Principal UX Designer, Amazon Advertiser UX

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Principal UX Designer, Amazon Advertiser UX Company: Amazon Location: Seattle, Washington, United States / New York, New York, United States Job Type: Full-time Category: User Experience (UX) Design / Product Design Date Posted: October 2, 2025 Experience Level: 10+ Years Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead end-to-end design innovation for Amazon Advertiser UX, focusing on campaign planning, management, and reporting experiences.
• Drive user-centered design decisions by leveraging market analysis, customer feedback, user research, and technical insights.
• Translate complex technical requirements and abstract concepts into intuitive, elegant, and user-friendly interfaces.
• Collaborate closely with product management, engineering, and other design teams to deliver transformative product initiatives.
• Mentor junior design talent and contribute to the strategic direction of the Demand Tech UX team.

📝 Enhancement Note: While this role is in UX Design, its focus on advertiser tools, campaign management, and reporting within the Amazon Ads ecosystem places it at a critical intersection with Revenue Operations and GTM strategy. The ability to simplify complex workflows and drive data-informed decisions directly impacts advertiser efficiency and, by extension, Amazon's advertising revenue. The emphasis on "transformative ideas" and "revolutionizing experiences" suggests a need for strategic thinking beyond pure aesthetics, aligning with operations' goal of optimizing processes for business outcomes.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own the User Experience (UX) for emerging features and critical workflows within Amazon Advertiser platforms, ensuring significant impact across Amazon's advertising business.
• Conduct comprehensive user research, analyze market trends, gather customer feedback, and evaluate technical constraints/opportunities to inform user-centered design strategies.
• Develop and present detailed user flows, wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototypes to effectively communicate design concepts and product initiatives.
• Distill intricate and complex advertising workflows into intuitive, elegant, and highly usable user interfaces.
• Establish and meticulously maintain detailed UI patterns, design specifications, and style guides, working in close partnership with development teams throughout the design lifecycle to ensure successful deployment.
• Articulate complex, interactive design concepts clearly, persuasively, and adaptably to diverse audiences, including executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Foster strong collaborative relationships with other product and design teams across the broader Amazon organization to ensure cohesive user experiences and leverage shared insights.
• Actively mentor and guide emerging design talent, fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development within the team.
• Design and prototype user experiences using industry-standard tools, with a specific emphasis on Figma.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibility to "Own the UX of emerging experiences with impact across Amazon" and "Establish and maintain detailed user-interface patterns and specifications" highlights a need for strong process ownership and documentation, akin to operations roles. The emphasis on "simplifying complex processes" and "communicating complex, interactive design concepts" directly relates to the operational efficiency and clarity that operations professionals strive to achieve.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in UX design, with a focus on product design and lifecycle management from strategy to execution.
• Demonstrated experience in designing and prototyping with tools such as Figma.
• Proven track record of leading end-to-end design projects and delivering impactful user experiences.
• Experience in considering market analysis, customer feedback, user research, and technical constraints to create user-centered designs.

Required Skills:

• Deep expertise in User Interface (UI) Design, Information Architecture (IA), and Interaction Design best practices.
• Proficiency in creating user flows, wireframes, design mockups, and interactive prototypes.
• Strong understanding of user-centered design principles and methodologies.
• Exceptional ability to translate complex technical requirements and abstract concepts into intuitive and elegant user experiences.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions and rationale to diverse audiences.
• Experience working collaboratively with cross-functional teams, including product managers and engineers.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and guide other designers.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience providing and effectively communicating strategic and tactical recommendations based on data and user research.
• Familiarity with AI and machine learning concepts and their application in enhancing user interactions.
• Experience designing for complex, large-scale technological environments.
• A strong portfolio showcasing innovative design leadership and a deep understanding of web technologies.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, iterative design environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Preferred Qualifications" regarding data-driven recommendations and strategic/tactical communication are crucial for operations-minded candidates. This signals that success in this role requires not just design execution but also the ability to influence strategy through analytical insights, a core competency in Revenue and Sales Operations.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio demonstrating a strong track record of innovative design leadership and end-to-end product design lifecycle execution.
• Case studies that clearly articulate the design process, from initial problem definition and user research through ideation, prototyping, and final implementation.
• Examples showcasing the simplification of complex workflows and the creation of intuitive user interfaces for intricate systems.
• Demonstrations of how data, user research, and customer feedback were integrated into design decisions to achieve measurable outcomes.
• Prototypes or live examples of user experiences designed with tools such as Figma.

