What is up with getting down-leveled in Amazon? Background: I applied for a Senior Finance Manager role, got an interview for Finance Manager which I was fine with. The final offer was for a Senior Financial Analyst role, with the explanation that coming in as a new employee to Amazon, I'd need to learn systems, etc. and that they were hiring an internal candidate for the Manager role. As much as I hated being demoted and didn't find it 100% fair, having been in management/leadership for the last few years, this was a way to get a foot in the door at a much nicer TC than what I was getting in my last job (not in tech). Fast forward a few months later, and they are bringing in someone with less experience for a Manager role from outside of the company for a very similar role to mine (arguably a bit less complicated)...huh? Do I ask my manager about the down-leveling? Why can't I shake the feeling that this wasn't worth it? YOE: 14 TC: $165k
The silver lining here is that finance promotions are really quick, especially is you were down leveled coming in. Focus on demonstrating that you are actually are at the manager level, and if you perform well and get a little lucky you should be able to get promoted in 1 year. See if you can get an intern this summer and work on getting more management experience within Amazon. If the comp is better and you’re still learning I don’t think you made a bad choice.
Thank you, that makes me feel a little better. My manager has been supportive of a promotion within the next year, but I have been a little skeptical. Maybe I just need to have a little more faith and work towards that!
Good to hear! Amazon is definitely known to down level going in because the responsibility of an SFA is realistically comparable to FM at a smaller company. Again, silver lining, you get to exit Amazon at a higher level. So you could easily go FM to director externally, I’ve known a couple SFM’s who have gotten CFO offers
It all comes to interview performance- if you were asked to interview at FM role but offered SFA, that means your resume qualified you but you did not meet the bar. Explanation is a BS though.
OP what did you end up doing?
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Dang you shot yourself in the foot with 14 YOE, I wouldn’t have settled for anything less than a manager role.
Trust me, I was surprised at myself for accepting this when I had offers outside of tech for senior management roles. The instability that COVID was bringing was a huge factor in getting out of an industry that could tank at any moment....that being said I thought I had less of an ego than I do apparently ;)