finished the amazon product designer loop last month for an L5 role on the devices team (think echo, kindle adjacent). sharing because the UX/design interview experience at amazon is different from the FAANG average in ways that surprised me.
the loop structure:
recruiter screen, portfolio review round, design exercise round, LP round, and a bar-raiser. five total.
portfolio review: this is the core. they asked me to walk through two projects in depth. not a surface-level tour, a proper walk-through. for each project they asked: what was the business problem? how did you scope it? what constraints did you work under? what tradeoffs did you make? what would you do differently?
the 'what would you do differently' question came up in every round and i think it's a consistent amazon thing. they want to see that you can reflect and aren't defensive. also: know your metrics. if you redesigned an onboarding flow, what happened to conversion? if you can't answer that, you look like you don't connect your design work to outcomes.
design exercise: 45 minute live design challenge. mine was: 'design a feature to help echo users discover their most used routines.' they gave me a whiteboard (virtual, jamboard) and expected me to run a structured process: understand users, constraints, generate options, evaluate tradeoffs, land on a direction, identify what you'd validate next. don't skip the validation step. they care a lot about how you'd test your assumptions.
LP round: ownership was the big one. they pushed on 'what decision did you make that others disagreed with and how did you handle it.' they also asked about delivering results in ambiguous situations. design roles at amazon sit inside product and eng orgs, so they need designers who can navigate ambiguity and push back constructively.
bar-raiser: this one surprised me. it felt more like a product strategy conversation than a design review. they wanted to talk about how i'd think about the north star for a device's UX over 3 years. bring business and user thinking together.
honest note: amazon design culture is more utilitarian than craft-centric. if you care a lot about pixel-perfect visual refinement you might find the culture frustrating. they prioritize customer impact and velocity. know that going in.