About the job
Amazon Robotics is seeking experienced and Senior Applied Scientist with a passion for robotic research. Our team works on challenging and high-impact projects within robotics. Examples of projects include allocating resources to complete a million orders a day, coordinating the motion of thousands of robots and identifying objects and damage.
Responsibilities
Lead research initiatives advancing AI-driven structured field robotics (path planning, fleet coordination, control systems) and translate breakthroughs into production solutions at global scale
Own end-to-end delivery of complex algorithmic solutions from design through production deployment and operational maintenance
Drive technical decisions for Control, Coordination, and Path Planning systems meeting performance, scalability, and reliability requirements
Partner with cross-functional teams to translate business requirements into research problems and assess technical risks
Influence technical direction across the broader robotics organization through design reviews and technical discussions with senior engineers and scientists
Demonstrate measurable impact through AI-driven algorithmic improvements: fleet efficiency gains, operational cost reduction, system reliability improvements, and enhanced customer experience
Publish findings at top-tier AI and robotics conferences representing organizational technical leadership
Mentor junior Applied Scientists on research methodology and balancing innovation with production constraints
Operate independently on ambiguous, multi-quarter problems requiring novel AI approaches while navigating tradeoffs between research innovation and production constraints
Qualifications
Minimum
PhD in engineering, technology, computer science, machine learning, robotics, operations research, statistics, mathematics or equivalent quantitative field, or Master's degree and 5+ years of applied research experience
Experience programming in Java, C++, Python or related language
Experience with conducting research in a corporate setting
3+ years of industry or academic research experience
3+ years of building machine learning models or developing algorithms for business application experience
Preferred
Have publications on top-tier conferences, such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV or NeurIPS
Strong foundation in motion planning algorithms (A*, RRT, optimization-based planning) and multi-agent coordination
PhD and 6 years of applied research experience