Social
Machine learning

2019 Amazon Research Awards recipients announcement

Earlier this year, Amazon notified grant applicants who were recipients of the 2019 Amazon Research Awards.

By Amazon Research Awards team
June 17, 2020
6 min read
Share

Earlier this spring, Amazon notified grant applicants that they were recipients of the 2019 Amazon Research Awards, a grant program that provides up to $80,000 in cash and $20,000 in AWS Promotional Credits to academic researchers investigating topics across 11 focus areas. Today, we’re publicly announcing the 51 award recipients who represent 39 universities in 10 countries. The 2019 awards averaged $72,000 in cash awards and $15,000 in AWS Promotional Credits in support of each research project. Each grant is intended to support the work of one to two graduate students or postdoctoral students for one year, under the supervision of a faculty member.

2019 Amazon Research Award recipients ARA.png

The 11 focus areas of this year’s research awards are computer vision; fairness in artificial intelligence; knowledge management and data quality; machine learning algorithms and theory; natural-language processing; online advertising; operations research and optimization; personalization; robotics; search and information retrieval; and security, privacy, and abuse prevention.

Recipients can use more than 150 Amazon public data sets. Amazon encourages the publication of research results, researcher presentations at Amazon offices worldwide, and the release of related code under open-source licenses.

Each project is assigned an Amazon research contact who is available for consultation and supports the project’s progress.

“The Amazon Research Awards help fund outstanding, innovative research proposals across machine learning, robotics, operations research, and more, while helping strengthen connections between Amazon research teams, academic researchers, and their affiliated institutions,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of Amazon Machine Learning. “The breadth and depth of the research this year’s recipients will pursue is impressive and will lead to critical innovations for our customers and meaningful scientific advancements in each of the 11 focus areas.”

Grant proposals for 2020, which will be the program’s sixth year, will be accepted starting this fall. Please check back for more information this summer or send an email to be added to the 2020 Call For Proposal distribution list. Below is the list of 2019 award recipients, presented in alphabetical order.

Recipient

University

Research title

Pulkit Agrawal

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Continual Reinforcement Learning

James Allan

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Explanation of Product Facets for Conversational Search

Chris Amato

Northeastern University

Scalable and Robust Multi-Robot Coordination through High-Level Macro-Actions

Ashis G. Banerjee

University of Washington

Sparse, Deep and Persistent Visual Features Based 3D Object Detection and 6D Pose Estimation in Indoor Environments

Sven Behnke

University of Bonn

Learning Structured Scene Modeling and Physics-Based Prediction for Manipulation

François-Xavier Briol

University College London & the Alan Turing Institute

Transfer Learning for Numerical Integration in Expensive Machine Learning Systems

Flavio du Pin Calmon

Harvard University

Building the Foundations of Fair Machine Learning: From Information Theory to Federated Algorithms

Luca Carlone

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Metric-Semantic SLAM for Long-Term Multi-Robot Deployment

Shayok Chakraborty

Florida State University

Deep Active Learning with Relative Label Feedback

Kai-Wei Chang

University of California Los Angeles

Learning Robust Contextual Language Encoders at Scale

Margarita Chli

ETH Zurich

Semantic-Aware Cloud-Aided Aerial Navigation for Drone Delivery

Jeff Dalton

University of Glasgow

Knowledge-Grounded Conversational Product Information Seeking

N. Lance Downing

Stanford University

DeepStroke: Improving Stroke Diagnosis with Deep Learning on NIH Stroke Scale Assessments

Luciana Ferrer

Computer Science Institute (ICC), UBA-CONICET

Representation Learning for Sound Understanding

Alexander Gammerman

Royal Holloway, University of London

Conformal Martingales for Change-Point Detection

Graeme Gange

Monash University

Robust Prioritised Planning for Multi-Agent Pathfinding

Itai Gurvich

Cornell University

Dynamic Resource Allocation to Heterogeneous Requests: Near Optimal, Computationally Light Policies

Kris Hauser

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Robotic Packing of Novel and Non-Rigid Objects with Visuotactile Modeling

