No, it's the maximum base pay for all positions.

Beyond entry level, most of the compensation at Amazon and other FAANGs is in the form of stock awards (RSUs). So a senior engineer might have a $160k annual salary and $300k worth of RSUs vesting that year, making for $460k total compensation.

In an environment of rising stock prices, this is a cost-effective way for a large company to pay high salaries because the stock that's worth $300k today was only worth, say, $150k when it was originally granted, and that's the price that Amazon effectively paid in its earnings deductions at that time.

It’s the max salary rate for a given level according to company policies. Once you hit this, no matter how well you do they’ll try to tell you you can’t get a raise unless you get a promotion. Of course, this matters little since they will be shoveling RSUs at you if they want to keep you.

No, its just the maximum cash base that amazon will pay anyone, at any level (perhaps without a VP approval, or something). RSU's and cash bonuses are not included, so it does not reflect total comp. E.g. someone might have 160k base and 500k total comp, including their RSUs.

Previously you could not make more than ~$160k in salary at Amazon at any level. Now they are raising the cap.