Amazon interview questions cover coding, system design, and behavioral rounds. This guide lists the most common Amazon interview questions for 2026 with the real interview process, the topics Amazon focuses on, and prep tips — so you know exactly what to expect.
Key Takeaways
- Amazon interviews are rated <strong>High</strong> difficulty and center on 16 Leadership Principles, Data structures & algorithms, Object-oriented design.
- The loop has 5 main stages, from the recruiter screen to the final decision.
- Expect coding, system design, and behavioral rounds.
- Practice with the Amazon-specific questions below, then drill the fundamentals in our cluster guides linked at the end.
The Amazon Interview Process
Amazon typically runs the following stages:
- Online assessment (2 coding + work simulation)
- Phone screen
- Virtual onsite: 4-5 rounds
- Bar Raiser round
- Each round maps to Leadership Principles
What Amazon Looks For
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | High |
| Tier | FAANG |
| Roles | Software Development Engineer (SDE I/II/III), Front-End Engineer, Data Engineer, Applied Scientist |
| Focus areas | 16 Leadership Principles, Data structures & algorithms, Object-oriented design, Behavioral (STAR) depth, Ownership & Customer Obsession |
Amazon Coding Interview Questions
The most common Amazon coding questions include:
- Two sum and its follow-ups
- Copy a list with random pointers
- Design an in-memory key-value store
- Word ladder (BFS)
- K closest points to origin (heap)
- Merge intervals
Amazon Behavioral Interview Questions
Prepare structured STAR answers for these Amazon behavioral questions:
- Tell me about a time you disagreed and committed
- Describe when you dove deep to solve a problem
- Give an example of Customer Obsession
- Tell me about a time you took ownership beyond your role
Amazon System Design Questions
For mid-level and senior roles, expect system design prompts such as:
- Design Amazon’s shopping cart
- Design a distributed cache
- Design an order-processing pipeline
How to Prepare for Amazon Interviews
- Prepare 2 STAR stories per Leadership Principle
- The Bar Raiser has veto power — bring your strongest, most specific stories
- Quantify results in every behavioral answer
Related Guides
- Read our in-depth <a href="/blog/amazon-interview-guide-2026">Amazon interview guide</a> for a full round-by-round breakdown.
- Drill the fundamentals with our <a href="/blog/software-engineer-interview-questions-answers-2026">software engineer interview questions</a>, <a href="/blog/system-design-interview-questions-answers-2026">system design questions</a>, and <a href="/blog/behavioral-interview-questions-answers-2026">behavioral interview questions</a>.
Ace Your Amazon Interview With Real-Time Help
GhOst is an invisible AI interview assistant that provides real-time answers for coding, system design, and behavioral questions — invisibly to screen share and proctoring on Windows and macOS. Compare tools in our best AI interview assistant roundup, or install GhOst to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
They are behavioral questions mapped to Amazon’s 16 Leadership Principles, like Customer Obsession, Ownership, and Dive Deep. Answer each with a specific STAR story and a quantified result.
The Bar Raiser is a trained interviewer from outside the hiring team who ensures each hire raises the overall bar. They have significant influence and often veto power over the decision.
Amazon coding questions are usually LeetCode easy-to-medium. Behavioral depth on Leadership Principles matters just as much as the coding rounds.
Prepare about two distinct STAR stories per Leadership Principle so you can cover any behavioral question without reusing the same example.
Amazon interviews are usually conducted over video or a shared coding platform. A desktop tool like GhOst runs outside the browser and stays invisible to screen share and proctoring, so it can provide real-time coding, system design, and behavioral help.
