Amazon has updated its role guideline for software development engineers. The change reflects how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way the company’s engineers write code.
The update was shared on October 27, 2026, by Terk Terkowitz, a vice president and distinguished engineer for Worldwide Amazon Stores. It included a memo sent to software engineers across the company.
Senior engineering leaders, including Distinguished and Senior Principal Engineers, worked on the new guideline together. They based it on what they learned from the company’s most successful engineers.
Focus on Outcomes, Not Tools
Amazon has long avoided naming specific technologies in its engineer role guidelines. The memo says this approach held through two decades of changes such as cloud computing, microservices, and serverless systems.
Leaders debated whether AI was different. The memo says AI is changing software engineering “more quickly and more fundamentally” than past trends.
Still, the company chose not to define AI practices in the guideline. The memo says any definition written now “will likely look antiquated by this time next year.”
Instead, the guideline focuses on what is not changing. That means impact on customers, the business, and teams.
Terkowitz described this period as the era of the “Renaissance Developer.” He said engineers now blend AI tools with human judgment and domain expertise.
How Amazon Measures AI Use
The memo openly discusses how the company tracks AI adoption. Some teams use input metrics like token usage, AI tool adoption, code changes, and reviews.
Amazon called these metrics “deeply flawed” because they are disconnected from real results. The memo warned that “tokenmaxxing is at odds with frugality,” one of the company’s leadership principles.
However, the company said these input metrics currently correlate well with useful outputs. Teams that have embraced AI the most, called frontier teams, are seeing higher productivity and delivery.
The memo also said teams not adopting AI are falling behind. Leaders were told to study the 10th and 90th percentiles of AI adoption to understand what is and is not working.
Engineers whose work does not benefit from current AI tools were told this is “a finding, not a failing.” They are asked to document why and share it with peers and managers.
Leaders are expected to use AI tools on real production work. They should be able to describe one task where the tools helped and one where they did not.
The memo also called for engineers and managers to stay closer to customers. It said some staff have become less connected to the business as Amazon has grown.
Amazon said it will keep evolving the engineer role as AI’s effect on its business becomes clearer. The memo ended by stating that obsession with customers and a long-term focus on delivering results remain what matters most.