Daqing He

University of Pittsburgh

Transferable, Controllable, Applicable Keyphrase Generation

Jason Hong

Carnegie Mellon University

Designing Alternative Representations of Confusion Matrices to Evaluate Public Perceptions of Fairness in Machine Learning

Wendy Ju

Cornell Tech

Enabling Machines to Recognize and Repair Errors in Interaction

Sertac Karaman

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Learning New Environments with a Tour: Depth and Pose Estimation through Informative Control Actions

Ioannis Karamouzas

Clemson University

Learning Efficient Multi-Robot Navigation from Human Crowd Data

Aryeh Kontorovich

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Advanced Proximity-Based Learning Toolkit for SageMaker

Oliver Kroemer

Carnegie Mellon University

Robust Manipulation Strategies for Delta-Robot Arrays

Beibei Li

Carnegie Mellon University

AI Agent for Targeted Promotion

Changliu Liu

Carnegie Mellon University

Hierarchical Motion Planning for Efficient and Provably Safe Human-Robot Interactions

Anirudha Majumdar

Princeton University

Force-Closure Nets: Manipulating Objects with Provable Guarantees on Generalization

Karthik Narasimhan

Princeton University

Towards Deeper, Broader and Human-Like Conversational Agents

Joseph P. Near

University of Vermont

Provable Fairness for Deep Learning via Automatic Differentiation

Priyadarshini Panda

Yale University

Adversarial Robustness with Efficiency-Driven Optimization of Deep Neural Networks

Guilherme Augsto Silva Pereira

West Virginia University

Parallel and Cloud Computing for Long-Term Robotics

Carlo Pinciroli

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

An Immersive Interface for Multi-User Supervision of Multi-Robot Operations

Ingmar Posner

University of Oxford

Compositional Deep Generative Models for Real-World Robot Perception and Manipulation

Amanda Prorok

University of Cambridge

Learning Explicit Communication for Multi-Robot Path Planning

Sebastian Risi

IT University of Copenhagen

Continually Learning Machines for Industrial Automation

Alessandro Rizzo

Politecnico di Torino

From Shortest to Safest Path Navigation: An AI-Powered Framework for Risk-Aware Autonomous Navigation of UASes

Nicolas Rojas

Imperial College London

Mechanical intelligence for in-hand manipulation

Daniela Rus

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Series Elastic Magnetically Geared Robotic Actuators

Sanjay Sarma

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Multi-modal Sensing for Material ID in Robotic Applications

Alex Schwing

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Seeing the Unseen: Temporal Amodal Instance Level Video Object Segmentation

Roland Siegwart

ETH Zürich

Aerial Manipulation with an Omnidirectional Flying Platform

Niko Suenderhauf

Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

Learning Robotic Navigation and Interaction from Object-based Semantic Maps

Chenhao Tan

University of Colorado at Boulder

Actively Soliciting Human Explanations to Correct Biases in NLP Models

Jian Tang

HEC Montreal: Mila-Quebec AI Institute

Deep Active Learning for Graph Neural Networks

Marynel Vázquez

Yale University

Improving Social Robot Navigation via Group Interaction Awareness

Soroush Vosoughi

Dartmouth College

Protecting Online Anonymity Through Linguistic Style Transfer

Richard M. Voyles

Purdue University

Framework for One-Shot Learning of Contact-Intensive Tasks Through Coaching

May Dongmei Wang

Georgia Institute of Technology

Learning to Unlearn Biases in Recommendation Models

James Wang

The Pennsylvania State University

Advancing Automated Recognition of Emotion in the Wild

Xinyu Xing

The Pennsylvania State University

Fine-grained Malware Classification using Coarse-grained Labels
Research areas
Tags
About the Author
Amazon Research Awards team

