Amazon is overhauling how it labels, evaluates, and structures its product workforce at two of its home security subsidiaries — and the employees caught in the middle are sounding the alarm.
Hundreds of workers at Ring and Blink, both owned by Amazon, will lose their conventional professional titles when the company’s current annual review season concludes. The change takes effect next month.
The employees affected hold product-focused, white-collar positions. When the transition is complete, they will carry one of two designations: “builder” or “builder lead,” the latter applying to those in managerial roles.
Amazon is framing the move as an experiment, not a punishment. No employees are being let go. No one is being demoted for poor performance.
The company is simply retiring the traditional title structure that has governed these roles for years.
Ring and Blink are best known for producing internet-connected doorbells and surveillance cameras marketed to homeowners across the country.
Jason Mitura, the executive currently holding the title of chief product officer over both units, authored an internal memorandum this month outlining the company’s reasoning. Reuters obtained a copy of the memo, and Amazon confirmed its authenticity.
“We’re committed to making this an organization of the future, and that means being transparent and open to change,” Mitura wrote.
He went further, announcing a clean break from the old system: “We’re moving to a single job family: Builder.”
The memo also signaled a shift in how success itself would be defined. “As Builders, we define and reward success through one question: what is the scope and magnitude of the customer value you create?” Mitura wrote.
Mitura will not escape the restructuring himself. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed his title will change as well, most likely to “builder lead.”
The word “builder” has been spreading across the technology sector for several years. It now functions as a broad descriptor for workers who independently tackle problems — frequently using artificial intelligence — that previously required entire teams to solve.
Meta has launched its own version of the concept, trialing the designation “AI builder” for select roles. Block, the payments company, has started calling certain managers “player-coach.”
The push at Ring and Blink aligns with a larger cultural initiative driven by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who has made reducing internal bureaucracy a visible priority. Jassy has introduced an internal reporting channel where employees can identify and flag unnecessary processes and red tape within the organization.
Amazon’s stock closed flat on Thursday. Shares are up 11 percent for the year.
Mitura’s memo carried an inclusive tone regarding how future decisions would be made, stating the restructuring means “anyone can propose a change to our structure” and that ineffective processes would be rolled back.
Employees inside Ring and Blink are not fully reassured. Multiple workers, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to comment on internal matters, told Reuters they are concerned about what the elimination of titles like “senior” and “lead” means for their professional futures.
Those designations have historically served as concrete markers on the path toward higher pay and advancement. Amazon’s compensation system ties pay bands and equity grants directly to employee level and performance ratings.
The anxiety does not stop there. Some workers expressed concern that if the pilot succeeds, a company-wide rollout could follow — affecting employees well beyond Ring and Blink.
Amazon moved quickly to address those fears. “Compensation, growth, and promotion paths remain unchanged,” a company spokesperson stated. The title shift, the spokesperson added, will “help foster a culture of experimentation and deliver for customers more efficiently.”
This is not the first time an Amazon-owned company has attempted to flatten its organizational hierarchy.
Zappos, the online footwear retailer Amazon acquired for close to $1 billion in 2009, spent years attempting to operate without traditional management structures under a system called “holacracy.”
The experiment was eventually discontinued. Amazon acquired Ring in 2018 for approximately $1 billion and purchased Blink that same year for around $90 million.
