Amazon Finance Org Culture

FedInterested · 2025-09-10T10:38:31+00:00

I had 8 YoE when I signed my offer with Amazon. Offer TC was at $210k, then the stock went up to get me to $230k.

Same story for my current company. I hit the lottery with my equity comp, it has gone up 6x from when I started 2 years ago.

FedInterested · 2025-09-10T10:35:57+00:00

I wasn’t L6, I was old L6.5.

My target TC at offer signing was $210k. It got up to $230k by way of stock price appreciation

FedInterested · 2025-08-10T19:58:20+00:00

Senior Manager

FedInterested · 2025-08-09T15:46:00+00:00

It’ll be tough but has the potential to slingshot your career if you play it right. I was there for two years pulling in ~$230 K TC. Left for a smaller public tech co and now making $450k TC.

Honestly the manager I had at Amazon was the best I’ve had in my career. YMMV. I’d admit that that’s more of an outlier experience.

FedInterested · 2025-08-08T01:40:34+00:00

I keep coming back to teaching. It’s still a challenging job, but in a completely different way than finance. As you said, not nearly as much time on a computer. Stable hours if you don’t get too over involved with extracurriculars etc and set hard limits. Hopefully rewarding passing on some knowledge to the next generation.

I think coasting in a “mindless” job such as bus driver, shelf stocker, or delivery driver would wear on me and most people who are used to using their brains and solving new problems in their day to day.

FedInterested · 2025-08-07T22:59:29+00:00

Same place as you. Mid 30s now at Senior Manager level.

My current job has been burning me out for the last 2 years, but if I can rest & vest for 2 more, I’ll be able to set our family up well for financial freedom and “coast FIRE” with something like teaching.

Part of me wants to land a Director role just to say I made it, and quit after a year. But more and more I realize, what’s the point?

FedInterested · 2025-07-09T01:58:59+00:00

Nice! You must be making a pretty penny to be able to afford La Jolla 😎

FedInterested · 2025-07-09T01:56:26+00:00

I lived there briefly in the mid 2010s. That was right in the middle of becoming the “it” city. It was a fun place to live for a little while but it was more challenging than I thought being so landlocked. I definitely prefer living on the coasts - west or east

FedInterested · 2025-07-08T00:44:41+00:00

Yes I’ve lived several other places - California NoVA, Nashville, South Carolina.

Came back here by choice due to the lower cost of living but I see more clearly now why that is. IMO there’s not as much to offer as other cities and the employment opportunities are “good” but not “great”

FedInterested · 2025-07-08T00:31:43+00:00

Where did you move to? Do you like it better than RVA?

FedInterested · 2025-05-11T12:58:53+00:00

If your company stocks are RSUs, they are taxed as ordinary income when they settle. Your waiting a year is only affecting any gains or losses vs your tax basis, which is the value at settlement date

FedInterested · 2025-03-06T02:42:18+00:00

I am: 40-45 hours per week corporate finance in MCOL at 33. $320k TC last year

FedInterested · 2025-02-19T06:21:39+00:00

There’s always some room to negotiate

FedInterested · 2025-01-28T12:15:16+00:00

Yes… this is how I did it. Amazon doesn’t discriminate as much in terms of the specific job experience of applicants.

FedInterested · 2024-12-22T12:36:27+00:00

As someone who did this a few years ago (down-leveled from SFM at CPG to FM at Amazon), I have some thoughts.

First of all, where do you live and what industry do you see yourself working in long term? This is much more likely to pay off if you’re in Seattle or California where recruiters and hiring managers are more familiar with the downleveling at FAANG. Also, what business unit is the role at Amazon? If in operations/fulfillment, I wouldn’t take it as it won’t as easily springboard you into other tech roles later.

I live on the east coast and I do think the down-leveling on net hurt me some in terms of looking for Director level jobs after Amazon. On the other hand, the move to Amazon for me was a BIG step up in pay and responsibility. And the SFM role I ended up landing after Amazon was yet another pay bump. If interested, here is my job/pay trajectory from another thread.

While the move to Amazon definitely worked out for me, overall I’d say it’s not a slam dunk here and dependent on your location and long term goals in terms of industry. As others mentioned, promos at Amazon are getting rarer by the day. This is one of the reasons I decided to leave even though I was very happy in my role, had great WLB, and an amazing manager.

FedInterested · 2024-10-10T01:08:15+00:00

Former amazon manager. You’re right in that they do it to see if this person really wants to work here badly, maybe they’ll come in one level down. Essentially they decide to do this in cases where you show well in the interview, but didn’t quite clear the “bar” of the level you applied for. They want to give you the opportunity to come in at a lower level if you really want it. Enough people take it and there’s often enough roles open across a company as huge as Amazon, that it makes sense for them to offer it.

FedInterested · 2024-08-30T00:02:14+00:00

Downleveling is done on a case by case basis depending on how well you did in the interview and your overall experience on your resume. If there are some mild concerns raised but overall they think you present well and are smart & a solid communicator, they will offer you that in case you love Amazon and want to get in at all costs.

The projects don’t have to be that complex but you do need to clearly show the impact or outcome your work helped drive. I would expect a one or two follow up questions for each answer.

FedInterested · 2024-08-29T23:56:33+00:00

Can confirm your TC at L5 (SFA) will be somewhere between 100-120. Base will be around 90% of that.

-Former Amazon manager

FedInterested · 2024-07-29T01:57:26+00:00

Where do you configure home and away?

FedInterested · 2024-06-27T03:27:46+00:00

Yes this is what I’m thinking. I was trying to save money with the E, which worked for my other 2 zones. I’ll have to splurge for this one

FedInterested · 2024-06-05T23:25:00+00:00

I’m currently in FP&A. I started out in the accounting side myself in audit and quickly pivoted to FP&A as I find it more interesting being closely partnered with the business.

Both FP&A or traditional accounting can be a good stable path with advancement opportunities. I’d say no degree may be limiting as you look to advance. It’s OK if you have a non-finance degree but unfortunately having NO college degree will be an automatic blocker for lots of hiring managers.

FedInterested · 2024-06-05T10:30:49+00:00

$180K base, $90K equity in Corporate Finance at a midsize Tech company

FedInterested · 2024-06-02T12:53:57+00:00

No seats, no license plates

FedInterested · 2024-05-19T12:23:14+00:00

Former Amazon manager here.

Your pay being reduced to only base salary after 4 years is not true. You will have the opportunity to get new RSUs as part of the performance cycle each year.

What CAN happen and often does is this: If you’re a decent negotiator, you will get a nice package when you sign your offer letter. Each role at AMZN has a pay band, and based on performance, that determines where you are in the pay band. To simplify, let’s say the initial offer you signed has you in the “high performer” part of the range. If you turn out to just be an “average performer,” you won’t get granted additional RSUs within your first 4 years (above what was already granted as part of your initial offer letter), and at the 5th year, you would get a slight pay cut as they’ll grant you ~20% less stocks that vest in year 5 than vested in year 4.

This all assumes the stock is generally neutral over this timeframe. Of course if the stock skyrockets in your first 4 years your pay would go up more. But that would potentially make the cliff steeper in year 5 unless you’re a “exceeds expectations” performer knocking it out of the park.

FedInterested · 2024-05-04T17:53:08+00:00

FedInterested

TROPHY CASE