Process Documentation:

• Evidence of establishing and maintaining detailed UI patterns, design specifications, and style guides.
• Examples of how design concepts were translated into development-ready specifications, ensuring clear communication with engineering teams.
• Documentation that illustrates the process of iterating on designs based on feedback from stakeholders, developers, and user testing.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Principal level role, the portfolio must go beyond visual design to demonstrate strategic thinking, process optimization, and data-driven decision-making. Operations professionals often build portfolios around process improvement initiatives, ROI calculations, and system implementations. This UX role requires a similar approach, emphasizing how design choices lead to improved advertiser efficiency, campaign performance, and ultimately, revenue.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Seattle, Washington: $172,200 - $287,000 USD per year
• New York, New York: $185,000 - $307,000 USD per year

Note on Salary: Amazon's compensation reflects the cost of labor across various US geographic markets. The provided ranges are estimates based on the stated minimum and maximum base pay ($147,600 - $244,000) and adjusted for the higher cost of living in Seattle and New York, respectively. Actual pay is determined by factors including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Benefits:

• Total Compensation: Includes base pay, equity, potential sign-on payments, and other forms of compensation.
• Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical benefits.
• Financial: Financial planning resources and benefits.
• Retirement: Retirement savings plans.
• Paid Time Off: Generous paid time off and holidays.
• Employee Discount: Amazon Employee Discount.
• Professional Development: Opportunities for continuous learning and skill enhancement.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours are typically 40 hours per week.
• While on-site, there may be flexibility to manage work schedules to accommodate design sprints, team collaborations, and critical project deadlines, consistent with Amazon's overall approach to work-life balance for its employees.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges provided are adjusted for the specified locations of Seattle and New York, reflecting higher costs of living and market rates for Principal-level roles in these metropolitan areas. The base range of $147,600 - $244,000 is a starting point for estimation. The inclusion of "Equity" and "Sign-On Payments" indicates a comprehensive total compensation package common for senior roles at large tech companies.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: E-commerce, Cloud Computing, Digital Advertising, Technology Company Size: Large Enterprise (1,000+ employees) Founded: 1994 Company Description: Amazon is a global technology company focused on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It is known for its customer obsession, innovation, and vast operational scale. The Advertiser UX team operates within Amazon's rapidly growing advertising division, aiming to provide advertisers with intuitive tools to manage and optimize their campaigns.

Team Structure:

• The Demand Tech UX team is part of the larger Amazon Ads organization.
• It operates as a strategic design center, envisioning and delivering user experiences for advertisers.
• The team likely comprises UX Designers, Product Managers, Researchers, and collaborates closely with Engineering and Data Science teams.
• Reporting structure likely involves a design lead or director within the Demand Tech organization.

Methodology:

• Customer Obsession: Designs are driven by deep understanding of advertiser needs and pain points.
• Data-Driven Decisions: User research, analytics, and performance metrics heavily influence design choices and iteration.
• Intentional Craftsmanship: A focus on creating high-quality, scalable, and elegant solutions.
• Swift, Thoughtful Execution: Balancing speed with careful consideration in design and development.
• Continuous Refinement: Iterative design and development processes to optimize user experiences.
• Cross-Organizational Collaboration: Working closely with multiple teams to ensure cohesive platform experiences.

