Amazon layoffs: Tech giant’s mega job-cut drive eliminated this one specific role the most, data shows

By Admin

22 Nov, 2025

Amazon’s latest workforce reduction marks one of the most significant job-cut cycles in the company’s recent history, aligning it with broader layoffs across the global tech landscape. According to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings submitted to state agencies, the company has revealed detailed data outlining which roles were impacted the most in its sweeping restructuring effort.

Amazon had announced in October that it would lay off 14,000 corporate employees. This move, the company’s largest round of layoffs in three years, extended across all major business verticals cloud computing, devices, advertising, retail, and even grocery operations. But among all the roles affected, one category experienced a disproportionately higher impact: engineers.

A CNBC report, citing WARN filings from New York, California, New Jersey, and Washington, highlighted that nearly 40% of the roughly 4,700 job cuts in these regions belonged to engineering roles. The filings also show that a wide range of software engineer levels were affected, but the deepest cuts were seen in SDE II positions mid-level engineering roles that form a crucial backbone in Amazon’s tech operations.

The scale of reductions comes as a surprise, particularly because Beth Galetti, Amazon’s human resources chief, had emphasized in her layoff memo that the company continues to need engineering talent as it reforms its workforce to operate with fewer people. She underscored that artificial intelligence stands as one of the most revolutionary technologies since the rise of the Internet, prompting companies like Amazon to innovate faster and reorganize more efficiently.

Galetti stated that Amazon aims to become leaner, with fewer layers of management and more direct responsibility for teams, enabling faster decision-making and stronger customer focus. This restructuring also affected more than 500 product managers and program managers over 10% of the layoffs according to WARN data. Senior manager and principal-level employees were not spared either, reflecting Amazon’s push to streamline higher managerial layers.

Amazon’s October layoffs account for about 4% of its 350,000-strong corporate workforce. CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly emphasized the need to eliminate unnecessary management layers and reverse the bureaucratic slowdown that crept in following the company’s rapid hiring surge during the pandemic. The goal, he said, is to strengthen Amazon’s agility and ensure that resources are channeled into high-impact initiatives that matter most to customers in the present and future.

The WARN filings represent only part of the broader restructuring, but the data provides a clear picture: engineering teams, especially mid-level roles, have borne the brunt of Amazon’s most recent job-cut cycle. As the tech giant pivots toward a more focused, AI-driven future, its latest shake-up underscores a major shift in how it intends to build, operate, and innovate moving forward.