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About This Role
DESCRIPTION
Amazon's Customer Experience and Business Trends (CXBT) is looking for an Applied Scientist to help shape the science of evaluating agent-driven builder experiences on AWS. As builders increasingly delegate goals to autonomous coding agents, the agent's experience becomes the builder's experience — and measuring it rigorously is an open research problem. At Amazon Benchmarking, we are developing new scientific methodologies to evaluate how autonomous agents perceive, reason about, and build on AWS.
This role sits at the intersection of GenAI, agent evaluation, and developer-experience research. You will design principled measurement methodologies that treat autonomous agents as instruments, capturing behavioral evidence rather than self-reported outcomes and develop rigorous, reproducible techniques for reasoning about why agents make the architectural decisions they do. Evaluating those decisions demands a scientist who understands cloud architecture and services in depth: to reason about the choices an agent makes, you must understand the trade-offs it is navigating. Our team's mission is to constantly challenge the status quo and drive innovation to improve customer experience.
This role requires an expert in the areas of GenAI and machine learning with a keen interest in research. The ideal candidate will have experience with deep learning models for natural language processing tasks, agentic/tool-using systems, and the evaluation of autonomous agents, along with a deep working knowledge of cloud architecture and services.
A successful candidate will have a passion for clarity, be a self-starter comfortable with ambiguity, have strong attention to detail, be able to work in a fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment and be driven by a desire to innovate. Given the complex nature of the questions we are working on, the ideal candidate will be relentlessly curious and be able to/be interested in having the business conversation underlying the data.
Key job responsibilities
- Develop novel scientific methodologies for evaluating autonomous, tool-using agents, advancing the state of the art in agent behavioral measurement and developer-experience research.
- Design rigorous, reproducible experiments that yield causal insight into agent decision-making, controlling for confounds and ensuring findings are grounded in observed behavior rather than self-report.
- Apply deep knowledge of cloud architecture and services to reason about the architectural decisions agents make — the service trade-offs, integration constraints, and deployment considerations that shape what gets built.
- Develop verification and synthesis methods that ensure only evidence-grounded conclusions survive, advancing techniques for reliability and faithfulness in agent evaluation.
- Design evaluation methodologies and metrics that quantify the quality of agent-produced outcomes across dimensions such as correctness, robustness, and security posture.
- Publish and present your work at internal and external scientific venues in the fields of ML.
- Collaborate with scientists, engineers, and product managers to design and implement science-focused systems.
- Proficiency in model development, validation and implementation for NLP applications.
- Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills, ability to convey rigorous mathematical concepts and considerations to non-experts.
A day in the life
As a scientist on the team, you will be involved in every aspect of the process from idea generation, business analysis and scientific research, through development and deployment of advanced models and agentic systems, giving you a real sense of ownership. You'll research, design, and build new methodologies to evaluate the experience of autonomous agents building on AWS — developing the measurement science that lets us reason rigorously about what agents do and why. Besides theoretical analysis and innovation, you will work closely with talented engineers and put your algorithms and models into practice.
About the team
Customer Experience and Business Trends (CXBT) is an organization made up of a diverse suite of functions dedicated to deeply understanding and improving customer experience, globally. We are a team of builders that develop products, services, ideas, and various ways of leveraging data to influence product and service offerings – for almost every business at Amazon – for every customer (e.g., consumers, developers, sellers/brands, employees, investors, streamers, gamers).
Our approach is based on determining the customer need, along with problem solving, and we work backwards from there. We use technical and non-technical approaches and stay aware of industry and business trends. We are a global team, made up of a diverse set of profiles, skills, and backgrounds – including: Scientists, Product Managers, Software Developers, Computer Vision experts, Solutions Architects, Business Intelligence Engineers, Business Analysts, Risk Managers, and more.BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 3+ years of building models for business application experience
- PhD, or Master's degree and 4+ years of CS, CE, ML or related field experience
- Experience in patents or publications at top-tier peer-reviewed conferences or journals
- Experience programming in Java, C++, Python or related language
- Experience in any of the following areas: algorithms and data structures, parsing, numerical optimization, data mining, parallel and distributed computing, high-performance computing
- Hands-on experience (academic or industrial) building ML models for natural language processing tasks using GenAI
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Deep working knowledge of cloud architecture and services (e.g., compute, storage, databases, auth, networking) and the trade-offs involved in composing them into production systems
- Experience with agentic/tool-using systems, LLM-based agents, or the evaluation of autonomous agents
- Experience using cloud-based services and big data processing technologies such as AWS Redshift, EMR, Spark, and Sagemaker
- Prior work experience as a research scientist or applied scientist at a consumer product company
- Excellent problem-solving ability. Demonstrable track record of dealing well with ambiguity, prioritizing needs, and delivering results in a dynamic environment
- Experience in professional software development
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, WA, Seattle - 142,800.00 - 193,200.00 USD annually
Salary Context
This $142K-$193K range is below the median for Research Scientist roles in our dataset (median: $197K across 82 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 9,653 AI roles we're tracking, Research Scientist positions make up 2% of the market. At Amazon.com, 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 ($168K) sits 24% below the category median. Disclosed range: $142K to $193K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. 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: $272,275; VP: $235,000.
Amazon.com AI Hiring
Amazon.com has 72 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Scientist, Data Scientist, AI Product Manager. Positions span Seattle, WA, US, New York, NY, US, Bellevue, WA, US. Compensation range: $129K - $327K.
Location Context
AI roles in Seattle pay a median of $226,100 across 973 tracked positions. That's 6% above the national 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 9,653 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 193 entry-level, 4,500 mid-level, 3,455 senior, and 1,505 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (568 positions). The remaining 9,010 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. 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 9,653 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (7,301), Data Scientist (441), AI Software Engineer (438). 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 (193) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,500) and senior (3,455) 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 1,505 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (568 positions), with 9,010 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 $213,400. Top-quartile roles start at $264,230, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,400. 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 (1,605 postings), Aws (916 postings), Azure (724 postings), Rag (634 postings), Gcp (522 postings), Pytorch (495 postings), Kubernetes (384 postings), Claude (383 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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