Principal Scientist: Contact-Rich Manipulation & AR Systems

Amazon; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 199,000 - 269,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon is seeking a Principal Applied Scientist to define control architectures for contact‑rich manipulation in AR Manipulation HW & Systems. You will shape how grasping systems operate, balancing speed, quality, cost, and safety across robot workcells in fulfillment centers.

You will lead a team to innovate force‑aware control, learned policies, and compliant end‑effectors, delivering scalable solutions with real‑world impact.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent body of published/deployed work in robotics or related field.
• Production‑quality Python and C++ code for robotic hardware.
• Expertise in force, impedance, or admittance control for contact‑rich manipulation.
• Experience integrating learned policies with low‑level controllers.
• Track record of setting technical direction in an organization or research community.
• Hands‑on expertise training manipulation policies with reinforcement or imitation learning.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical direction and contact‑control strategy for contact‑rich manipulation.
• Identify open problems and invent methods to solve them at production scale.
• Architect contact control using force/tactile sensing and compliant end‑effectors.
• Collaborate with scientists, hardware designers, and systems engineers as a single system.
• Develop mechanisms to learn from fielded production and improve recovery from faults.
• Demonstrate how simulation and real‑robot data turn lab results into warehouse performance.
• Establish reference implementations, evaluation standards, and design reviews.
• Mentor and develop other scientists and engineers; participate in hiring.

Skills

Python

C++

Robotics

Machine Learning

Control theory

Reinforcement learning

Imitation learning

Tactile sensing

Hardware integration

Leadership

Education

PhD in Robotics, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field

Job description

Amazon is seeking a Principal Applied Scientist to define control architectures for contact‑rich manipulation in AR Manipulation HW & Systems. You will shape how grasping systems operate, balancing speed, quality, cost, and safety across robot workcells in fulfillment centers.

You will lead a team to innovate force‑aware control, learned policies, and compliant end‑effectors, delivering scalable solutions with real‑world impact.