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Amazon is reportedly preparing to trim up to 15% of its human resources (HR) workforce, as accelerated investment in artificial intelligence and data infrastructure sees the e-commerce giant enter a new cost-cutting phase.
Multiple sources told Fortune that the company’s People eXperience and Technology (PXT) organization, Amazon’s internal HR division, will be heavily affected, though layoffs are also expected across other parts of the consumer business. The total number of employees to be laid off and the exact timing remain undisclosed.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel declined to comment on the reported plans.
PXT and recruiting teams among hardest hit
The PXT unit, led by Senior Vice President Beth Galetti, employs more than 10,000 people globally and encompasses recruiting, HR operations, and technology functions. The looming layoffs mark another chapter in CEO Andy Jassy’s ongoing effort to streamline operations after what insiders describe as years of overexpansion.
The company has already carried out smaller rounds of layoffs this year in its consumer devices arm, Wondery podcast unit, and Amazon Web Services.
It previously cut about 27,000 corporate roles between late 2022 and 2023 - the largest downsizing in its history - representing a high single-digit share of its office-based workforce.
Jassy leans on AI to drive efficiency
The latest reductions come as Amazon prepares to invest up to $100 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure over the coming year. Jassy has signaled that automation will be central to the company’s reinvention, telling staff in June that employees who embrace AI “will be well-positioned to have high impact.”
He also warned that the technology would likely lead to a smaller corporate workforce: “We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” Jassy wrote in a company-wide memo.
Under Jassy, Amazon has gained a reputation for strict performance management, including mandatory targets for “unregretted attrition”, a proportion of employees the company deems acceptable to lose. Sources told Fortune that the current round of layoffs is being discussed separately from that process.
Seasonal hiring continues amid corporate cuts
Even as corporate teams brace for job losses, Amazon has just announced plans to hire 250,000 seasonal warehouse and logistics workers for the upcoming holiday period.