Related content

Work with us

See more jobs See more jobs
Applied Scientist III, Amazon - Ads Nova
US, NY, New York
Are you passionate about solving big problems from ground-up? Do you enjoy building new state-of-the-art products at internet scale? Come lead the innovation in this startup team, vertical ad products. This is a green field problem without a known answer or a pattern to follow. We have ambitious vision to simplify full funnel advertising solutions, at scale, with specialized agentic AI-powered models and diversify the demand to strategic verticals including finserv, autos, locals.. etc. We are seeking an experienced Applied Scientist to drive innovation in our Ads Foundational Model. In this individual contributor role, you will apply advanced machine learning techniques to improve advertiser performance and customer experience. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist on this team, you will: 1. Develop and drive the science strategy for Ads Foundational Model (Ads-FM), aligning it with the program's objectives and overall business goals. 2. Identify high-impact opportunities within Ads-FM program and lead the ideation, planning, and execution of science initiatives to address them. 3. Build and deploy machine learning models using computer vision, natural language processing, and deep learning to evaluate and enhance ad effectiveness. 4. Develop algorithms that extract meaningful signals from image, video, and audio content to predict and improve customer engagement 5. Leverage Amazon's extensive data repository to create predictive models that generate actionable recommendations for more compelling ad creative 6. Collaborate with business leaders and cross-functional teams to implement ML-powered solutions 7. Contribute to the ML roadmap for the Ads-FM program through innovation and research.
Principal Economist, Stores Economics and Science
US, WA, Seattle
This role will contribute to developing the Economics and Science products and services in the Fee domain, with specialization in supply chain systems and fees. Through the lens of economics, you will develop causal links for how Amazon, Sellers and Customers interact. You will be a key and senior scientist, advising Amazon leaders how to price our services. You will work on developing frameworks and scaleable, repeatable models supporting optimal pricing and policy in the two-sided marketplace that is central to Amazon's business. The pricing for Amazon services is complex. You will partner with science and technology teams across Amazon including Advertising, Supply Chain, Operations, Prime, Consumer Pricing, and Finance. We are looking for an experienced Principal Economist to improve our understanding of seller Economics, enhance our ability to estimate the causal impact of fees, and work with partner teams to design pricing policy changes. In this role, you will provide guidance to scientists to develop econometric models to influence our fee pricing worldwide. You will lead the development of causal models to help isolate the impact of fee and policy changes from other business actions, using experiments when possible, or observational data when not. Key job responsibilities The ideal candidate will have extensive Economics knowledge, demonstrated strength in practical and policy relevant structural econometrics, strong collaboration skills, proven ability to lead highly ambiguous and large projects, and a drive to deliver results. They will work closely with Economists, Data / Applied Scientists, Strategy Analysts, Data Engineers, and Product leads to integrate economic insights into policy and systems production. Familiarity with systems and services that constitute seller supply chains is a plus but not required. About the team The Stores Economics and Sciences team is a central science team that supports Amazon's Retail and Supply Chain leadership. We tackle some of Amazon's most challenging economics and machine learning problems, where our mandate is to impact the business on massive scale.
Quantum Research Engineer, Quantum Computing
US, CA, Pasadena
The Amazon Center for Quantum Computing (CQC) team is looking for a passionate, talented, and inventive Research Engineer specializing in hardware design for cryogenic environments. The ideal candidate should have expertise in 3D CAD (SolidWorks), thermal and structural FEA (Ansys/COMSOL), hardware design for cryogenic applications, design for manufacturing, and mechanical engineering principles. The candidate must have demonstrated experience driving designs through full product development cycles (requirements, conceptual design, detailed design, manufacturing, integration, and testing). Candidates must also have a strong background in both cryogenic mechanical engineering theory and implementation. Working effectively within a cross-functional team environment is critical. Key job responsibilities The CQC collaborates across teams and projects to offer state-of-the-art, cost-effective solutions for scaling the signal delivery to quantum processor systems at cryogenic temperatures. Equally important is the ability to scale the thermal performance and improve EMI mitigation of the cryogenic environment. You will work on the following: - High density novel packaging solutions for quantum processor units - Cryogenic mechanical design for novel cryogenic signal conditioning sub-assemblies - Cryogenic mechanical design for signal delivery systems - Simulation-driven designs (shielding, filtering, etc.) to reduce sources of EMI within the qubit environment. - Own end-to-end product development through requirements, design reports, design reviews, assembly/testing documentation, and final delivery A day in the life As you design and implement cryogenic hardware solutions, from requirements definition to