I have 3 years of experience working as an SDE at a startup, and I recently received an offer from Amazon for an Application Engineer (L4) role.

During discussions, HR mentioned that there may be an option to internally transfer to an SDE1 (L4) role later. I’m not sure how realistic or smooth that process actually is.

I only have 1 week left to decide and join, and I don’t currently have any other offers.

Has anyone gone through this path at Amazon or knows how internal transfers from Application Engineer → SDE1 work? How long does it usually take, and are there any limitations or things I should be aware of?

Would really appreciate any insights.

Thank you!