Planning and Execution for getting a Solid Retention Offer

In this economy, the power dynamic is in favor of the company. Especially since you're working in Amazon, the only way you have a chance of getting a retention offer is if you have a written offer letter from another company with signficantly higher compensation. Having this offer letter in hand is very important: if you bluff it, the company will simply ignore you and might end up treating you as a flight risk (so they'll try to manage you out).

I strongly advise against designing your game plan around a retention offer.

Here are the levers I take into account when looking for (compensation) growth:

• Skillset: this is basically your "product". Find what you need to upskill on to solve problems that have a higher impact / solve existing problems more efficiently.
• Environment: are the problems that needs solving / scope you are able to take on well-aligned with your skillset? If there's misalignment that's not easy to fix, finding a better alignment on the market is usually the solution to being more valued / paid more. This is usually the reason why you see pay jumps in job switches or people making more as a contractor / entrepreneur due to better alignment.
• People: this can be considered a subset of the "environment", but often times when your skillsets align well with the scope offered through the environment, you might be missing a sponsor, coach, mentor, peers and/or direct reports to accomplish what you want. One sponsor can be a game changer, as I personally experienced this as thing turned around quickly when I got a new sponsor even though my skillsets and the rest of the environment remained unchanged.