Applied & Research Scientist - Safe Autonomy Frontiers (SAF) Lab, Safe Autonomy Frontiers (SAF) Lab

Amazon Inc.; Pasadena (CA); On-site; USD 143,000 - 193,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon's Safe Autonomy Frontiers Lab seeks Applied and Research Scientists to advance safe autonomy on dynamic robots, from theory to hardware deployment. You will work on CBF, safe RL, and layered safety filters with perception and learning components.

The role involves validating on hardware platforms, publishing in robotics venues, and collaborating across SAF Lab and Amazon teams to scale deployment of safe autonomy at Amazon's scale.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent research experience.
• Master’s +3 years in CS/ robotics/ control or related field, OR PhD.
• Hands-on experience developing and deploying control algorithms on physical robotic hardware in a research or production setting.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python with real systems.
• Experience with physics simulators for robotics (Isaac Gym/Sim, MuJoCo, PyBullet).
• Demonstrated technical impact through shipped systems, patents, or publications at top-tier venues.

Responsibilities

• Advance safe autonomy research from formal foundations to hardware validation.
• Test and validate hardware focusing on locomotion, manipulation, and loco-manipulation.
• Bridge theory and practice to guide next research cycle and deployments.
• Publish research in top robotics, control, and ML venues.
• Collaborate with SAF Lab and Amazon teams to scale deployments.

Skills

Robotics hardware deployment

Safety-critical control

Cross-functional collaboration

Strong communication

Education

PhD or equivalent research experience

Master’s +3 years in CS/ robotics/ control or related field, or PhD

Tools

C++

Python

Isaac Gym/Sim

MuJoCo

PyBullet

Job description

We are seeking Applied and Research Scientists to join the Safe Autonomy Frontiers (SAF) Lab. In this role, you will develop and deploy the science of safe autonomy on highly dynamic robots, advancing the frontier through both foundational research and realization on hardware. You will contribute to achieving safe autonomy across three key areas: control barrier function (CBF) theory for robust and performant safety on hardware; safe reinforcement learning for agile whole-body control; and layered safety filters that interface with learning, perception, and semantic reasoning systems. You will validate your work experimentally on state-of-the-art robotic platforms — removing bottlenecks to deployment and enabling robots to safely operate around humans. You will work with the inventor of CBFs, as well as top scientists and engineers at Amazon developing the next generation of safe autonomy.

Key job responsibilities

• Advance the science of safe autonomy from formal foundations to the integration with learning and perception to validation on hardware — with particular emphasis on methods that bridge these domains.
• Test and validate hardware, with a focus on next generation robotic systems. Including locomotion, manipulation and loco-manipulation.
• Leverage the deployments on hardware to validate the underlying science, identifying gaps between theory and practice that drive the next cycle of research. hardware to validate the underlying science, identifying gaps between theory and practice that drive the next cycle of research.
• Publish research at top-tier robotics, control, and ML venues, and contribute to Amazon’s scientific reputation in advanced robotics.
• Collaborate with SAF Lab and Amazon production teams to move research into robots deployed at Amazon scale.

A day in the life

Amazon offers a full range of benefits that support you and eligible family members, including domestic partners and their children. Benefits can vary by location, the number of regularly scheduled hours you work, length of employment, and job status such as seasonal or temporary employment. The benefits that generally apply to regular, full-time employees include:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage
• Maternity and Parental Leave Options
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 401(k) Plan

About the team

The Safe Autonomy Frontiers (SAF) Lab is the first industry research lab dedicated to safe autonomy, founded by the inventor of control barrier functions. We are developing a universal safety layer for the next generation of robotic systems: mobile robots, manipulators, quadrupeds, and humanoids. Here you will advance performant safety for highly dynamic robots — CBF theory integrated with perception and learning, evaluated on next-generation platforms — and your work will underpin robots operating alongside people at Amazon’s unprecedented scale.

Basic Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent research experience
• Master’s degree and 3+ years of applied science, research, or robotics engineering experience — OR a PhD — in computer science, robotics, control, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience developing and deploying control algorithms and/or learning policies on physical robotic hardware in a research or production setting (not simulation-only).
• Working knowledge of safety-critical control, including control barrier functions and safety filters.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python, with a track record of implementing control algorithms and/or learning policies in real systems.
• Experience with physics simulators for robotics (e.g., Isaac Gym/Sim, MuJoCo, PyBullet).
• Demonstrated technical impact through shipped systems, patents, or publications at top-tier venues (e.g., CDC, ACC, L-CSS, ICRA, IROS, RSS, RA-L, Automatica, TAC, TRO).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in professional software development, including production code quality, testing, and deployment practices.
• Experience taking robotics or autonomy research from prototype to deployed product, including collaboration with hardware, product, and operations teams.
• Understanding of autonomous systems, reduced-order models, layered control architectures, nonlinear control, reachability methods, legged locomotion, and whole-body control.
• Knowledge of learning-based approaches to robotics (e.g., reinforcement learning, diffusion, VLAs, VLMs, world models).
• Exposure learning-based approaches for CBF synthesis (e.g., neural CBFs, data-driven barrier functions) and the integration of CBFs into learning (e.g., CBF-RL).
• Understanding of control systems engineering, with a focus on layered architecture in robotic systems (high-level planning, mid-level trajectory generation, low-level feedback control).
• Experience with perception on robotic systems (e.g., depth-camera and LiDAR-based sensing, sensor fusion, semantic tagging), together with mapping and navigation.
• Familiarity with Hamilton-Jacobi reachability analysis and its relationship to CBF-based approaches.
• Knowledge of safety-constrained RL (e.g., constrained MDPs, Lagrangian methods, shielding, CBF-based policy filtering).
• Experience with model-based control (MPC, whole-body QP controllers, operational space control) and/or simulation-based predictive control (MPPI).
• Experience with hierarchical RL, skill composition, distillation, and multi-task policy architectures for locomotion.
• Familiarity with real-time deployment constraints (latency budgets, onboard compute limitations, control-loop frequencies).
• Experience building or contributing to large-scale RL training infrastructure (distributed training, GPU clusters).
• Strong communication skills and ability to work across disciplinary boundaries (ML, controls, mechanical engineering).

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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, CA, PASADENA - 142,800.00 - 193,200.00 USD annually