Company Website: https://www.amazon.com

📝 Enhancement Note: Amazon's culture of "Customer Obsession" and "Data-Driven Decisions" directly aligns with the operational principles of optimizing processes for user success. The Demand Tech UX team's mission to "transform complexity into clarity" is a core objective for any operations function looking to streamline workflows and improve efficiency.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Principal UX Designer Reporting Structure: This role reports to a design leader within the Demand Tech UX team, which is part of Amazon's broader advertising technology division. The Principal UX Designer will work cross-functionally with Product Management, Engineering, and other UX/Design teams.

Operations Impact: While not a traditional operations role, the impact of this Principal UX Designer is significant for revenue operations. By creating intuitive and efficient tools for advertisers, this role directly influences:

• Advertiser Adoption and Retention: Easier-to-use tools lead to higher advertiser satisfaction and reduced churn.
• Campaign Performance: Streamlined planning and management allow advertisers to optimize campaigns more effectively, leading to better ROI and potentially increased ad spend.
• Operational Efficiency for Advertisers: Reducing the time and effort advertisers spend on campaign management frees them to focus on strategy and creativity, indirectly boosting the effectiveness of the advertising ecosystem.
• Internal Operations: Clearer UI and workflows can also reduce support inquiries and training needs for advertisers, thereby improving the operational efficiency of Amazon's own advertising support teams.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in Design: Opportunity to shape the future of advertiser experiences at Amazon and influence product strategy.
• Mentorship & Skill Development: Formal mentorship opportunities and the chance to grow leadership skills by guiding junior talent.
• Specialization: Deepen expertise in advertising technology, AI-driven design, and large-scale platform development.
• Cross-functional Exposure: Gain extensive experience collaborating with diverse teams across Amazon, expanding understanding of different business functions and operational challenges.
• Career Progression: Potential to move into Senior Principal, Design Management, or broader Product Strategy roles within Amazon.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Operations Impact" section is tailored to show how a UX Design role contributes to revenue generation and operational efficiency, drawing parallels to the goals of GTM and RevOps professionals. This framing can appeal to candidates who want to see the business impact of their design work.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is an on-site role, requiring regular presence in the Amazon office. Amazon offices are typically modern, collaborative workspaces designed to foster innovation and teamwork. Office Location(s): Seattle, Washington, and New York, New York. These are major tech hubs with access to extensive talent pools and industry networks.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: Expect an environment that encourages open communication, brainstorming, and cross-functional team interactions.
• Tooling & Technology: Access to best-in-class design and collaboration tools, including Figma, and other Amazon-specific internal systems.
• Team Interaction: Daily interaction with product managers, engineers, researchers, and fellow designers, facilitating a dynamic design process.
• Fast-Paced Culture: Amazon is known for its fast-paced and innovative work environment, requiring adaptability and a proactive approach.

Work Schedule:

• The role is full-time, typically 40 hours per week.
• While on-site, there's an expectation of flexibility to attend critical meetings, participate in design sprints, and meet project deadlines, which may occasionally require adjusting work hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: The description emphasizes the collaborative and fast-paced nature of Amazon's work environment, which is typical for large tech companies. For operations professionals, understanding this dynamic is key to assessing cultural fit and the pace at which process improvements and system implementations are expected.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter will review your application and resume, potentially conducting a brief initial phone screen.
• Portfolio Review: Candidates are expected to present a portfolio that showcases their design leadership, process, and impact. This is often a crucial step.
• Design/Technical Interviews: Expect interviews with design managers, senior designers, and potentially product managers. These will involve discussing your portfolio in depth, problem-solving scenarios, and design challenges.
• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with engineers and product managers to assess collaboration skills and understanding of technical constraints.
• Leadership Principles Interview: A significant part of the Amazon interview process involves assessing candidates against Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles through behavioral questions.
• Final Round: May involve a panel interview or a final discussion with senior leadership.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Clearly articulate the business impact and user value of your design solutions, not just the aesthetics. Quantify results where possible (e.g., increased conversion rates, reduced task completion time).
• Showcase Process: Detail your design thinking, research methodologies, and iteration process. Explain why you made certain design decisions.
• Simplify Complexity: Highlight examples where you successfully simplified complex workflows, especially those relevant to advertising or business operations.
• Demonstrate Collaboration: Include projects where you worked effectively with cross-functional teams, showing how you handled feedback and integrated different perspectives.
• Highlight Figma Proficiency: Ensure your portfolio includes strong examples of work done in Figma, as it's a specified tool.
• Tell a Story: Structure your portfolio presentations as compelling narratives about the problem, your approach, and the outcome.

