Amazon behavioural & leadership interview questions

Sample questions with short answers

Tap a question to reveal the short answer and key points.

1. 1Leadership Principles: tell me about a time you disagreed and committed.MediumAmazon-specificShow short answer

   Short answer

   Amazon scores against 'Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit'. Describe the decision, the case you made with data, and the moment it went the other way. Then show full commitment: what you did to make the chosen path succeed, with a measurable result. Avoid stories where you quietly kept resisting.

   Interviewers listen for

   • made a data-backed case
   • full commitment to the chosen path
   • measurable result
2. 2Describe a time you dove deep to find the root cause of a problem.MediumAmazon-specificShow short answer

   Short answer

   'Dive Deep' stories need specifics: the symptom, the metrics or logs you inspected, the wrong hypotheses you ruled out, and the real root cause. Quantify the fix and the mechanism you added so it can't recur — an alarm, a test, a runbook. Keep the timeline tight and the numbers concrete.

   Interviewers listen for

   • metrics or logs you inspected
   • hypotheses ruled out
   • fix plus a mechanism so it can't recur
3. 3Tell me about a time you disagreed with a teammate or manager. What happened?EasyAsked everywhereShow short answer

   Short answer

   Use STAR: set the situation briefly, state what you disagreed about and why it mattered, describe the actions you took — gathering data, proposing an experiment, listening to the other view — and end with the result and what you learned. Interviewers want respectful escalation and evidence-based persuasion, not a story where you were simply right.

   Interviewers listen for

   • STAR structure
   • data or experiment to resolve the disagreement
   • result and what you learned
4. 4Describe a project that failed or missed its goal. What would you do differently?MediumAsked everywhereShow short answer

   Short answer

   Pick a real miss, own your part of it without blaming others, and be specific about the root cause — unclear scope, late risk discovery, missing tests. Then show the change you actually made afterward (earlier check-ins, smaller milestones, a pre-mortem). Keep the result honest: what was salvaged and what the team learned.

   Interviewers listen for

   • own your part without blame
   • specific root cause
   • concrete change made afterward
5. 5Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information.MediumAsked everywhereShow short answer

   Short answer

   Describe the ambiguity, the deadline, and the cost of waiting. Explain how you reduced uncertainty quickly — talking to users, a spike, a reversible decision — and the principle you used to decide. Close with the outcome and how you monitored for being wrong. Shows bias for action balanced with judgement.

   Interviewers listen for

   • reduce uncertainty quickly
   • reversible decision or experiment
   • monitor the outcome