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About This Role
DESCRIPTION
AWS Infrastructure Services Science (AISS) researches and builds machine learning models that influence the power utilization at our data centers to ensure the health of our thermal and electrical infrastructure at high infrastructure utilization.
As an Applied Scientist, you will work on our Science team and partner closely with other scientists, data engineers and Software teams to accurately model and optimize our power infrastructure. Outputs from your models will directly influence our data center topology and will drive exceptional cost savings. You will be responsible for researching and deploying machine learning models that optimize our power and thermal infrastructure, working across AWS to solve data mapping and quality issues and contribute to our Science team vision.
You are skeptical. When someone gives you a data source, you pepper them with questions about sampling biases, accuracy, and coverage. When you’re told a model can make assumptions, you proactively try to break those assumptions.
You have passion for excellence. The wrong choice of data could cost the business dearly. You maintain rigorous standards and take ownership of the outcome of your data pipelines and code. You raise the bar on the software code standards to delivery faster and efficient solutions.
You do whatever it takes to add value. You don’t care whether you’re building complex ML models, writing blazing fast code, integrating multiple disparate data-sets, or creating baseline models - you care passionately about stakeholders and know that as a curator of data insight you can unlock massive cost savings and preserve customer availability.
You have a limitless curiosity. You constantly ask questions about the technologies and approaches we are taking and are constantly learning about industry best practices you can bring to our team.
You have excellent business and communication skills to be able to work with product owners to understand key business questions and earn the trust of senior leaders. You will need to learn Data Center architecture and components of electrical engineering to build your models.
You are comfortable juggling competing priorities and handling ambiguity. You thrive in an agile and fast-paced environment on highly visible projects and initiatives. The tradeoffs of cost savings and customer availability are constantly up for debate among senior leadership - you will help drive this conversation.
This position requires superior analytical thinkers, able to quickly approach large ambiguous problems and apply their technical and statistical knowledge to identify opportunities for further research. You should be able to independently mine and analyze data, and be able to use any necessary programming and statistical analysis software to do so. Successful candidates must thrive in fast-paced environments which encourage collaborative and creative problem solving, be able to measure and estimate risks, constructively critique peer research, and align research focuses with the Amazon’s strategic needs.
Key job responsibilities
- Leverage deep expertise in one or more scientific disciplines to invent solutions to ambiguous ads measurement problems
- Disambiguate problems to propose clear evaluation frameworks and success criteria
- Work autonomously and write high quality technical documents
- Implement a significant portion of critical-path code, and partner with engineers to directly carry solutions into production
- Work closely with other scientists to deliver impactful customer solutions
- Share and publish works with the broader scientific community through meetings and conferences
- Communicate clearly to scientific audiences
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Master's degree
- Experience programming in Java, C++, Python or related language
- Experience with SQL and an RDBMS (e.g., Oracle) or Data Warehouse
- Experience building machine learning models or developing algorithms for business application
- Experience implementing algorithms using toolkits and self-developed code
- Have publications on top-tier conferences, such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV or NeurIPS
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience researching about machine learning, deep learning, NLP, computer vision, data science
- PhD in computer science, mathematics, statistics, machine learning or equivalent quantitative field
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, VA, Arlington - 136,000.00 - 184,000.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Herndon - 136,000.00 - 184,000.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 136,000.00 - 184,000.00 USD annually
Salary Context
This $136K-$184K range is in the lower quartile for Research Scientist roles in our dataset (median: $197K across 73 roles with salary data).
Role Details
About This Role
Research Scientists push the boundaries of what AI can do. They design experiments, develop novel architectures, publish papers, and translate research breakthroughs into production capabilities. This is where the fundamental advances happen, from attention mechanisms to diffusion models to reasoning chains.
The work is intellectually demanding and often ambiguous. You might spend months on an approach that doesn't pan out. The best research scientists combine deep mathematical intuition with engineering pragmatism. They know when to go deep on theory and when to run experiments. They read papers voraciously and can spot incremental contributions from genuine breakthroughs.
Across the 8,943 AI roles we're tracking, Research Scientist positions make up 2% of the market. At Amazon Web Services, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: reading and discussing recent papers with your team, designing and running experiments on multi-GPU clusters, analyzing results and iterating on hypotheses, writing up findings for internal review or publication, and collaborating with engineering teams to productionize promising results. The ratio of thinking to coding is higher than in engineering roles.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
Skills Required
PhD strongly preferred for most roles. Deep expertise in a specific area (NLP, computer vision, reinforcement learning, multimodal) is expected. PyTorch is the standard. Publication track record matters. Strong mathematical foundations in linear algebra, probability, optimization, and information theory are assumed.
Beyond the fundamentals, companies value experience with large-scale distributed training, novel architecture design, and the ability to bridge theory and practice. Understanding of current frontier topics (reasoning, multimodal, long-context, alignment) is essential. Code quality matters more than many researchers expect. Labs want researchers who can implement their ideas cleanly.
Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
Compensation Benchmarks
Research Scientist roles pay a median of $222,200 based on 708 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $193,200. This role's midpoint ($160K) sits 28% below the category median. Disclosed range: $136K to $184K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,000.
Amazon Web Services AI Hiring
Amazon Web Services has 71 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, AI Product Manager, Research Engineer, Data Scientist. Positions span New York, NY, US, Bellevue, WA, US, Denver, CO, US. Compensation range: $97K - $299K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 6% (521 positions) offer remote work, while 8,351 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,878 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,416 roles, $263,811 median); Los Angeles (1,340 roles, $210,000 median).
Career Path
Common paths into Research Scientist roles include PhD Student, Research Engineer, Postdoc.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Research Lead, Distinguished Scientist, VP of Research.
The PhD is the entry point for most paths. Choose your advisor and research area carefully since they'll define your first industry position. Publish consistently, contribute to open-source projects in your area, and build relationships at conferences. Industry research offers better compensation and compute resources than academia, but the pressure to show product impact is real.
What to Expect in Interviews
Research interviews are multi-stage: a research talk (present your best paper), technical deep-dives on your methodology, and often a 'research proposal' exercise where you design an experiment to test a hypothesis. Coding rounds test implementation ability alongside theoretical knowledge. Be prepared to implement a paper from scratch and discuss the design choices the authors made. Strong candidates can critique papers constructively and identify gaps in experimental methodology.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 8,943 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 175 entry-level, 4,132 mid-level, 3,268 senior, and 1,368 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (521 positions). The remaining 8,351 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 roles).
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 8,943 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (6,739), AI Product Manager (403), AI Software Engineer (402). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (175) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,132) and senior (3,268) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,368 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (521 positions), with 8,351 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,380. Top-quartile roles start at $264,148, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,310. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,422 postings), Aws (808 postings), Azure (638 postings), Rag (555 postings), Gcp (457 postings), Pytorch (433 postings), Claude (341 postings), Kubernetes (337 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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