Challenge Preparation:

• Amazon Leadership Principles: Thoroughly research and prepare examples for each of Amazon's Leadership Principles. Practice using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers.
• Design Challenges: Be prepared for hypothetical design challenges related to advertiser tools, campaign management, or reporting. Think about how you would approach them, considering user needs, technical feasibility, and business goals.
• Technical Acumen: Understand the basics of web technologies and how design translates into implemented products. Be ready to discuss technical constraints and opportunities.
• Data Interpretation: Practice discussing how you use data (user research, analytics) to inform your design decisions and to measure success.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on Amazon's Leadership Principles is critical. For candidates with operations backgrounds, framing their experiences through these principles (e.g., "Customer Obsession" for understanding advertiser needs, "Bias for Action" for driving design implementation, "Dive Deep" for understanding complex systems) will be highly effective.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: This is explicitly mentioned as a required tool for design and prototyping. Expect to use it extensively for creating user flows, wireframes, mockups, and interactive prototypes.
• Adobe Creative Suite: While Figma is highlighted, proficiency in other Adobe tools (e.g., Photoshop, Illustrator) may be beneficial for asset creation or specific design tasks.
• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, familiarity with other prototyping tools can demonstrate versatility.

Analytics & Reporting:

• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting usability testing, surveys, and interviews (e.g., UserTesting.com, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey).
• Data Visualization Tools: While not explicitly mentioned for this role, understanding how to interpret data from tools like Tableau, Looker, or internal Amazon analytics platforms would be advantageous for informing design decisions.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to this UX role, but understanding how advertiser platforms interact with CRM systems or marketing automation tools used by advertisers could provide valuable context.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma is a key technical requirement. For operations professionals, highlighting any experience with data analysis tools, business intelligence platforms, or even CRM systems (if they have indirect exposure) can demonstrate an ability to understand and leverage data, which is highly valued in this role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Obsession: A foundational principle at Amazon, meaning designs must prioritize advertiser needs and success above all else. This translates to creating tools that are easy to use, effective, and drive advertiser ROI.
• Ownership: Taking responsibility for the entire design lifecycle, from concept to launch and iteration, and acting with a long-term perspective.
• Invent and Simplify: Continuously seeking innovative solutions and striving to simplify complex problems and processes for advertisers.
• Bias for Action: A willingness to act decisively and quickly, understanding that speed is critical in a dynamic market, while also being mindful of making good decisions.
• Dive Deep: A commitment to understanding underlying issues, data, and user needs at a fundamental level to ensure robust and effective solutions.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: High degree of collaboration with Product Management, Engineering, and User Research teams. Designs must be developed in partnership, considering technical feasibility and product strategy.
• Iterative Feedback: Openness to receiving and providing constructive feedback throughout the design process. Expect regular design critiques and reviews.
• Knowledge Sharing: A culture that encourages sharing best practices, design patterns, and learnings across teams to elevate the overall design quality at Amazon.
• Data-Informed Design: Collaboration is heavily influenced by data insights and user research, ensuring decisions are grounded in evidence.

