Amazon plans to cut 14,000 corporate staffers this year as it prepares to more widely adopt and integrate AI technology across its ecosystem, but those who lose their jobs will be prioritized for hiring efforts in other key areas. More job cuts are planned for the future, with some expecting upwards of 30,000 jobs impacted by the staffing reductions.
“We expect to continue hiring in key strategic areas while also finding additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership, and realize efficiency gains,” said Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of People Experience, in a memo to employees that the company put on its public blog.
Galetti said Amazon needs to operate more leanly to achieve CEO Andy Jassy’s vision, which sees the behemoth operating more like the world’s biggest startup, capable of adapting to changing market trends and rapidly advancing technology. “What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before,” Galetti said. “We’re convicted that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”
In 2023, 27,000 jobs were cut across its human resources department, Amazon Stores, Amazon Web Services, and other divisions, cuts which at the time were attributed to worsening global economic outlook.
