Amazon to reportedly cut cloud, store tech employees

Layoffs reportedly continue at Amazon.

According to internal company emails shared with Geekwire, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing unit of Amazon plans to eliminate “several hundred” positions across its sales, marketing and global services divisions and a “few hundred” roles in its physical stores technology operation.

The decision to reduce headcount in the AWS physical stores technology division follows the April 2 announcement that Amazon will remove its "Just Walk Out" frictionless, cashierless shopping technology from Amazon Fresh stores and replace them with Dash Cart smart carts.

Emails that Geekwire says AWS sent to employees the morning of Wednesday, April 3 indicate that a majority of staff reductions in the sales, marketing and global services organization are mostly in training and certification and sales operations. AWS will reportedly rely more on third-party training programs.

In the physical stores technology division, layoffs will reportedly focus on identity and checkout positions.

"We do not take these decisions lightly, and I know change can be difficult,” AWS senior VP Matt Garman wrote in an internal corporate email. “We operate in an incredibly fast-moving industry, and it is important that we stay agile as an organization. The changes we are making are preparing the organization for the future, aligning with our strategy and priorities, and reducing duplication and inefficiency."

"We’ve learned a lot through the launch of identity and checkout technologies in our large format Amazon Fresh stores, and have good customer feedback to inform our plans going forward," Dilip Kumar, VP of AWS applications, said in a separate email cited by Geekwire. "We are also expanding our identity and checkout technologies in smaller-format first-party stores, and growing our third-party locations."

"(AWS) identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement to Geekwire.

The spokesperson also said AWS continues to hire employees in other areas and that it will assist affected employees in finding other positions, both internally and externally. The cuts are global, with affected U.S. employees receiving pay and benefits for at least 60 days, outplacement job search support, and access to transitional health benefits and severance payments.

In April 2023, Amazon decided to eliminate positions in AWS in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica. More recently, the company reduced headcount at the unit responsible for its Buy with Prime service and also eliminated several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organization, as well as "just over 500 people" working on its Twitch gaming streaming platform.

Read more Geekwire coverage here.