📝 Enhancement Note: The listed Amazon Leadership Principles serve as the core values that guide daily work and collaboration. For operations candidates, understanding how these principles translate into actionable behaviors (e.g., how "Ownership" impacts process improvement initiatives, or how "Invent and Simplify" applies to workflow design) is crucial.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of Advertiser Needs: Balancing the diverse and often complex needs of advertisers of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, within a single platform.
• Scale and Technical Constraints: Designing for a massive, global platform with significant technical limitations and performance requirements.
• Rapid Iteration Cycles: Operating in a fast-paced environment that demands quick turnarounds and continuous adaptation to new technologies and market trends.
• Cross-Team Dependencies: Navigating intricate dependencies with numerous other product and design teams within Amazon to ensure a cohesive user experience.
• Integrating AI/ML: Effectively designing user interfaces that leverage AI and machine learning capabilities to enhance advertiser productivity and campaign performance without overwhelming users.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced UX Design Techniques: Opportunities to hone skills in complex system design, AI-driven UX, and large-scale platform UX.
• Industry Trends: Staying at the forefront of advertising technology, design innovation, and emerging user experience paradigms.
• Leadership Development: Developing leadership skills through mentorship, project ownership, and strategic input.
• Amazon's Scale: Gaining unparalleled experience in designing for one of the world's largest and most complex technology ecosystems.
• Networking: Building a strong professional network within Amazon's extensive design and product organizations.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges and growth opportunities are framed to highlight how this role pushes the boundaries of UX design and offers significant professional development, particularly in areas of scale, complexity, and emerging technologies like AI.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing a new campaign planning tool for advertisers who are new to Amazon Ads, considering their limited experience and technical background?" (Focus on simplification, onboarding, and user education.)
• "Describe a time you had to simplify a complex technical process into an intuitive user interface. What was your process, and what were the results?" (Highlight your design methodology, problem-solving, and impact.)
• "Imagine we want to integrate AI-powered recommendations into our campaign management dashboard. How would you design this experience to be helpful without being intrusive or confusing?" (Focus on user control, transparency, and value proposition.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "How do you embody Amazon's Leadership Principle of 'Customer Obsession' in your design work?" (Prepare specific examples of how you put users first.)
• "Describe a situation where you had to make a difficult design trade-off due to technical constraints or business priorities. How did you handle it?" (Demonstrates pragmatism and collaboration.)
• "How do you approach mentoring junior designers, and what do you believe are the key elements of effective mentorship?" (Assesses leadership and team development.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• The STAR Method for Case Studies: For each project presented, clearly outline the Situation (the problem), Task (your role and objective), Action (your design process, decisions, and collaborations), and Result (the outcome, impact, and learnings).
• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., "reduced task completion time by X%", "increased feature adoption by Y%", "contributed to a Z% increase in advertiser campaign performance").
• Focus on "Why": Be prepared to explain the rationale behind your design decisions, linking them back to user research, data, and business goals.
• Showcase Figma Skills: Walk through the interactive elements and prototyping capabilities of your Figma work.
• Adapt to the Audience: Tailor your presentation to the interviewer's background (e.g., emphasize technical aspects for engineers, business impact for product managers).

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation advice strongly encourages candidates to think in terms of Amazon's Leadership Principles and to structure their responses using the STAR method, which is standard practice for Amazon interviews. The emphasis on quantifying impact is crucial for bridging the gap between UX design and operational/revenue outcomes.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Principal UX Designer position:

• Submit Your Application: Apply through Amazon's internal or external career site (www.amazon.jobs).
• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 key projects that best showcase your design leadership, process, and ability to simplify complex systems. Ensure these highlight your work in Figma and demonstrate quantifiable impact.
• Tailor Your Resume: Optimize your resume to highlight your 10+ years of experience, specific UX design skills, leadership contributions, and any experience relevant to business operations, advertising technology, or data-driven decision-making. Use keywords from the job description.
• Prepare for Leadership Principles: Thoroughly review Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles and prepare specific, behavioral examples using the STAR method for each.
• Research Amazon's Advertising Business: Gain an understanding of Amazon's advertising products, target audience, and market position to better contextualize your design thinking and interview responses.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.