The process was structured and aligned heavily with Amazon’s Leadership Principles. It consisted of four rounds over about 2–3 weeks:
Phone Screen (Recruiter):
The recruiter gave a solid overview of the role, team, and what to expect. No technical questions, but they asked about my experience with SQL, Excel, and business analytics tools.
Technical Screen:
This was a 45-minute session with a Business Analyst. It focused on SQL queries and interpreting data from tables. I was asked to write queries to join datasets and calculate key metrics like revenue and conversion rates. Some Excel questions were also asked (VLOOKUP, pivot tables, etc.).
Case Study Round:
I was presented with a real-world business problem involving customer behavior and was asked to propose a data-driven approach. I walked through how I’d gather data, structure analysis, and measure success. No coding—just logic and storytelling.
Final Loop (3 interviews):
One behavioral interview focused on Amazon’s Leadership Principles (e.g., "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a team decision...").
One technical/analytical deep dive.
One interview with a hiring manager discussing stakeholder communication and prioritization.
The interview process includes a SQL test, an initial recruiter call, and a final five-round loop featuring technical questions and discussions focused on Amazon leadership principles with different team members.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They asked a key question focused on both technical depth and culture fit: how you apply your skills to solve real problems, along with examples demonstrating alignment with Amazon’s leadership principles.
I applied online. I interviewed at Amazon (Seattle, WA)
Interview
Interviewed for Business Analyst role at Amazon and honestly the process felt exhausting and impersonal.
The interviewers seemed far more focused on checking boxes against the 14 Leadership Principles than actually understanding the candidate or having a genuine conversation. Almost every question was another version of a STAR behavioral scenario, even when it barely related to the actual role.
The process felt extremely rehearsed and rigid. There was little effort to make the candidate feel comfortable or valued, and it often felt like they had already decided the outcome before the interview even started.
Technical and analytical depth barely mattered compared to how perfectly you could package stories into Amazon’s preferred format. If you don’t have polished STAR stories memorized for every possible situation, the process can feel unnecessarily difficult and draining.
Overall, one of the most mentally exhausting interview experiences I’ve had.
The basic STAR format, but the team was not clear about what they were looking for. The recruiter was not very responsive and took a long time to schedule the calls