Amazon Software Development Manager (SDM) Guide

Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.

• Tell me about a time when you declined a customer requirement.
• Tell me about a time when a customer gave you critical feedback.
• Tell me about a time when you developed something for a customer that they did not ask for.

Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here." As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.

• Tell me about the most innovative project you worked on, why it was innovative, and what the challenges were.
• Tell me about a time when you gave a simple solution to a complex problem.

Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job."

• Tell me about a time when you worked on a project outside of your scope.
• Tell me about a time when you had to leave a task unfinished.

Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.

• Tell me about a time where you made a decision without having complete information.
• Tell me about a time you made a design decision where a lot of people had opposed you. Why did they oppose you?
• Tell me about a time you made a design decision where a lot of people had agreed with you. Why did they agree with you?

Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.

• Tell me about a skill you recently learned. How did you learn it?
• Tell me about an experience you went through that changed your way of thinking.

Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice.

Note: This leadership is less frequently touched upon in the interview.

• Tell me about a time when one of your team members had difficulty doing a project. What did you do?
• Who is the most important person in your life and why?

Leaders have relentlessly high standards — many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and drive their teams to deliver high-quality products, services, and processes. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.

• Tell me about a time when everything was going well on a project, yet you worked on an improvement that no one had asked for. What was the improvement? Why did you think it was important? How would you measure success?
• Tell me about a time when you raised the bar.

Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.

• Tell me about a time when you initiated work on a project that both impacted a majority of your team and had a lot of opposition.
• Tell me about a time when you had to make a bold and difficult decision.

Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking.

• Tell me about a time when you had a conflict and you had multiple ways to resolve it. How did you evaluate your options? Which solution did you choose and why?
• Tell me about a time when you made a decision too quickly and what you would have done differently.

Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense.

Note: This leadership is less frequently touched upon in the interview.

• Tell me about a time when you had to work with limited time or resources.
• Tell me about a time where you turned down more resources to complete an assignment.

Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.

• How do you earn the trust of stakeholders?
• Tell me about a time when you made a mistake.
• Tell me about a time when you worked on a project that got delayed. How did you handle it? Once you know it would be delayed, explain the actions you took afterwards.

Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ. No task is beneath them.

• Tell me about a time when you had a problem and you had to go through several hoops to discover the root cause.
• Tell me about a time when you had a problem yet no one was willing to investigate since they thought it was outside their scope of ownership.

Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.

• Tell me about a time when an idea you proposed was not agreed on. How did you react?
• What do you believe that no one else does?

Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.

• Tell me about your proudest project.
• Tell me about a time when everyone else on your team gave up on something but you pushed the team towards delivering a result.

When Exponent spoke with a few folks who interviewed for an Amazon EM role, some had reported that they also encountered the following questions:

• Are you willing to learn and admit you don't know something?
• Do you question your assumptions?
• Do you piss people off?

System design rounds assess your ability to break complex problems into digestible chunks, while considering tradeoffs, edge cases, and business goals. Your interviewer will ask a question like "Design Twitter."

In this interview, Amazon is looking for the following:

• Structure: Do you take a systematic approach?
• Comprehensiveness: Does your approach cover all requirements?
• Feasibility: Is your answer practical and could be implemented?

The best way to prepare for system design interviews is to watch our practice system design interviews like this one on how to design TikTok, and try your hand at some practice system design questions in our interview question database.