People leaders without the requisite leadership skills - Senior Program Manager Amazon Employee Review

3.0
10 Feb 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Getting to work on innovative projects and programs without budget restrictions. Seeing these turn into tangible products and services. Strong advanced focus on metrics that force you to speak with data relevance. While many people do not like writing documents, I think it's a great way to force someone to know the details of what they are presenting / proposing. Great culture of insisting on the highest standards and driving ownership across teams. I've met some amazing people in my time here.

Cons

The majority of leadership at the L8 level have no business being leaders. These people are intelligent people, who have accomplished a lot as individual contributors yet lack the requisite people skills to interact with employees. I wish I could say that what you read online isn't true, but it is. Leaders in Amazon do not play by the 14 principles, instead what I've seen is a great deal of ego and my way or the highway. Secondly, the people they favor tend to be people who are yes men. Therefore the concept of "have backbone, disagree and commit is overshadowed by the unwritten 15th principle "whatever your boss suggests, just say yes". This is not a scalable / sustainable model as the people that really are top tier contributors, leave because of the pathetic leadership and the toxic culture they create. The people in my department that are L7's only stay because they do not have other options, or are at the end of their career's and do not care.

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5.0
3 Jul 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Hands on mentorship; enough resources

Cons

Little research, more engineering work

5.0
10 Jan 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really smart people, a lot of opportunity for growth, always encouraged to be innovative, think big, and create something new. Competitive salary and benefits with other major tech companies. 100% self motivating work environment. No dress code and 4 legged friends are welcome.

Cons

You have to be self motivated. NO ONE will hold your hand and tell you that you're doing a great job. If you need constant affirmations from management, this company isn't for you.

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