Principal Economist, Fulfillment by Amazon

Socket.dev; Bellevue (WA); On-site; USD 189,000 - 256,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon in Bellevue, WA is seeking a Principal Economist with expertise in economic and econometric modelling to lead market design for FBA. You will design auctions, pricing mechanisms, and large-scale experiments to improve seller and customer outcomes, while shaping the economics of rapid delivery programs across regions.

You will mentor junior economists, collaborate with product, engineering, and science teams, and contribute to a long‑term technical vision.

Qualifications

• PhD in Economics, Finance, Statistics, Mathematics, or closely related field.
• 7+ years in academia, industry, consulting, or government applying economic methods.

Responsibilities

• Design markets (e.g., auctions) and incentive mechanisms; develop economic models and run large‑scale experiments to improve supply chain efficiency and seller outcomes.
• Shape the economics of Amazon's fast delivery programs and FBA sellers’ product selection strategy.
• Bridge economics and operations research by building economic frameworks for large‑scale supply chain problems.
• Collaborate with product managers, scientists, and software developers to deploy models into production processes.
• Influence senior leaders on technical and business direction and represent the science perspective.
• Identify and propose new science investment areas and guide team focus.
• Mentor and develop junior economists and raise the technical bar for the science community.

Skills

Python

R

SQL

GenAI

Written and verbal communication

Education

PhD in Economics or related field

Tools

GenAI tools

Production‑grade languages (Java/C++)

Job description

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service that enables sellers to outsource supply chain and fulfillment to Amazon and use Amazon's world-class science, technology, and logistics infrastructure to deliver billions of products from manufacturing hubs to customer doorsteps worldwide with fast delivery promise. The FBA organization is looking for a Principal Economist with expertise in economic and econometric modelling and demonstrated strength in market mechanism design to join our cross-domain group of economists, data scientists, applied and research scientists and scholars.

As a lead economist, you will design markets and implement agentic systems that deploy supply chain and fulfillment resources to millions of heterogenous sellers. You will build causal inference models and experiments to evaluate policy impact on seller outcomes, and shape how our products evolve into trustworthy autonomous systems — collaborating with business and software teams to solve key challenges facing the worldwide FBA business. Such challenges include designing mechanisms to align sellers’ decisions with customers’ needs through better coordinating inventory, inbound, capacity, and fee. Successful operations enable sellers’ businesses growth, while ensuring worldwide Amazon customers have access to the largest selection of products through FBA sellers. In doing so, you will shape the economics of Amazon's global fast delivery programs, including Sub Same Day Delivery and Quick Commerce, across North America, Europe, and emerging markets.

We are looking for a seasoned economist who brings rigorous causal and structural thinking to traditionally operations research problems and who thrives in the ambiguity of defining the roadmap rather than receiving it. The successful candidate will have familiarity with modern GenAI methods for automation and rapid prototyping. Beyond individual contribution, you will set the long‑term technical vision across work streams, and influence product managers, engineers, scientists, and senior leaders on high‑judgment decisions and trade‑off. You will raise the bar for the organization by establishing best practices, driving science culture, and mentoring junior economists and scientists. We value deeply technical people who deliver results incrementally and frequently in a fast‑paced, high‑energy and fun environment, and who are eager to learn new areas and develop themselves and their colleagues.

Key job responsibilities

• Design markets (e.g., auctions), incentive mechanisms (e.g. pricing), develop economic models and execute large‑scale experiments to increase supply chain efficiency, to evaluate seller‑facing policies, to induce proper seller actions, and to uncover new opportunities that improve customers and sellers’ outcomes.
• Shape the economics of Amazon's fast delivery programs and FBA sellers’ product selection strategy (e.g., Sub Same Day Delivery and Quick Commerce)
• Bridge economics and operations research by building economic frameworks for large‑scale supply chain and fulfilment management problems.
• Operate as a thought leader across the organization; collaborate with product managers, scientists, and software developers to incorporate models into production processes and
• Influence senior leaders at VP‑level on technical and business direction, and represent the science perspective.
• Identify and propose new science investment areas to business leaders, shaping where the team focuses next.
• Mentor and develop junior economists and scientists, and raise the technical bar for the broader science community.

About the team

Sellers play a vital role in Amazon's ecosystem, integral to our mission of offering the Earth's largest selection, lowest prices, and fastest delivery speed. FBA is an optional service that enables third‑party sellers to outsource order fulfillment to Amazon, and leverage Amazon's world‑class facilities to provide customers fast delivery promise. With commitment to taking on even more of the supply chain and operational complexities on behalf of our selling partners, Amazon now provides an end‑to‑end suite of supply chain services. This comprehensive solution empowers sellers to reliably transport products from manufacturing sites to customers worldwide. The FBA team is the core group in charge of warehousing, inventory management, fulfillment and pricing, and a diverse range of recommendation and agentic services for sellers, as well as building the autonomous internal resource management systems. We work to learn seller behavior, understand seller experience, build automated and trustworthy autonomous assistants to sellers, recommend right actions to sellers, design seller policies and incentives, and develop science products and services that empower sellers to grow their businesses. To do so, we build and innovate science solutions that leverage the right tolls across different fields including economics, operation research, machine learning, statistics, and data analytics. Our culture is centered on rapid prototyping, rigorous experimentation, and data‑driven decision‑making.

We are open to hiring candidates to work out of one of the following locations: Bellevue, WA, or Sunnyvale, CA.

Basic Qualifications

• PhD in Economics, Finance, Statistics, Mathematics, or a closely related quantitative field.
• 7+ years in academia, industry, consulting, or government applying economic methods to substantive problems.
• Experience in applied economic analysis with big data, causal inference, machine learning and data science.
• Demonstrated ability to build complex economic models from scratch and take them to production.
• Proficiency in Python, R, SQL, or equivalent.
• Familiarity with GenAI methods for automation and rapid prototyping.
• A publication record or comparable body of work demonstrating research rigor.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including with non-technical senior audiences

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep technical knowledge in causal models, econometrics, and machine learning.
• Background in industrial organization, mechanism/market design, or structural model estimation
• Experience at the intersection of economics and operations research, particularly in supply chain, logistics, or marketplace settings.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage large datasets and economic models to drive organizational impact and change in a private or public sector context.
• Experience with production‑grade languages (e.g., Java or C++) in addition to scripting/analysis tools.
• Ability to identify and successfully pitch the value of new ideas to business leaders.
• Proven ability to work effectively across product, engineering, and science teams by thinking strategically, earning trust while staying on top of tactical execution with relentlessly high standards.

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, Bellevue - 189,400.00 - 256,200.00 USD annually