For those who are wondering why algorithms are so prominent, I'd answer that at Amazon, algorithms are prominent. With the service oriented architecture, it is not uncommon for a team to own a service that is basically a context-specialized implementation of an algorthm, with a little bit of ceremony to serve it up.
The code ninjas program has been around for a long time, and it was probably named by an HR goon, so you'll have to forgive the cliche.
When I interviewed at Amazon most of the teams I spoke to revolved around billing and logistics--which of course do require some algorithmics, but are also fantastically boring. Has the situation improved?
To each their own. I think logistics are awesome, and to describe them as requiring 'some algorithmics' is sort of dismissive; this is a field where formulating a 1% improvement over a previous system translates into literally millions of dollars saved annually -- it's hard for me to imagine a field that is as 'pure' as that while still having enormous financial impact (besides maybe HFT?)
(Disclaimer: I work for Amazon, but on the Kindle side of things.)
Amazonian here that works on a logistics team. I would say we actually make up a small portion of Amazon. Amazon has grown tremendously in the past few years and has many diverse (and cool) teams. That being said, I personally think transportation and logistics at Amazon has some really cool problems to tackle.
Every team is different, and not all teams are going to be doing optimization or machine learning (where algorithm knowledge is very important). I happen to work with a bunch that do work in those areas.
If I recall from my years at amazon, the term "ninja" is quite popular for various groups/people that make (usually internal) improvements for advanced users.
The code ninjas program has been around for a long time, and it was probably named by an HR goon, so you'll have to forgive the cliche.