Last updated: 08/17/2021 at 06:55 PM PT
Recently, I was contacted by an Amazon recruiter for a learning experience designer position. I did what any prudent instructional designer (who is not yet working in big tech) would do…I did a happy dance!
I had applied to a couple of positions at Amazon; but surprisingly, the recruiter was calling me about a position for which I hadn’t applied. Therefore, I assume that Amazon recruiters crawl their own database for candidates who apply to similar positions.
Compensation model
I chatted with the Amazon recruiter to learn more about the position and their hiring process. For a non-senior or regular Learning Experience Designer at Amazon, the total compensation was capped at $120,000 for the New York City market. Compensation varies by geographical market based on the cost of living.
Although $120k might sound decent for a non-entrepreneurial learning designer, I was well aware of their reputation for having a 60-80 hour work week. This wasn’t the right opportunity for me at this time… but this article’s for you, so back to the juicy news…
Here is how Amazon compensation works for learning designers:
Total compensation: $120k
Base salary: $80-$90k
Sign-on Bonus: $38k (prorated over the span of 24 months)
Stocks (or technically RSUs: Remaining compensation will be vested in stocks.
What’s so special about Amazon’s compensation model?
It’s quite unprecedented for instructional designers (IDs) to receive stock from an employer as they are typically reserved for software engineers and executives. When stocks are offered to IDs, it is usually at startups where stocks cannot be sold before the company’s initial public offering (IPO).
What’s a vesting period?
For the non-tech people out there, a vesting period is how long it takes an asset (in this case the value of Amazon stock) to be yours.
Vesting period for Amazon stock: 5% first year, 15% second year, 40% third year, 40% fourth year.
5% of your RSUs vest when you hit the end of your first year. An additional 15% vest when you hit the end of your second year. Then 20% of your RSUs vest every 6 months thereafter until your fourth year anniversary.
How do I get hired?
After learning about the compensation, you may wonder what the hiring process looks like. From my phone call with the recruiter, I learned that the entire hiring process takes about 4-6 weeks, sometimes longer.
- Recruiter call: The Amazon recruiter reaches out to you (the candidate), asks about your career journey and a couple of interview questions such as: How do you work with subject matter experts? Then, the recruiter passes your information and responses to the hiring manager to see if the hiring manager would like to conduct a phone screen with you.
- Cultural assessment: You receive a cultural assessment survey which is similar to a personality test (facilitated by the Manpower Group). This step doesn’t necessarily come before the phone screen if a recruiter thinks that the hiring manager would want to chat with you.
- Hiring manager interview: Hiring manager conducts a phone screen and asks you 2-4 behavioral interview questions. Before your call, it’s very important to study the 16 Amazon Leadership Principles!
- Onsite interview loop: You arrive onsite for your 5 to 6 hour in-person interview! You spend each hour with a different interviewer. Each interviewer will ask you 1-2 scripted questions related to the leadership principles. Then, you have a choice of either presenting your portfolio or taking an exam*.
- Amazon decides whether or not to hire you.
So, that’s it! I’ve shared everything that I discovered about Amazon’s hiring process and hiring range for learning designers. If you would like more articles like this, or the salary ranges I am privy to for other companies (like Riot Games), let me know in the comments below!
- Note: Please note that step #4 may have slightly different processes for Learning Experience Designers versus Instructional Designers (Amazon differentiates these roles). According to our insider sources, Instructional designers might not have to present their portfolio or take an exam, but we are told that Learning Experience Designer do.
References
Breeandstephan (2019). [Model (Austin Distel) holding a smart phone displaying the stock price of Amazon at $1,672.60 in front of blurred background] [Photograph] Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/nGc5RT2HmF0?like_photo=true
I also interviewed there but my salary requirement was too hard for for what they were willing to pay. I see this problem again and again where ID or LXD salaries are capped compare to other tech related jobs.
Hi Saeyong! Thanks for you comment. I agree that when salaries are broken down into hourly rates at places like Amazon or big-name gaming companies, they can be far less desirable, especially under the pressure of their sprint cycles.
I really like the kind of compensation data that Blind and levels.fyi (just learned about this one today from a team member) provide on compensation for software engineers and wish there was something similar for learning designers…. maybe there will be in the future! ; )
As a former Amazon Instructional Designer, I can tell you the numbers you provided here are not the same across the company and vary by geographical location. Glassdoor has some accurate insights on this distribution. It would be more helpful to call this “How much do Amazon Learning Designers make in NYC?”
Thanks for the comment and question! One of the problems I see in looking at income ranges on LinkedIn salary and similar sites, is that the ceiling is often under represented. Admittedly, I have a bias towards the ceiling, as this figure influences how I benchmark opportunities, negotiate offers, and evaluate potential salary growth at companies.
The figure provided in the article was the ceiling provided to me by the Amazon recruiter for the specific “Learning Experience Designer” position in NYC. Unfortunately our team doesn’t currently have enough first-hand data points to provide specifics for various markets, but we love your idea of providing more ranges. This is a great research topic that our team plans to explore in subsequent articles!