As Amazon has grown over the years, it’s always been important to us to call the city of Seattle our home. We moved into South Lake Union more than ten years ago and we’re more excited than ever to be a part of this vibrant landscape.

Our urban campus spans into central Seattle and our employees love being in the heart of the city. With museums, great local food, shopping and more just a walk – or bike ride – away, working at Amazon means always having the best Seattle has to offer right at your fingertips. In 2013, we added 39,000 square metres of new headquarter space in Seattle and started work on four city blocks and several million square metres of new buildings. We could have saved money by building in the suburbs, but for us, it was important to stay in the city. Urban campuses are much greener. Our employees are able to take advantage of existing communities and public transport and are consequently less dependant on cars. We’re investing in dedicated bike lanes to provide safe, pollution-free, easy access to our offices. Many of our employees live nearby, skip the commute altogether and walk to work.

Campus amenities

Over 40 office buildings make up our Seattle headquarters and each building represents a part of Amazon’s history. Throughout our headquarters, there are mother’s rooms, prayer rooms, locker rooms, phone booths (for a bit of quiet space), roof decks with barbecues, game rooms and more. Almost all buildings have a dedicated IT team, along with IT vending machines for quick tech needs. Some of our buildings even have things like desks made from doors (a practice started by Jeff Bezos himself), whiteboards in the lifts and rooftop dog parks. No matter which building you work in, you will find everything you need to succeed.

Employee life

This is a community campus and there are many opportunities for our employees to meet. With company events, volunteer opportunities, concerts, happy hours and more, it’s easy to get to know fellow Amazonians. We are also proud to support several affinity groups such as Glamazon (our LGBTQ group), Women in Engineering and Warriors@Amazon (for military veterans and their families), which showcase our diverse perspectives. To learn more about these groups and the events they host, visit our diversity page.

The ways you work at Amazon are just as diverse as the people you work with. Some employees work from home to get the work-life balance they need. We’ve also created community-oriented workspaces without desks to give our employees flexibility. You can pull up a chair, use a standing desk or join a video call using Alexa: everyone can find the way that works best for them.

Community involvement

Our campus is so integrated into the city that customers can take guided tours of our office spaces. We also offer a free, self-guided audio tour of our headquarters and members of the public can book to visit The Spheres. We have a community dog park that is open to our neighbours, and when the weather is nice, we host a weekly farmers’ market outside The Spheres.

At Amazon, giving back to the communities in which our employees live and work is in our DNA. In Seattle, we pledged to provide Mary’s Place - a non-profit-making organisation that houses homeless families - with permanent shelter space within our newest office building by 2020.

We also donated a 2323m² space to FareStart, a non-profit-making culinary training and employment placement programme that empowers people to find higher-paying career opportunities within the food service industry. In this space, the organisation opened five new restaurants and expects to double the number of graduate lives it transforms over the next 10 years.

Learn more about Amazon’s community engagement.

Fun Facts:

• Amazon’s first dog on campus was a Welsh Corgi named Rufus who “launched” most, if not all, of our early web pages. Early team members would hold Rufus’s paw and use it to press down on the mouse.
• Amazon is the largest private employer in Seattle.
• Biophilia – the idea that humans want to feel more connected to nature – inspired our newest buildings, The Spheres, which are an extension of our workspace.
• Audible, the audio book arm of Amazon, has created self-guided audio tours of a number of our offices.
• Each of our 30+ buildings is named and themed after a piece of Amazon’s culture, history or technology. For example, Fiona was the original code name for Kindle before it launched to customers. The Fiona building houses a collection of every version of the Kindle.

About the city

People visit Seattle for attractions like the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and the Great Wheel, but the city has so much more to offer residents. With local businesses, dining options and apartments all within walking distance, many of our employees work and live in the city centre.

There is a lot to explore, with a vibrant arts and theatre community, acres of public parks, museums, several professional sports teams and different outdoor activities for all seasons – like going on a day trip to hike Mount Rainier.

Did you know?

• Seattle has a long musical history. Jazz ruled the city from 1918 to 1951, grunge music has its origins here and Jimi Hendrix, Kenny G and Sir Mix-a-Lot were all born in the city.
• Seattle has a diverse and rich food culture, including seafood, locally sourced produce, award-winning wines and the beer-brewing traditions of the Pacific North-West.
• The Seattle Cinerama – a cinema that’s over 50 years old – is one of only three cinemas in the world that can still show three-panel Cinerama films.
• If you love coffee, this is the city for you. Seattle has more coffee shops per capita than any other city in the USA.

Getting around

We are located about 15 miles from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which means that visitors can drive or take the Link Light Rail train directly to our central Seattle campus.

One of the great benefits of having a campus that’s fully integrated into the city is access to public transport. Our employees have a range of commuting options and more than half of our employees do not drive to work – many walk, cycle, take public transport or share lifts. For those who live a bit further out, Seattle is serviced by the Sound Transit train lines, Seattle Streetcars (tram line) and the Seattle Center Monorail. King County Metro Transit runs bus services to outlying neighbourhoods in King County. We’re also continuing to expand our transport options for all city residents as well as Amazon employees, with the purchase and funding of a fourth Seattle Streetcar (tram).

Cycling is a big part of life in Seattle and for Amazonians. According to an employee survey, more than 70% of Amazon employees live in the city of Seattle, so cycling is a popular option. Our campus has always been bike- and environmentally friendly, with large garages specifically for bikes, scooters and motorcycles. We’re also investing in a dedicated two-way cycle track to separate bikes from traffic.

Seattle campus map