Amazon SysDev II (L5) – Rejected (Full Timeline + Prep + LP Strategy)

I want to share my recent experience interviewing at Amazon and here's my story.

🧑‍💻 Position: Systems Development Engineer II (L5) 📍 Location: Nashville, TN, USA 📅 Timeline: Interviewed in June 2025 🎯 Outcome: Rejected – No offer, no down-level (L4 not open)

👤 About Me:

• 2.5 years of experience in backend infrastructure, process automation, and mobile development
• Graduated with a Master's (MS) in Information Systems (2024)
• Actively job hunting
• Strong grasp of Data Structures, Algorithms, and System Design
• Previously interviewed at Amazon, USA (SDE I – AUTA) in October 2024 — rejected post final round

🗓️ Timeline:

• May 22 – Applied online (no referral)
• May 27 – Online Assessment
  • Two medium-level coding problems (string manipulation & JSON parsing)
  • Not available on LeetCode or any common prep platform
• May 29 – Phone Screen invite received
• June 9 – Phone Screen (Round 0)
  • 1-hour technical interview
• June 10 – Received onsite loop invite (5 rounds total across 2 days)
• June 13 – HR Prep Call
  • 40-minute phone call
  • Focused on Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles, interview expectations, and company culture
• June 25 – Optional “Candid Chat”
  • I opted in to speak with a random Amazonian to ask about their experience
  • 1-hour video call with a Technical Account Manager – purely conversational
• June 26 – Onsite Loop Day 1
  • Round 1 & Round 2
• June 27 – Onsite Loop Day 2
  • Round 3, Round 4 & Round 5
• July 2 – Final HR Call
  • I was not selected for L5
  • Panel considered down-leveling to L4, but no open headcount
  • Universal 5–6 month cooldown period across roles
  • HR mentioned this isn’t strictly enforced — may be contacted earlier if a fit opens up

🧪 Round Analysis:

Overall, the process was Leadership Principle (LP)-heavy — I was asked 22 LPs (15 unique), each with follow-ups. Coding, HLD, and LLD played a smaller role.

🔹 Round 0 (Phone Screen) – SysDev L6 (20+ yrs @ Amazon)

• Intro: 5 mins
• Coding: Encode/Decode a blob-like object – completed in under 20 mins
• LPs: 5 asked in-depth (~20 mins)
• Wrap-up: Asked 2 questions about role and culture

🔹 Round 1 – SysDev L5 (8 yrs @ Amazon)

• LPs: 4 total (~40 mins)
• Tech Scenarios:
  • Blue-Green Deployment (asked for clarification, then nailed it with edge cases)
  • Incident Response

✅ Answered both scenarios with step-by-step breakdowns ⚠️ At this point, I started to feel this role leaned more towards infra than my core SDE strengths.

🔹 Round 2 – Same Interviewer as Round 0

• Coding: Extended version of the same encode/decode problem – solved perfectly
• LPs: 2 discussed briefly

🔹 Round 3 (Bar Raiser) – IT Manager (10 yrs @ Amazon, Hardware focus)

• Intro: 10–15 mins on career journey, reflections, and motivations
• LPs: 4 asked with deep follow-ups (~8–10 mins each)
• Wrap-up: Asked expectations from an L5; they listed 3–4 LPs and said I aligned well

💬 Implied I passed the bar

🔹 Round 4 – SysDev (4 yrs @ Amazon)

• LPs: 4 asked (~10–15 mins each) with deeper dives into tech stack, API design decisions, and architectural trade-offs

🔹 Round 5 – SysDev Manager (12 yrs @ Amazon)

• Intro: 5 mins
• LPs: 3 asked, moderate follow-up (~7–8 mins each)
• HLD (Verbal):
  • Design a company-wide dashboarding system with site-level and master views
  • Asked clarifying questions, proposed real-world analogy with Amazon FCs and scanners
  • Discussed edge cases like scanner failures, partial data, etc.
  • Interviewer validated the thought process

💭 Takeaways

While I was naturally disappointed with the outcome, I had already sensed after Round 1 that this wasn’t my ideal fit — so I went stress-free into the later rounds and still gave my best.

Advice to future candidates: Don’t stress out. Amazon interviews are long and mentally exhausting — they’re meant to test your consistency and clarity. ✅ Take pauses before answering if needed — interviewers are understanding and know it’s a marathon. ✅ Prepare LPs well. If you can communicate structured, authentic stories, it truly makes a difference.