Sr. Applied Scientist, Fauna

Amazon; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon is seeking a Sr. Applied Scientist focused on Robot Navigation. This individual will research and develop advanced navigation systems for robots to reliably navigate complex environments. Responsibilities include implementing robust systems, conducting experiments, and collaborating with other teams. Candidates should possess a relevant PhD or Master's degree, along with strong programming and research experience.

Join a team dedicated to making robotics more accessible and creating delightful experiences through technology.

Qualifications

• PhD or Master's degree with 6+ years of applied research experience.
• 3+ years of industry or academic research experience.
• Strong publication record at major Robotics/ML/AI conferences.
• Experience with programming in Python and C++.
• Expertise in sim-to-real transfer for robotic systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical projects.

Responsibilities

• Develop robust navigation systems for autonomous operation.
• Build evaluation frameworks for navigation methods.
• Conduct sim-to-real transfer experiments.
• Collaborate with other teams for system integration.
• Stay updated with the latest advances in robot navigation.
• Mentor fellow scientists and engineers.

Skills

Applied research experience

Programming in Python

Programming in C++

Sim-to-real transfer

Mentorship

Education

PhD or Master's degree

Job description

Job ID: 10461906 | Amazon.com Services LLC

We are seeking a Sr. Applied Scientist to focus on Robot Navigation. In this role, you'll research and develop advanced navigation systems that enable robots to move reliably and safely through complex, dynamic environments. You'll work across a broad spectrum of navigation approaches—from classical methods to learning-based techniques and foundation models—to build robust solutions for autonomous robot navigation.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement robust navigation systems that enable reliable autonomous operation in complex, dynamic indoor environments with static and dynamic obstacles.
• Build simulation-based and on-device evaluation frameworks with comprehensive benchmarks and metrics for systematic comparison of navigation methods.
• Conduct sim-to-real transfer experiments, analyzing performance gaps and developing techniques to ensure reliable real-world navigation performance.
• Collaborate with world model, manipulation, and other teams to ensure seamless integration of navigation capabilities into the full robot system.
• Stay current with the latest advances in robot navigation, spatial reasoning, and related fields, and apply relevant findings to improve system performance.
• Mentor fellow scientists and engineers while maintaining strong individual technical contributions.

About the Team

Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company, is building capable, safe, and genuinely delightful robots for everyday life. Our goal is simple: make robots people actually want to live and interact with in everyday human spaces. We believe that future won't arrive until building for robotics becomes far more accessible. Today, too much effort is spent reinventing the fundamentals. We're changing that by developing tightly integrated hardware and software systems that make it faster, safer, and more intuitive to create real-world robotic products.

Basic Qualifications

• PhD, or Master's degree and 6+ years of applied research experience.
• 3+ years of industry or academic research experience.
• Strong publication record at major Robotics/ML/AI conferences (e.g., RSS, CoRL, ICRA, IROS, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR).
• Experience programming in Python, C++ (or related language).
• Experience with sim-to-real transfer for robotic systems.
• Demonstrated track record of leading technical projects.
• Experience mentoring junior scientists/engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

• History of impactful first-author publications at major conferences.
• Experience bridging research with practical engineering implementation in robotics systems.
• Experience with visual navigation, semantic navigation, or foundation models applied to robot navigation.
• Experience evaluating and benchmarking multiple navigation approaches (classical, learning-based, foundation model-based).

Legal and EEO Statement

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

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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