Amazon Web Services Eliminates Hundreds of Roles to ‘Optimize Resources’

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is eliminating hundreds of roles in two of its organizations as it focuses on other areas.

The job cuts will impact several hundred roles in the company’s Sales, Marketing and Global Services (SMGS) organization and a few hundred in its Physical Stores Technology team, an AWS spokesperson told PYMNTS Wednesday (April 3) in an email.

At the same time, AWS continues to hire and grow in other areas of its business and will try to find internal opportunities for those whose roles are being eliminated, according to the email. AWS currently has thousands of jobs posted across the organization.

“We’ve identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact,” the spokesperson said.

The majority of the roles eliminated in the SMGS organization have to do with training, sales operations and other areas that AWS aims to streamline, the email said. In training, the company is shifting to self-serve training and AWS training partners.

With the cuts in the Physical Stores Technology team, AWS is responding to a shift in the use of some applications in Amazon’s own stores and in third-party stores, per the email.

“These decisions are difficult but necessary as we continue to invest, hire and optimize resources to deliver innovation for our customers,” the AWS spokesperson said in the email.

The role eliminations at AWS are the latest in a series of cuts made across Amazon.

It was reported on Feb. 6 that the company was cutting “a few hundred” jobs in its healthcare units One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy as it aims to reduce operating losses at One Medical.

On Jan. 19, it was reported that Amazon laid off around 30 employees in its Buy With Prime unit as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts. An Amazon spokesperson said at the time that these cuts were part of the company’s regular review and adjustments of its teams.

On Jan. 10, Amazon laid off hundreds of employees across its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organization following a year-long review of every aspect of its business.