Amazon layoffs: Up to 15% of HR jobs set to be cut

They never win popularity contests and are usually the ones soullessly executing job or pay cut decisions in organisations, but this time, they’re at the receiving end, at least at Amazon.

Amazon layoffs: Details

Amazon is reportedly planning to cut up to 15% of its human resources (HR) staff, according to sources cited by Fortune. Amazon’s HR department has over 10,000 employees globally. More layoffs are expected in other departments.


The HR division, known internally as the People eXperience and Technology (PXT) team, is expected to be the worst affected.

However, the exact number of job losses and the timing of the cuts have not been disclosed.

The PXT division, led by senior vice president Beth Galetti, includes a substantial recruitment team, as well as staff in tech and traditional HR roles, the report said.

The news of these cuts immediately follows Amazon’s announcement that it will hire 250,000 workers for the upcoming holiday season across its US fulfilment and transportation networks. This figure matches its seasonal hiring numbers from the past two years, as the company prepares for a rise in demand.

While these potential cuts are significant, smaller rounds of layoffs have already been taking place over the past few months. According to Bloomberg, around 110 roles were recently eliminated in Amazon’s Wondery podcast division, which was shut down as part of a broader restructuring. Wondery’s chief executive officer, Jen Sargent, also left the company.

In July, Amazon laid off several hundred employees from its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing division. In May, 100 jobs were cut from its devices and services unit.

These layoffs come as Amazon prepares to incur capital expenditure of over $100 billion this year, largely on building out its cloud and AI data centres.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who previously oversaw the company’s largest wave of job cuts between late 2022 and 2023, involving over 27,000 corporate roles, has been vocal about the role of artificial intelligence in reshaping the company. In June, he informed staff that AI would gradually reduce the need for certain corporate roles as more tools and agents powered by AI are introduced.

In a July blog post, Jassy encouraged employees to adapt to the AI era, writing: “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.”