Amazon’s recent restructuring drive has triggered one of the biggest workforce reductions in the company’s history, with engineering teams bearing a substantial share of the impact, according to state labour disclosures.

The tech giant confirmed more than 14,000 job cuts in October 2025, a round that touched nearly every segment of its operations — spanning cloud computing, retail, devices, advertising, and its grocery business.

Public filings submitted in states such as New York, California, New Jersey, and Washington highlight the extent of the engineering losses.

CNBC, citing data Amazon listed in its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings, reported that close to 40% of the 4,700-plus layoffs recorded in these states involved engineering roles.

However, the actual number is likely higher, as states differ in how they disclose job reductions. The sweeping cuts follow Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s ongoing push to reshape the company’s internal culture and streamline decision-making.

The report also noted that another phase of layoffs is expected in January 2026.

Amazon has maintained that artificial intelligence was not the primary reason for the October cuts, explaining that the restructuring focused on trimming management layers and accelerating the company’s pace of execution. Even so, the organisation’s increasing emphasis on AI is already influencing its workforce strategy. Jassy told investors in June that white-collar roles would probably shrink as AI systems enhance productivity.

The urgency to innovate more quickly was echoed in a memo from Beth Galetti, Amazon’s human resources chief, who informed employees about the layoffs.

“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet, and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before,” Galetti wrote.

She continued, “We're convinced that we need to be organised more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”

WARN filings show that engineering cuts spanned multiple levels but disproportionately affected SDE II staff — the company’s mid-level software developers.

More than 500 product managers and programme managers were also laid off across states that filed notices, accounting for over 10% of recorded job losses. Senior managers and principal-level employees were among those included in the reductions as well.