BIE Interview Prep

At Amazon, our goal is to be the world’s most customer-centric company by delivering innovative products, services, and ideas. The Business Intelligence Engineer (BIE) interview is designed to identify candidates who have the technical proficiency, behavioral skills, and cultural fit required to help us achieve this mission.

What does a BIE do at Amazon?

  • Our BIEs build out a variety of analytics. As a BIE, you’ll define key performance indicators (KPIs), automate data pipelines, and create reports, dashboards, and visualizations.
  • Our BIEs understand statistics, data warehousing, and Extract, Transform, and Load, (ETL), and they are proficient in SQL.
  • Our BIEs are able to work with ambiguous data, using advanced SQL and scripting to come up with answers that may not be immediately obvious.
  • Our BIEs are able to translate between business needs and data, and are able to create actionable insights for their stakeholders.
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The process

To be considered for a BIE role, you must first submit an application and complete the online assessment. If you meet the basic qualifications, you may be invited to one or more technical phone screenings, depending on the team and role. Some candidates may move directly to the interview loop without a phone screening.

  • Job Application

  • Online Assessment

  • Technical Phone Screening

  • Technical Phone Screening Outcome

  • Interview Loop

  • Interview Outcome (within 5 business days)

Online assessment

You’ll receive your unique link to the Online Assessment (OA) after submitting your application for an open BIE role, or you’ll receive the link directly from your recruiter.

You’ll have seven days to complete the assessment from the date it’s sent. Within two business days of completion, you’ll be notified whether you’ll move forward in the hiring process. If not, you’re encouraged to practice and reapply in six months.

The BIE OA includes three parts: SQL Challenge, Working with SQL, and Work Styles, plus an optional survey at the end. You must complete all required sections to successfully submit your assessment.

Depending on the role, requirements, and your OA results, your next step will be either a technical phone screening or an interview loop.

  • SQL Challenge

  • Working with SQL

  • Work Styles

Technical phone screening

Depending on the role, there will be one to two technical phone screenings. A technical phone screening lasts 60 minutes and is with a senior leader on our team. The interviewer will ask you behavioral/situational and technical questions.

Interview loop

Your loop will include five 55-minute interviews where you’ll meet with members of our business intelligence community.

You’ll have the chance to discuss your experiences and expertise in several areas that help us determine success at Amazon.

These areas include both technical competencies and non-technical competencies that are based off of our Leadership Principles, which different interviewers will be assigned to evaluate.

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Technical competencies

Video resources

Behavioral interview

A significant portion of the conversation will focus on how you’ve demonstrated our Leadership Principles in your past jobs. This is because past behavior is an indicator of future success. We won’t ask brain teasers. Instead, we’ll focus on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of your experiences, as well as the ‘why’ of your decisions.

Each interviewer will typically ask two or three behavioral-based questions about successes or challenges and how you handled them using our Leadership Principles.

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Learn more about interviewing at Amazon

How to prepare

First, think about your most memorable experiences in your previous jobs and recall specific details. Amazon is a data-driven company, so your answers should include metrics or data where applicable. Then, consider how you applied the Leadership Principles in your experiences.

Have examples that showcase your expertise and demonstrate how you’ve taken risks, succeeded, failed and grown. Make sure your answers are well-structured. Use the STAR method to frame your responses.