Senior Applied Scientist, AWS Security

Amazon; Berwick (Columbia County); On-site; USD 167,100 - 226,100; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Amazon is seeking a Senior Applied Scientist to enhance our AI/ML services for cybersecurity. Located in Berwick, you will leverage machine learning to detect and mitigate advanced security threats across AWS.

The ideal candidate should possess a PhD or Master’s degree with at least 6 years of experience in applied research. Responsibilities include building AI/ML systems, analyzing threat data, and mentoring colleagues. Join us in a collaborative environment focused on innovation.

Qualifications

• PhD, or Master’s degree and 6+ years of applied research experience.
• 3+ years of non-internship experience building machine learning models for business applications.
• Experience deploying AI/ML models into production systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and deploy AI/ML systems that process threat data at scale.
• Conduct thorough data analyses and develop prototypes for detecting unknown security problems.
• Mentor and develop teammates both technically and professionally.

Skills

Machine Learning

Data Analysis

Mentoring

Cybersecurity

Programming in Python

Education

PhD or Master's degree with 6+ years of applied research experience

Tools

AWS Services

Hadoop

Spark

Job description

Do you have a passion for GenAI, machine learning, and/or cybersecurity?! If so, join us in building innovative AI/ML services that protect our cloud from advanced security threats! As a Senior Applied Scientist on our team, you’ll analyze data using GenAI and other AI/ML techniques to build new services that detect and automate the mitigation of cybersecurity threats across Amazon’s infrastructure, including advanced persistent threats. You’ll work with software development engineers, security engineers, and other applied scientists across multiple teams to develop innovative security solutions at a massive scale. Our services protect the AWS cloud for all customers, helping preserve our customers’ trust in us. You’ll get to use the full power and breadth of AWS technologies to build services that proactively protect every single AWS customer, both internally and externally, from security threats – not many teams can say that!

A successful candidate is one who is passionate about utilizing big data, machine learning, and GenAI to solve real business problems. This role gives you the opportunity to lead technical innovation and drive the future direction of automation within threat detection and mitigation. Candidates are expected to have a track record of delivering high-quality results in a fast-moving environment. We need someone who’s comfortable mentoring, leading by example, and independently delivering.

We have a team culture that encourages innovation and for every team member to have a high degree of ownership for their program, vision, and execution of ideas. We’re looking for someone who is enthusiastic, empathetic, curious, motivated, reliable, and able to work effectively with a diverse team of peers and partner teams. We want someone who will help us amplify the positive and inclusive team culture we’ve been building.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Design, build, and deploy AI/ML systems that process threat data at scale, running over petabyte-scale security logs with real‑time inference
• Conduct thorough data analyses and develop prototypes for detecting otherwise‑unknown security problems
• Independently frame ambiguous problems, and then define and deliver a research agenda with limited guidance
• Seek out, develop, and advocate for new technologies to solve scientifically‑complex security problems
• Build consensus on scientific approaches, balancing analytic rigor with the operational urgency inherent to security
• Mentor and develop teammates both technically and professionally
• Publish patents and peer‑reviewed articles, and present your research both internally and externally

This team is part of the larger ‘Amazon Active Defense’ organization, focused on bringing automation – at scale – to AWS Security. Teams within Amazon Active Defense consist of security engineers, data/applied scientists, and software developers, all working together to launch big data analytics able to automatically detect and mitigate threats within AWS in near‑real‑time. This team, in particular, is focused on both detecting and automatically stopping advanced actor activities in internal AWS resources.

Relevant Projects

• https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/how-aws-uses-active-defense-to-help-protect-customers-from-security-threats/
• https://www.amazon.science/blog/how-amazon-uses-agentic-ai-for-vulnerability-detection-at-global-scale
• https://www.amazon.science/blog/how-amazon-uses-ai-agents-to-anticipate-and-counter-cyber-threats

Basic Qualifications

• PhD, or Master’s degree and 6+ years of applied research experience
• Experience leading engineering teams as a mentor or tech lead
• 3+ years of non‑internship experience building machine learning models for business applications
• Experience deploying AI/ML models into production systems with direct, verified customer impact
• Non‑internship experience of programming and/or scripting to solve real‑world problems (e.g., in Python)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with large‑scale distributed systems such as Hadoop, Spark, etc.
• Experience using AI/ML to solve problems in cybersecurity, fraud, or related areas
• Experience building and deploying new GenAI applications
• Experience with AWS or other cloud services (e.g., SageMaker, Bedrock, EMR, Glue, Lambda, S3, etc.)

Salary and Benefits

USA, WA, Seattle - 167,100.00 - 226,100.00 USD annually

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

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