Is Amazon a good company to work for as a Principal Software Development Engineer?

Principal Software Development Engineer professionals working at Amazon have rated their employer with 3.6 out of 5 stars in 115 Glassdoor reviews. This is a higher than average score with the overall rating of Amazon employees being 3.5 out of 5 stars. Search open Principal Software Development Engineer Jobs at Amazon now and start preparing for your job interview by browsing frequently asked Principal Software Development Engineer interview questions at Amazon .

Does Amazon pay Principal Software Development Engineer employees well?

Principal Software Development Engineer professionals rate their compensation and benefits at Amazon with 4.3 out of 5 stars based on 115 anonymously submitted employee reviews. This is 15% better than the company average rating for salary and benefits. Find out more about Principal Software Development Engineer salaries at Amazon.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Amazon?

Warehouse Associate (11105) , Warehouse Worker (6904) , Associate (6204) , Software Engineer (6132) , Area Manager (5676) , Software Development Engineer (SDE) (3496) , Fulfillment Associate (3404) , Software Development Engineer (3168) , Customer Service Representative (3041) , Program Manager (2471) , Operations Manager (2291) , Customer Service Associate (2214) , Sortation Associate (1862) , Manager (1454) , Process Assistant (1421)

What are the pros of working at Amazon according to real employee reviews?

""Pay is good but not worth the asks made from IT and how they are treated"" ((in 19455 reviews)); "Their health benefits is good and their career choice is helpful to start a new career." ((in 13203 reviews)); "A lot of information that is useful and great people to go to when you need something" ((in 7816 reviews)); "It's a very huge company all around the world and it keeps satisfying its employees with a good salary." ((in 5762 reviews)); "The work culture is good and I never felt that I was new in the company" ((in 4845 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Amazon according to real employee reviews?

"You do work bloody hard and very long hours so there is no work life balance" ((in 10076 reviews)); "You work long hours and not as many breaks as you would like or need at times" ((in 7119 reviews)); "Poor management can lead to unnecessary stress and even impact your standing within the company." ((in 6638 reviews)); "There are also bad managers that are rude and do not care about the feelings of their associates." ((in 5195 reviews)); "The company advertises peak season as the long hours and hard push but it really happens routinely throughout the year." ((in 2415 reviews))

Amazon Principal Software Development Engineer reviews

3.6

61% would recommend to a friend

(115 total reviews)

Andrew Jassy

52% approve of CEO

84% positive business outlook

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Principal Software Development Engineer employees have rated Amazon with 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 115 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Principal Software Development Engineer professionals have a good working experience there. Amazon is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Principal Software Development Engineer professionals compared to other employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

115 reviews

3.0

Jun 19, 2026

Amazon is losing its customer focus

Principal software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Wide variety of fields to work in and problems to solve.

Cons

For a long time the Leadership Principles served as a backbone for maintaining a good culture. Jassy became CEO and added a couple of low value LPs. That began the dilution in culture. Continued ratcheting down of compensation, increased team sizes, and increased top-down mandates has eroded morale.

1.0

Apr 17, 2026

Fast-paced work

Principal engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Fast pace environment, Helpful colleagues while you are there

Cons

Career growth can be limited depending on what group you joined. Nobody cares about what problems you think you want to solve if it involves you learning something. You have to already have the skills.

5.0

Feb 8, 2026

Learning Experience.

Principal software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

You get an opportunity to work on large-scale distributed systems

Cons

Work life balance. Food can be improved.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 115 Reviews

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Amazon Principal Software Development Engineer reviews

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Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Amazon is losing its customer focus

Fast-paced work

Learning Experience.

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