The term “Amazon org chart” refers to more than a simple diagram of departments or job titles. For a company as large and fast-moving as Amazon, its organizational structure is a blueprint for how it scales, innovates, and stays competitive across a surprisingly wide range of industries—from e-commerce and logistics to cloud computing, entertainment, and even home-improvement product categories.

Whether you’re a business strategist, a student of organizational design, a job seeker, or simply curious about how a massive global company operates, understanding Amazon’s org chart offers valuable insights. It reveals how the company manages complexity, empowers teams, and adapts to new markets—skills that are relevant to any modern enterprise.

This article breaks down how Amazon’s structure works, why it works, and what other businesses can learn from it.

1. Why Organizational Structure Matters—Especially for a Company Like Amazon

Amazon employs hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, operates dozens of interrelated business units, and manages an expansive logistics network. Without a clear organizational structure, coordinating these efforts would be almost impossible.

An effective org chart helps:

• Clarify reporting lines and decision responsibilities

• Reduce bottlenecks created by unclear communication

• Support a culture of autonomy and accountability

• Enable teams to innovate independently

Even companies in more traditional industries—such as home renovation, interior products, and manufacturing—benefit from understanding how large organizations like Amazon structure themselves to maintain efficiency during growth.

2. The Foundation: Amazon’s Hybrid Organizational Structure

Amazon does not rely on one rigid organizational model. Instead, it uses a hybrid structure that combines features of multiple frameworks:

a. Hierarchical Structure

At the highest level, Amazon uses a traditional hierarchy with executive-level leadership and divisions. Senior executives oversee major business lines such as:

• Amazon Retail

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Operations & Logistics

• Prime & Digital Content

• Devices (e.g., Echo, Kindle)

• Advertising

This ensures strategic alignment across the company.

b. Functional Structure

Many of Amazon’s core business functions—such as finance, HR, legal, marketing, and engineering—operate as functional departments that support all business units.

c. Divisional Structure

Amazon also organizes itself by product categories and services. For example:

• Amazon Fashion

• Home & Kitchen

• Grocery

• Entertainment & Media

• Third-party marketplace services

This specialization allows teams to dive deeply into customer needs and industry standards, whether they’re selling cloud computing services or interior paint and home-improvement products.

d. The Famous Two-Pizza Team Model

Perhaps the most well-known aspect of the Amazon org chart is the small, autonomous team structure, often referred to as the “two-pizza team” rule. The idea is simple: teams should be small enough to be fed with two pizzas. This encourages:

• Faster decision-making

• Greater ownership

• More innovation

• Less bureaucracy

These two-pizza teams operate semi-independently, allowing Amazon to work more like a startup than a corporate giant.

3. Key Leadership Layers in the Amazon Org Chart

While specific roles evolve over time, Amazon’s general leadership layers remain consistent.

1. Executive Leadership

This group sets overall vision, investment priorities, and long-term strategy. Roles include:

• CEO

• CFO

• Division CEOs (e.g., AWS leadership)

• Senior Vice Presidents

2. Senior Vice Presidents & Vice Presidents

These leaders oversee large functional areas or global business units. They translate executive strategy into divisional goals and manage cross-functional coordination.

3. Directors & Senior Managers

This layer drives operational execution—managing teams, projects, and yearly objectives. They play a central role in implementing Amazon’s leadership principles across daily work.

4. Team Leads, Engineers, Analysts, and Individual Contributors

These roles form the backbone of Amazon’s operations, whether optimizing warehouse logistics or developing new machine-learning systems for customer recommendations.

