Key Points
- Amazon submitted its WARN Act to the Washington State Employment Security Department on Monday, notifying the department of the permanent closure of 121 positions located in Seattle, Bellevue, and Sumner.
- The reduction in the workforce involves several levels of employees from technical staff and corporate managers to warehouse associates and service technicians.
- The biggest cluster of laid-off employees is concentrated in the SEA106 office in Bellevue, where 49 employees got notices of termination.
- The affected individuals were notified about their dismissal between July 1 and July 29, while their employment will end during different phases from October 1 to October 27.
- The workers involved in the reduction have been informed about their termination in advance and have the right to apply for other positions within the company during these 90 days.
- This event is Amazon’s fourth major layoff of workers in Washington state in the past year.
Seattle (Evening Washington News) September 1, 2026 — Amazon is cutting 121 jobs in Washington state, according to a new state regulatory filing on Monday, hitting corporate tech teams in Bellevue and Seattle as well as fulfillment operations in Sumner. The latest wave of downsizing underlines a persistent structural contraction across the tech titan’s home market, even as the corporation channels monumental financial resources into artificial intelligence infrastructure and cloud expansion.
As reported by Kurt Schlosser of GeekWire, the largest single concentration of cuts is at the SEA106 building in Bellevue, where 49 employees — ranging from entry-level software development engineers and applied scientists to a vice president of legal and senior software managers — were notified.
As detailed further by local reports from outlets including KIRO 7 and MyNorthwest, the total pool of 121 impacted positions spans across 12 different Amazon offices and facilities. This includes 53 total workers based in Bellevue, 35 in Seattle, 32 at the BFI1 fulfillment center in Sumner, and one remote employee based out of Washington state. In Seattle, impacted positions span multiple downtown office buildings and include roles such as a director of human resources, product managers, and technical writers. Beyond corporate offices, 32 positions were cut at the BFI1 fulfillment center in Sumner, affecting warehouse associates, service technicians, and safety specialists.
Why is Amazon cutting 121 jobs in Washington state?
As reported by Kurt Schlosser of GeekWire, Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser stated via email that
“teams across the company regularly review their structures to ensure they’re best set up to deliver on their goals.”
Glasser added, as noted by GeekWire, that
“as part of these reviews, teams sometimes determine that certain roles are no longer necessary. We don’t take these decisions lightly, and we’re always committed to supporting employees whose roles are impacted by them.”
According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed with the state’s Employment Security Department, impacted employees were notified between July 1 and July 29, and terminations will be effective between October 1 and October 27. Fox 13 Seattle noted that the rollout will occur in distinct phases, with the first wave of separations beginning October 1, 32 employees departing by October 2, 66 employees leaving by October 20, and final separations wrapping up on October 27.
What support is being offered to affected workers?
As reported by GeekWire, Amazon stated that it provided 90 days of advance notice to all affected personnel. During this designated window, impacted workers are eligible to apply for open internal transfer positions within the company before their separations become final.
Furthermore, as covered by local reports from Hoodline and The Seattle Times, employees who ultimately leave the company are provided with transition support that includes severance packages, outplacement services, and continuation of health benefits. Additionally, staff from the Washington State Employment Security Department’s Rapid Response team and local WorkSource centers are slated to contact affected individuals to assist with career counseling and re-employment services.
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How do these cuts fit into Amazon’s broader layoff history?
As reported by GeekWire, Amazon employs roughly 50,000 corporate and tech workers in the Puget Sound region, divided between its primary headquarters in Seattle and its growing operational footprint in Bellevue. Across Washington state, the company employs more than 80,000 total workers across corporate offices, data centers, and fulfillment hubs.
However, this regional footprint has faced progressive reductions. Earlier this summer, Amazon cut 57 jobs in Washington. Those layoffs followed monumental cuts of 2,198 Washington-based employees in February and 2,303 in October 2025. As noted in corporate communications reviewed by media outlets, previous larger cuts were part of an organizational effort to
“reduce layers, increase ownership, and remove bureaucracy.”
According to historical tallies cited by Hoodline and The Seattle Times, these state-level adjustments sit inside a much larger global wave that saw Amazon eliminate roughly 30,000 corporate positions between late 2024 and early 2026. Senior leadership, including Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology, have previously indicated that these structural flattening measures are intended to help the multinational giant operate with the agility of a startup while redirecting heavy capital toward next-generation technologies.
What is the wider economic context across the tech sector?
As reported by GeekWire, a broader wave of layoffs across the technology sector has impacted Washington employees in recent months. Regional outlets like the Downtown Bellevue Network note that similar downsizing efforts have hit companies such as Microsoft, Zillow, Meta, Google, T-Mobile, Salesforce, Starbucks, TikTok, Qualtrics, and Visa, reshaping the corporate real estate and employment landscape across King County.
At the same time, Amazon’s local adjustments coincide with a massive corporate pivot toward artificial intelligence. As outlined in financial reporting analyzed by Hoodline, Amazon raised its 2026 capital expenditure target to approximately $220 billion — a 76% increase over the previous year — directed largely toward AWS data centers, custom silicon chips, and AI infrastructure. While this capital redirection has tightened corporate headcounts in specific administrative and operational pockets, the company’s cloud division continues to expand rapidly, driven by record enterprise demand for artificial intelligence capabilities.