deployment, you will also: - Participate in requirements, design, and test reviews and communicate with internal stakeholders - Work cross-functionally to help drive decisions using your unique technical background and skill set - Refine and define standards and processes for operational excellence - Work in a high-paced, startup-like environment where you are provided the resources to innovate quickly About the team The Amazon Center for Quantum Computing (CQC) is a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and technicians, on a mission to develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer. Inclusive Team Culture Here at Amazon, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Our employee-led affinity groups foster a culture of inclusion that empower us to be proud of our differences. Ongoing events and learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness. Diverse Experiences Amazon values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying. Mentorship & Career Growth We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional. Work/Life Balance We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud. Export Control Requirement Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be either a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be able to obtain a US export license. If you are unsure if you meet these requirements, please apply and Amazon will review your application for eligibility.
Applied Scientist, Alexa AI
IT, Turin
As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, you will spearhead the advancement and deployment of state-of-the-art ML/RAG systems that revolutionize how millions of customers interact with Alexa. You'll leverage your expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models to create reliable, scalable, high-performance products that set new standards in operational excellence. Working at the intersection of research and production, you'll translate latest AI innovations into customer-facing features that delight users daily. Your work will span the full ML lifecycle—from analyzing customer behavior patterns and building novel metrics for personal digital assistants, to deploying automated training pipelines and conducting rigorous A/B testing across diverse devices and endpoints. Collaborating closely with business, engineering, and science teams across Amazon, you'll lead high-visibility programs that automate workflows and deliver measurable customer impact. This role offers the unique opportunity to publish at top-tier conferences while seeing your innovations scale to one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team: - You'll analyze and model customer behavior at scale, building novel metrics for personal digital assistants across diverse devices and endpoints. Your work will involve creating deep learning, policy-based learning, and machine learning algorithms that directly impact customer experiences, translating complex data patterns into actionable insights that drive product innovation. - Your technical leadership will extend to building and deploying automated model training and evaluation pipelines, implementing complex machine learning and deep learning algorithms, and conducting rigorous model and data analysis through online A/B testing. You'll research and implement novel approaches that push the boundaries of what's possible in conversational AI. - Beyond model development, you'll ensure operational excellence by taking ownership of production systems, including on-call responsibilities during peak and non-peak hours. Working alongside Software Development Engineers, you'll deploy fixes and handle high-severity issues, ensuring our ML systems maintain the reliability and performance that millions of Alexa customers depend on daily. A day in the life As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, your day will involve collaborating with talented engineers and scientists to build scalable solutions for our conversational assistant. You'll dive into data analysis, experiment with novel algorithms, and iterate on models based on real-time user feedback. Working in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment, you'll tackle complex technical challenges—from debugging production issues to presenting research findings to stakeholders. Your self-motivated approach will drive you to swiftly deliver impactful solutions while maintaining the high standards that define our mission to revolutionize user experiences for millions of customers. About the team The Alexa AI team develops the intelligence behind one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. We're a diverse group of scientists, engineers, and researchers united by our mission to make Alexa more natural, helpful, and delightful. Our culture thrives on innovation, collaboration, and customer obsession. We tackle some of the most challenging problems in conversational AI—from natural language understanding to personalization at scale. Here, you'll work alongside world-class talent, publish at top-tier conferences, and see your innovations impact customers daily. We move fast, think big, and celebrate both successes and learnings.
Applied Scientist, Alexa AI
IT, Turin
