During the annual review season, Amazon is implementing a significant change in job titles for hundreds of white-collar employees at two of its subsidiaries. Starting next month, staff in product-focused roles at Ring and Blink, both part of Amazon, will no longer hold traditional titles such as "Product Manager" or "Engineer." Instead, they will all be designated under a single title: "Builder." Their managers will be referred to as "Builder Leader."
The core philosophy behind this shift was explained in an internal memo this month by the Chief Product Officer at Ring, who is overseeing the change. The memo stated that the organization is striving to become future-ready, which requires transparency and openness to change. The transition to a single job category—Builder—is part of that effort.
Under the new system, success will be measured by a simplified core question: "What is the scope and scale of value you create for customers?" This move is seen as another step by Amazon's CEO to cut corporate bureaucracy and reduce unnecessary procedures. Amazon had previously established an internal hotline for reporting excessive processes.
The term "Builder" is gaining traction in Silicon Valley, referring to employees who can independently use AI to solve complex problems—tasks that might previously have required an entire engineering team. Amazon is not alone in this trend; Meta is also testing the "AI Builder" title for certain roles, while payment company Block has begun referring to some managers as "Player-Coach."
However, this flattening of hierarchies has raised internal concerns. Some employees, speaking anonymously, expressed worry that the removal of seniority-based titles like "Senior" or "Principal" could make future promotion paths and salary negotiations less clear.
In response, an Amazon spokesperson stated that such concerns are unfounded, assuring that compensation, growth, and promotion trajectories will remain unchanged. The spokesperson emphasized that the change aims to foster an experimental culture and improve efficiency in serving customers. The goal is to simplify structure, speed up decision-making, and focus on what individuals can build rather than their formal titles.
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