Rob Hope

Yesterday, January 26, 2026, was my last official day as an Amazonian. I was impacted by layoffs in October 2025 after nearly eight years of successful delivery. The moment is bittersweet, as I’ve spent much of my time over this three-month transition period buried in job searches while trying to enjoy the holiday season in spite of the uncertainty. I’ve learned a lot over the last eight years, both what to do and what not to do, and I’ve worked with so many incredible individuals.

Immediately after the layoff occurred, I began looking for next steps. One of the more enjoyable aspects of my Amazon career was being a Document Bar Raiser. Giving back and helping so many people improve their writing was an amazing experience. I prepared a professional service, Hopeful Writing, to engage those who want to be better writers and offer professional help. I’m not sure if I’ll continue it or not if I were to get traction, but I wanted to be prepared in case I was not able to find a new role. Now that I’ve found one, I doubt I will engage much with this, except with interns or students.

That said, I’ve accepted an offer as Senior Engineering Manager at Atlassian, starting in mid-February. I’m super excited to work for Atlassian, and to continue to improve experiences for customers, developers, product owners, document authors, and anyone else involved in building something amazing for their customers. I wanted to find something I could focus on for the next several years, and I’ve been impressed with Atlassian for a while now and can’t wait to get started.

I’ll be posting more about my job search experience and reflections on this period of my life in the coming weeks.