As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, you will spearhead the advancement and deployment of state-of-the-art ML/RAG systems that revolutionize how millions of customers interact with Alexa. You'll leverage your expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models to create reliable, scalable, high-performance products that set new standards in operational excellence. Working at the intersection of research and production, you'll translate latest AI innovations into customer-facing features that delight users daily. Your work will span the full ML lifecycle—from analyzing customer behavior patterns and building novel metrics for personal digital assistants, to deploying automated training pipelines and conducting rigorous A/B testing across diverse devices and endpoints. Collaborating closely with business, engineering, and science teams across Amazon, you'll lead high-visibility programs that automate workflows and deliver measurable customer impact. This role offers the unique opportunity to publish at top-tier conferences while seeing your innovations scale to one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team: - You'll analyze and model customer behavior at scale, building novel metrics for personal digital assistants across diverse devices and endpoints. Your work will involve creating deep learning, policy-based learning, and machine learning algorithms that directly impact customer experiences, translating complex data patterns into actionable insights that drive product innovation. - Your technical leadership will extend to building and deploying automated model training and evaluation pipelines, implementing complex machine learning and deep learning algorithms, and conducting rigorous model and data analysis through online A/B testing. You'll research and implement novel approaches that push the boundaries of what's possible in conversational AI. - Beyond model development, you'll ensure operational excellence by taking ownership of production systems, including on-call responsibilities during peak and non-peak hours. Working alongside Software Development Engineers, you'll deploy fixes and handle high-severity issues, ensuring our ML systems maintain the reliability and performance that millions of Alexa customers depend on daily. A day in the life As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, your day will involve collaborating with talented engineers and scientists to build scalable solutions for our conversational assistant. You'll dive into data analysis, experiment with novel algorithms, and iterate on models based on real-time user feedback. Working in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment, you'll tackle complex technical challenges—from debugging production issues to presenting research findings to stakeholders. Your self-motivated approach will drive you to swiftly deliver impactful solutions while maintaining the high standards that define our mission to revolutionize user experiences for millions of customers. About the team The Alexa AI team develops the intelligence behind one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. We're a diverse group of scientists, engineers, and researchers united by our mission to make Alexa more natural, helpful, and delightful. Our culture thrives on innovation, collaboration, and customer obsession. We tackle some of the most challenging problems in conversational AI—from natural language understanding to personalization at scale. Here, you'll work alongside world-class talent, publish at top-tier conferences, and see your innovations impact customers daily. We move fast, think big, and celebrate both successes and learnings.
Applied Scientist, Alexa AI
IT, Turin
As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, you will spearhead the advancement and deployment of state-of-the-art ML/RAG systems that revolutionize how millions of customers interact with Alexa. You'll leverage your expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models to create reliable, scalable, high-performance products that set new standards in operational excellence. Working at the intersection of research and production, you'll translate latest AI innovations into customer-facing features that delight users daily. Your work will span the full ML lifecycle—from analyzing customer behavior patterns and building novel metrics for personal digital assistants, to deploying automated training pipelines and conducting rigorous A/B testing across diverse devices and endpoints. Collaborating closely with business, engineering, and science teams across Amazon, you'll lead high-visibility programs that automate workflows and deliver measurable customer impact. This role offers the unique opportunity to publish at top-tier conferences while seeing your innovations scale to one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team: - You'll analyze and model customer behavior at scale, building novel metrics for personal digital assistants across diverse devices and endpoints. Your work will involve creating deep learning, policy-based learning, and machine learning algorithms that directly impact customer experiences, translating complex data patterns into actionable insights that drive product innovation. - Your technical leadership will extend to building and deploying automated model training and evaluation pipelines, implementing complex machine learning and deep learning algorithms, and conducting rigorous model and data analysis through online A/B testing. You'll research and implement novel approaches that push the boundaries of what's possible in conversational AI. - Beyond model development, you'll ensure operational excellence by taking ownership of production systems, including on-call responsibilities during peak and non-peak hours. Working alongside Software Development Engineers, you'll deploy fixes and handle high-severity issues, ensuring our ML systems maintain the reliability and performance that millions of Alexa customers depend on daily. A day in the life As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, your day will involve collaborating with talented engineers and scientists to build scalable solutions for our conversational assistant. You'll dive into data analysis, experiment with novel algorithms, and iterate on models based on real-time user feedback. Working