4. Key Characteristics That Define the Amazon Org Chart

Amazon’s structure is shaped by its internal culture. Three principles influence how teams are formed and how decisions flow.

a. Customer Obsession

Amazon is organized around solving customer problems—often before customers even realize they have them. Many teams are built around customer segments rather than internal processes.

b. Decentralized Decision-Making

Despite being massive, Amazon reduces dependency on top-down directives. Teams are empowered to:

• Develop ideas

• Run experiments

• Manage short development cycles

• Own end-to-end outcomes

This autonomy is unusual in corporations of Amazon’s size.

c. Scalability

Amazon’s org chart is built to support rapid growth across unrelated markets. This is one reason the company can expand into new product categories—such as home-improvement items, building materials, and interior products—without restructuring the entire organization.

5. The Role of Technology in Supporting Amazon’s Organizational Structure

Amazon leans heavily on technology to make its organizational model work. Internal systems help manage:

• Data sharing

• Workflow automation

• Logistics tracking

• Inventory coordination

• Machine-learning-based decision support

Without a sophisticated technological backbone, Amazon’s mix of decentralized teams and complex operations would likely become chaotic.

6. How the Amazon Org Chart Supports Innovation

Amazon’s consistent output of new products and services is not accidental—it’s directly tied to the way the organization is structured.

Mechanisms that support innovation include:

• Independent teams that can test ideas quickly

• Metric-driven decision-making where outcomes guide direction

• Built-in experimentation processes (like A/B testing at scale)

• A culture that accepts failure when it leads to discovery

• Customer-focused feedback loops that inform product development

This is one reason Amazon can simultaneously grow AWS, expand its retail categories, launch new devices, and improve operational efficiencies.

7. What Other Businesses Can Learn from the Amazon Org Chart

While not every organization can—or should—copy Amazon’s structure exactly, several principles are widely applicable.

a. Build teams around customer needs

Instead of structuring departments only around internal processes, Amazon organizes many teams around customer problems. Businesses in sectors like building materials, interior design, or home renovation can use similar models by grouping teams around customer types or project phases.

b. Encourage autonomy with accountability

Small teams with clear KPIs encourage ownership and speed. Even modest-sized businesses can experiment with smaller task-focused units.

c. Use data as a decision engine

Amazon’s data-driven approach ensures that opinions don’t outweigh evidence. Companies can adopt similar habits by:

• Tracking performance consistently

• Using customer feedback more intentionally

• Testing changes before fully implementing them

d. Design for flexibility

The hybrid structure allows Amazon to expand into new markets quickly. Whether a business is adding a new service line or exploring a new product category like interior finishes or paint products, flexibility in the organizational model makes adaptation easier.

8. Visualizing the Amazon Org Chart

While the exact org chart changes frequently, a simplified conceptual version includes:

1. Executive Leadership

2. Major Divisions (Retail, AWS, Logistics, Devices, Advertising, etc.)

3. Functional Teams (Finance, HR, Legal, Engineering, Marketing)

4. Two-Pizza Teams responsible for specific projects or innovations

Instead of a classic top-down pyramid, Amazon’s structure looks more like a network of interconnected hubs, each with its own responsibilities but linked through shared systems and leadership principles.

FAQ: Amazon Org Chart

1. What is the Amazon org chart?

The Amazon org chart is a framework that outlines how Amazon’s leadership, business units, and small teams are structured. It shows who reports to whom and how the company organizes its many divisions and functions.

2. Why does Amazon use small “two-pizza teams”?

Small teams help Amazon move quickly, innovate faster, and avoid slow decision-making. The two-pizza team rule ensures groups stay small enough to communicate effectively and maintain ownership of their projects.

3. Is Amazon’s org chart public?

Not in full detail. While Amazon shares high-level information about leadership and business units, the internal structure of teams and reporting lines evolves frequently and isn’t fully published.

4. How is Amazon able to manage so many different businesses at once?

Amazon uses a hybrid organizational structure that combines hierarchy, functional teams, and independent project teams. This creates a flexible system that can scale into new industries efficiently.

5. What can other businesses learn from Amazon’s organizational structure?

Key lessons include building around customer needs, empowering small teams, using data to guide decisions, and designing structures that support rapid adaptation and innovation.