Senior Applied Scientist, Last Mile Robotics (Fulfillment & Operations)

Amazon; Bellevue (WA); On-site; USD 167,000 - 226,000; 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 for Last Mile Robotics to develop cutting‑edge methods for capturing, reconstructing, and simulating real‑world delivery environments in high‑fidelity 3D. You will work closely with robotics, autonomy, simulation, and software engineers to turn ideas into systems that improve robot perception, planning, and navigation at scale.

The role emphasizes applied research with a short distance from concept to impact, and requires deep expertise in computer

Qualifications

• 3+ years of building ML models for business applications.
• PhD or Master’s degree with 6+ years of applied research experience.
• Proficiency in Java, C++, or Python.
• Experience with neural deep learning methods.

Responsibilities

• Develop cutting-edge ML methods for capturing, reconstructing, and simulating real-world delivery environments.
• Collaborate with robotics, autonomy, simulation, and software engineers to deploy systems.
• Turn promising research into production-ready components for robot perception and navigation.

Skills

3+ years ML models

Deep learning methods

Java, C++, Python

Education

PhD or Master’s with 6+ years of applied research

Tools

Java

C++

Python

Job description

Senior Applied Scientist, Last Mile Robotics

Every doorstep is different. Our robot has to understand all of them. We’re building robots to deliver packages to customer homes. To make that possible, we’re creating a system that can automatically generate a simulation‑ready digital twin of the outdoor delivery environment for every customer home Amazon delivers to; modeling the driveways, yards, walkways, stairs, porches, and doorsteps a robot must understand and navigate. And the goal isn’t simply to create virtual worlds that look real. They need to be real in the ways that matter to a robot. Geometry, semantics, appearance, physical properties, and the varied environmental cues that influence perception, planning, and motion, must be reproduced faithfully so robot behaviors from the field are repeatable in simulation. Our simulator becomes an effective tool to study the problem. The same autonomy software that runs on the physical robot also runs in simulation. When robot behavior differs between simulation and reality, we can ask why, and improve the representation, simulation, or models that produced the difference. Our North Star ambition is a system capable of modeling the delivery environment for every customer home we serve, across the enormous diversity of real residential environments. There isn’t an established recipe for doing this. We are advancing the knowledge frontier of scene reconstruction. The right representation may combine classical geometry, learned scene representations, generative models, world models, or approaches that haven’t been invented yet. We’re interested in people with deep expertise in one or more areas of: Computer vision, 3D graphics, scene reconstruction, physics simulation, neural scene representations, Gaussian splatting, generative AI, world models, or related areas - with a strong interest in applying that expertise to robotics. Role Overview This is applied research with a short distance from idea conception to physical consequence. You’ll work closely with robotics, autonomy, simulation, and software engineers to turn promising methods into systems that change how real robots perceive, plan, and navigate at Amazon scale. As an Applied Scientist on the Last Mile Robotics team, you will develop cutting‑edge methods for capturing, reconstructing, and simulating real‑world delivery environments in high‑fidelity 3D. Your work will directly enable autonomous robots to understand and navigate the diverse conditions found at customer doorsteps. You will push the boundaries of scene reconstruction, neural rendering, and generative modeling, transforming scientific breakthroughs into physical impact through rapid experimentation and close collaboration with robotics, autonomy, and simulation teams. About the team We’re a multidisciplinary team working across robotics, simulation, computer vision, graphics, machine learning, and software engineering. We don’t expect the best ideas to come from any one discipline. A graphics researcher, roboticist, computer‑vision scientist, simulation expert, or machine‑learning researcher may see a different path through the same problem, and we expect the strongest solutions to emerge from bringing those perspectives together. We value technical depth, curiosity, rapid experimentation, and low‑ego collaboration. We ask for help when we need it and give it generously when someone else does. We like problems where the answer isn’t obvious and turning promising ideas into working systems. Every doorstep is different. Help us build the technology that lets a robot understand all of them.

Basic Qualifications

• 3+ years of building machine learning models for business application experience
• PhD, or Master's degree and 6+ years of applied research experience
• Experience programming in Java, C++, Python or related language
• Experience with neural deep learning methods and machine learning

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with modeling tools such as R, scikit‑learn, Spark MLLib, MxNet, Tensorflow, numpy, scipy etc.
• Experience with large scale distributed systems such as Hadoop, Spark etc.

USA, CA, SANTA CLARA - 192,200.00 - 260,000.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Bellevue - 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.