Applied Science Manager - Perception, Amazon Robotics

Amazon Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 184,000 - 249,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401(k) Plan

Paid Time Off

Parental Leave

Life & AD&D insurance

Job summary

Amazon Robotics is seeking an Applied Science Manager for the Perception team to advance 3D scene understanding and real-time perception in production robots. You will lead researchers and engineers, set the technical vision, and guide cross-functional collaboration across match & affordances, motion planning, and fulfillment.

The role focuses on transformer-based models, generative 3D approaches, and scalable data pipelines to deliver sub-250ms perception with high accuracy in fulfillment

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s degree with 4+ years of research experience
• 6+ years of applied research experience
• 3+ years of scientists or ML engineers management experience
• Experience building machine learning models or developing algorithms for business applications
• Experience with deep learning libraries (PyTorch, TensorFlow, MXNet)
• Knowledge of engineering practices for software/hardware/networks life cycle, coding standards, source control, build, testing, and livesite operations

Responsibilities

• Lead the Perception team of applied scientists and engineers.
• Set a vision and create roadmaps for 3D perception and scene understanding.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver integrated perception solutions.
• Oversee model research, deployment, and latency optimization discussions.
• Mentor team, manage timelines, resources, and deliverables.

Skills

Leadership

Machine Learning

Perception systems

Research experience

Education

PhD or Master’s degree

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

MxNet

Job description

Applied Science Manager - Perception, Amazon Robotics

Job ID: 10553350 | Amazon.com Services LLC

Do you want to create intelligent, adaptable robots with global impact? The Vulcan Stow team (https://www.amazon.science/latest-news/how-amazon-robotics-researchers-are-solving-a-beautiful-problem) at Amazon Robotics builds high-performance, real-time robotic systems that can perceive, learn, and act intelligently alongside humans—at Amazon scale. We invent and deploy machine learning, optimization algorithms, and geometric reasoning models that empower robots to identify the best available placement opportunities, learn effective stow strategies, and continuously improve capacity utilization.

Our mission is to deliver robust, real-time 3D scene understanding that drives downstream manipulation decisions — spanning semantic occupancy prediction, multi-view 3D reconstruction, depth estimation, and panoptic segmentation. We hire and develop subject matter experts in 3D computer vision, deep learning, and generative modeling, targeting high-impact algorithmic unlocks in scene completion, shape reasoning, and edge-optimized inference.

We are seeking an experienced Applied Science Manager to lead the Perception team — a group of applied scientists and engineers pushing the frontier of 3D computer vision for robotics. You will drive technical vision using transformer-based architectures, generative 3D models, and scalable data pipelines to deliver sub-250ms perception outputs with the accuracy, robustness, and latency that production robots demand. Collaborating with cross-functional teams across match & affordances, motion planning, and fulfillment operations, you will ship models that run on real robots in real fulfillment centers.

Key job responsibilities

• People Leadership: Prioritize being a great people manager — motivating, rewarding, and coaching your diverse team is the most important part of this role. Recruit and retain top talent in 3D computer vision, deep learning, and perception systems. Excel in day-to-day people and performance management tasks.
• Technical Vision: Set a vision for your team and create technical roadmaps focused on 3D scene understanding, semantic occupancy prediction, depth estimation, and multi-view fusion. Guide research, design, deployment, and evaluation of perception models — including encoder-decoder networks, query-based transformers, and generative architectures — that produce actionable 3D representations for downstream robot decision-making.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with match & affordances, motion planning, hardware, and fulfillment teams to deliver integrated perception solutions that are robust to occlusion, clutter, and sensor noise. Partner with ML infrastructure teams on scalable training pipelines, pseudo-ground-truth data generation, and edge deployment optimization.
• Delivery Excellence: Implement best practices in applied research and software development. Manage project timelines, resources, and deliverables effectively. Keep technical skills current to contribute meaningfully to architecture decisions, model reviews, and inference optimization discussions.
• Problem Solving: Regularly participate in deep-dive troubleshooting exercises and drive technical post-mortem discussions to identify root causes of perception regressions, model failures, depth/segmentation misalignments, and latency degradations.

A day in the life

• Prioritize being a great people manager: motivating, rewarding, and coaching your diverse team is the most important part of this role. You will recruit and retain top talent and excel in people and performance management tasks.
• Set a vision for the team and create the technical roadmap that deliver results for customers while thinking big for future applications.
• Guide the research, design, deployment, and evaluation of complex computer vision and machine learning algorithms for contact-rich, cluttered, real-world manipulation problems.
• Work closely with motion, hardware, and software teams to create integrated robotic solutions that are better than the sum of their parts.
• Implement best practices in applied research and software development, managing project timelines, resources, and deliverables effectively.

Benefits

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

USA, WA, Seattle - 183,800.00 - 248,700.00 USD annually

Basic Qualifications

• PhD, or Master's degree and 4+ years of industry or academic research experience
• 6+ years of applied research experience
• 3+ years of scientists or machine learning engineers management experience
• Experience building machine learning models or developing algorithms for business application
• Experience with deep learning libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, MxNet Research publications in computer vision, deep learning or machine learning at peer-reviewed workshops, conferences or journals
• Knowledge of engineering practices and patterns for the full software/hardware/networks development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, certification, and livesite operations

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience hiring and growing top talent
• Deep expertise in 3D perception architectures — including encoder-decoder networks, vision transformers, multi-view reconstruction, point cloud processing and generative 3D models for scene completion

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.

About the team

Watch this video to learn more about Vulcan program in Amazon Robotics: https://www.amazon.science/latest-news/how-amazon-robotics-researchers-are-solving-a-beautiful-problem