Applied Science Manager - Perception, Amazon Robotics

Amazon; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 184,000 - 249,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage

401(k) Plan

Parental Leave Options

Job summary

Amazon Robotics’ Vulcan Stow team seeks an Applied Science Manager to lead a world-class perception group. The role drives 3D scene understanding and real-time perception for robots, delivering robust, low-latency outputs in fulfillment centers and beyond.

You will guide researchers and engineers in transformer-based architectures, generative 3D models, and scalable data pipelines, collaborating across match & affordances, motion planning, hardware, and software teams to ship production-ready

Qualifications

• PhD or Master's degree with 4+ years of industry or academic research.
• 6+ years of applied research experience.
• 3+ years of management experience in scientists or ML engineers.
• Experience building ML models or algorithms for business applications.
• Experience with deep learning libraries (PyTorch, TensorFlow, MXNet).
• Knowledge of software/hardware development life cycle and practices.

Responsibilities

• People Leadership: recruit, motivate, and coach a diverse team of 3D vision and perception specialists.
• Technical Vision: set roadmaps for 3D scene understanding, depth estimation, and multi-view fusion.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: partner with motion planning, hardware, fulfillment, and ML infra teams.
• Delivery Excellence: manage timelines, resources, and deliverables; contribute to architecture decisions.
• Problem Solving: lead post-mortems to identify root causes of perception regressions and latency issues.

Skills

People management

3D computer vision

Transformer-based architectures

Generative modeling

Edge deployment

Education

PhD or Master’s with 4+ years research

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

MxNet

Job description

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.

Amazon offers a full range of benefits for 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

If you are not sure that every qualification on the list above describes you exactly, we'd still love to hear from you! At Amazon, we value people with unique backgrounds, experiences, and skillsets. If you’re passionate about this role and want to make an impact on a global scale, please apply!

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

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.

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 - 183,800.00 - 248,700.00 USD annually