Senior Applied Scientist, APEX

Basic Qualifications

• PhD/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing
• a related technical field
• Master's degree with 5+ years of relevant industry experience - 3+ years of hands-on experience in applied machine learning, predictive modeling
• NLP - Strong programming skills in Python or a related language - Experience with deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) - Track record of delivering ML/NLP solutions from research to production - Experience working with large language models (training, fine-tuning
• evaluation) Preferred Qualifications - 5+ years of relevant industry or academic research experience - Experience with LLM alignment techniques (RLHF, DPO, constitutional AI) - Experience with agentic AI systems, including planning, tool use
• orchestration - Experience with distributed training and large-scale model optimization - Peer-reviewed publications at top-tier venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, EMNLP, ICLR) - Strong communication skills with the ability to present complex technical concepts to diverse audiences - Experience mentoring junior scientists or engineers Key job responsibilities - Design, implement
• evaluate novel approaches to LLM fine-tuning, alignment (RLHF, DPO)
• distillation for production deployment - Develop and improve agentic systems — including multi-step reasoning, tool use, planning
• orchestration — that work reliably at scale - Build evaluation frameworks and methodologies that go beyond standard benchmarks to capture real-world conversational quality - Translate research advances into customer-facing products, working closely with engineering, product
• cross-functional science teams - Analyze large-scale experimental results, identify patterns
• iterate rapidly on model improvements - Publish results at top-tier venues and contribute to Amazon's presence in the broader research community - Mentor junior scientists and contribute to hiring efforts About the team Alexa AI is building the science and technology behind Alexa+, Amazon's next-generation conversational assistant. Our team works at the intersection of large language models, reinforcement learning from human feedback and verifiable rewards, agentic architectures
• multilingual/multimodal understanding. We operate at massive scale — our models serve customers across dozens of languages and device types. If you want to push the frontier of conversational AI and see your work used by people every day, come join us.
• PhD or equivalent research experience
• Master's degree and 5+ years of applied research experience - 3+ years of building machine learning models for business application experience - Experience programming in Java, C++, Python or related language - Experience with neural deep learning methods and machine learning - Track record of delivering ML/NLP solutions from research to production - Experience working with large language models (training, fine-tuning
• evaluation) - Experience with deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow)
• Experience with modeling tools such as R, scikit-learn, Spark MLLib, MxNet, Tensorflow, numpy, scipy etc. - 5+ years of industry or academic research experience - Experience with training and deploying machine learning systems to solve large-scale optimizations - Experience communicating complex ideas to technical and non-technical audiences - Experience with LLM alignment techniques (RLHF, DPO, constitutional AI) - Experience with agentic AI systems, including planning, tool use
• orchestration - Peer-reviewed publications at top-tier venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, EMNLP, ICLR) Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability
• 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
• 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
• parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits . USA, WA, Bellevue - 167,100.00 - 226,100.00 USD annually