About to start at Amazon in some time. 3 yoe. 200k TC offered. Some general guidelines will be really appreciated, like how much do leadership principles matter here?
At L6 you need to deliver on your stuff well AND make others around you better. As a litmus test, how many people stop by your desk randomly to ask questions? How many design reviews are you a critical reviewer for? Does your manager trust you to lead a project with multiple SDEs? That is the primary difference between a strong SDE2 and a SDE3.
Politics, ass kissing, and of course hard work
Leadership principles matters here a lot. Just an advice: before starting journey towards L6, spend initial 6 months to prove your worth and earn your manager's trust. During this time understand the game and what strenths you want to play on.