Amazon Web Services, the e-commerce giant’s cloud computing unit, is cutting hundreds of jobs, including “a few hundred” in its Physical Stores Technology team, the company said Wednesday.
The cuts are related in part to Amazon’s move to scale back its Just Walk Out technology, including dropping it from its U.S. Amazon Fresh stores and larger stores abroad. This strategic shift in the use of some applications affects Amazon’s stores as well as third-party locations of Just Walk Out clients, Amazon spokesperson Duncan Neasham said by email.
The Just Walk Out process has more of a human touch than previously understood: People annotate videos to enable its machine learning and sometimes validate a purchase when the computer vision tech can’t effectively do so, the company said earlier on Wednesday.
The process is ongoing, but ultimately layoffs could also impact several hundred roles in the AWS Sales, Marketing, and Global Services organization, Amazon said.
“We've identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact,” Neasham said.
Amazon employees in the U.S. will receive pay and benefits for at least 60 days, outplacement job search support and access to transitional health benefits, and are eligible for a severance payment. AWS is also hiring based on other priorities, with thousands of jobs open, and some employees affected by the cuts may be able take those opportunities, Neasham said.
“We didn’t make these decisions lightly, and we’re committed to supporting the employees throughout their transition to new roles in and outside of Amazon,” he also said. “These decisions are difficult but necessary as we continue to invest, hire, and optimize resources to deliver innovation for our customers.”
Last March Amazon eliminated around 9,000 positions, many of which were in AWS, on top of 18,000 layoffs, many in retail.
