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Home / Compensation / Amazon / Engineering Manager
Total compensation for a Amazon Engineering Manager ranges from about $230K at the entry level to $1.6M+ at the most senior bands, with a typical mid-level package around $620K. Below is the full breakdown by level - base salary, annual equity, and bonus - from public-source data.
Public-source estimates (Beta). Last updated 2026-05. Figures are annualized USD.
| Level | Years | Base (p50) | Equity/yr (p50) | Bonus (p50) | Total (p25-p90) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDM ISoftware Development Manager I | 5-9 YOE | $175K | $75K | $35K | $230K - $400K |
| SDM IISenior Software Development Manager | 8-13 YOE | $185K | $165K | $50K | $320K - $640K |
| Principal EMPrincipal Engineering Manager | 12-18 YOE | $185K | $350K | $85K | $480K - $1.0M |
| DirectorDirector of Engineering | 16+ YOE | $185K | $605K | $115K | $700K - $1.6M |
First-line manager (L6 in Amazon's level scheme). Typically manages 4-8 SDEs. Sign-on amortized over Year 1+2.
Senior manager (L7). Most-common external manager hire level. Manages 1-2 teams.
Principal manager (L8). Manages multiple teams or a critical org. Comparable scope to Principal SDE.
Director (L10). Org leader. Equity grants and refresh dominate; base remains capped.
Amazon's $185K base salary cap applies to managers as well. Sign-on bonuses backfill the back-loaded 5/15/40/40 RSU vesting schedule. SDM I is the entry manager level (typically promoted from SDE II); external manager hires almost always come in at SDM II or higher.
7 rounds. 6 of them can be practised here - each one below links the rep that trains it.
Recruiter screen
30 minutes. Scope of teams managed, level calibration, and an introduction to the Leadership Principles.
Phone screen
45-60 minutes with a manager. Leadership Principle questions and often a technical or design discussion.
Free rep: Coding challenges with a real sandbox →Onsite: Leadership / people management
60 minutes. Hire and Develop the Best, handling underperformance, building teams. Deep follow-ups on each story.
Free rep: STAR answers: Hire and Develop the Best (Amazon Leadership Principle) →Onsite: System design
60 minutes. Design a service that solves a business problem, with Leadership Principle questions alongside. Operational concerns (monitoring, on-call, failure modes) matter.
Free rep: Design walkthrough: Design a Notifications / Pub-Sub System (Kafka / SNS / SQS) →Onsite: Technical / coding (loop-dependent)
60 minutes where included. A coding or technical-depth round plus principle questions. Many SDM loops include one.
Free rep: Coding challenges with a real sandbox →Onsite: Delivery and execution
60 minutes. Deliver Results, Ownership, Bias for Action - projects that slipped, trade-offs you made, and how you got them back on track.
Free rep: STAR answers: Deliver Results (Amazon Leadership Principle) →Onsite: Bar Raiser
60 minutes. Cross-team interviewer focused on raising the bar. Probes hardest on principles and on the consistency of your stories.
Free rep: STAR answers: Ownership (Amazon Leadership Principle) →The full Amazon prep pack → what they value, topic emphasis, and the questions candidates ask.
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