonials. Additionally, I also offer customized coaching for career transition, getting unstuck, and navigating corporate politics.