Amazon is once again planning for a major layoff wave. The company is said to be preparing to slash up to 15 per cent of staff in its human resources division, known internally as the People eXperience and Technology (PXT) team. According to multiple sources cited by Fortune, the HR unit will be the hardest hit, though other parts of Amazon’s vast consumer business may also see job losses.
The total number of affected employees and the timing of the cuts remain unclear. The move comes just months after smaller layoffs in the company’s consumer devices group, Wondery podcast arm, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). This latest round, however, signals a deeper restructuring of how Amazon manages its workforce, particularly as it pivots toward automation and efficiency.
Leaning on AI, letting go of people
The cuts arrive as Amazon pours billions into its artificial intelligence and cloud operations. The company has committed to spending over $100 billion this year on capital investments, much of it dedicated to building next-generation data centres to power AI infrastructure for internal use and enterprise clients.
CEO Andy Jassy, who succeeded Jeff Bezos in 2021, has made it clear that this new era will be defined by AI, and that not every employee will make the transition. In a company-wide memo from June, Jassy urged staff to embrace Amazon’s AI drive, saying:
“Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company.”
But his message came with a warning. “We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” he added.
Under Jassy’s leadership, Amazon has already undergone the largest layoffs in its history, cutting around 27,000 corporate roles between 2022 and 2023. Those cuts were largely driven by post-pandemic overexpansion and changing consumer habits, but the current round is more strategic, tied to a long-term shift toward AI-driven operations.
Holiday hires, human exits
The irony isn’t lost on anyone: while Amazon prepares to let go of white-collar workers, it’s simultaneously ramping up its holiday hiring spree. The company recently announced plans to hire 2,50,000 seasonal employees across its US warehouses and logistics network to handle festive demand.
Inside the company, Jassy has built a reputation as a cost disciplinarian. He’s known for pushing teams to achieve a certain level of “unregretted attrition”, employees the company is comfortable losing, whether through resignations or managed exits. But insiders say these impending cuts differ from the routine attrition cycles, hinting at a broader structural reshuffle.
As Amazon races to become more efficient and AI-focused, its people operations may become one of the biggest casualties of its own transformation. For many inside the PXT division, the writing may already be on the (data-centre) wall.