in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment, you'll tackle complex technical challenges—from debugging production issues to presenting research findings to stakeholders. Your self-motivated approach will drive you to swiftly deliver impactful solutions while maintaining the high standards that define our mission to revolutionize user experiences for millions of customers. About the team The Alexa AI team develops the intelligence behind one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. We're a diverse group of scientists, engineers, and researchers united by our mission to make Alexa more natural, helpful, and delightful. Our culture thrives on innovation, collaboration, and customer obsession. We tackle some of the most challenging problems in conversational AI—from natural language understanding to personalization at scale. Here, you'll work alongside world-class talent, publish at top-tier conferences, and see your innovations impact customers daily. We move fast, think big, and celebrate both successes and learnings.
Microwave Design Engineer, Amazon Center for Quantum Computing
US, CA, Pasadena
The Amazon Center for Quantum Computing in Pasadena, CA, is looking to hire an Applied Scientist specializing in the design of microwave components for use in cryogenic environments. Working alongside other scientists and engineers, you will design and validate hardware performing microwave signal conditioning at cryogenic temperatures for Amazon quantum processors. Working effectively within a cross-functional team environment is critical. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of hardware development from requirements development to validation. Diverse Experiences Amazon values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying. Work/Life Balance We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud. Inclusive Team Culture Here at AWS, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Our employee-led affinity groups foster a culture of inclusion that empower us to be proud of our differences. Ongoing events and learning experiences, including our Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) and AmazeCon (gender diversity) conferences, inspire us to never stop embracing our uniqueness. Mentorship and Career Growth We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional. Key job responsibilities Our scientists and engineers collaborate across diverse teams and projects to offer state of the art, cost effective solutions for the signal conditioning of Amazon quantum processor systems at cryogenic temperatures. You’ll bring a passion for innovation, collaboration, and mentoring to: Solve layered technical problems across our cryogenic signal chain. Develop requirements with key system stakeholders, including quantum device, test and measurement, hardware, and theory teams. Design, implement, test, deploy, and maintain innovative solutions that meet both performance and cost metrics. Research enabling technologies necessary for Amazon reach commercial viability in quantum computing . A day in the life As you research, design, and implement cryogenic microwave signal conditioning solutions, you will also: Participate in requirements, design, and test reviews. Work cross-functionally to help drive decisions using your unique technical background and skill set. Define and maintain standards for operational excellence. Work in a high-paced, startup-like environment where you are provided the resources to innovate quickly.
Applied Scientist, Alexa AI
IT, Turin
As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, you will spearhead the advancement and deployment of state-of-the-art ML/RAG systems that revolutionize how millions of customers interact with Alexa. You'll leverage your expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models to create reliable, scalable, high-performance products that set new standards in operational excellence. Working at the intersection of research and production, you'll translate latest AI innovations into customer-facing features that delight users daily. Your work will span the full ML lifecycle—from analyzing customer behavior patterns and building novel metrics for personal digital assistants, to deploying automated training pipelines and conducting rigorous A/B testing across diverse devices and endpoints. Collaborating closely with business, engineering, and science teams across Amazon, you'll lead high-visibility programs that automate workflows and deliver measurable customer impact. This role offers the unique opportunity to publish at top-tier conferences while seeing your innovations scale to one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team: - You'll analyze and model customer behavior at scale, building novel metrics for personal digital assistants across diverse devices and endpoints. Your work will involve creating deep learning, policy-based learning, and machine learning algorithms that directly impact customer experiences, translating complex data patterns into actionable insights that drive product innovation. - Your technical leadership will extend to building and deploying automated model training and evaluation pipelines, implementing complex machine learning and deep learning algorithms, and conducting rigorous model and data analysis through online A/B testing. You'll research and implement novel approaches that push the boundaries of what's possible in conversational AI. - Beyond model development, you'll ensure operational excellence by taking ownership of production systems, including on-call responsibilities during peak and non-peak hours. Working alongside Software Development Engineers, you'll deploy fixes and handle high-severity issues, ensuring our ML systems maintain the reliability and performance that millions of Alexa customers depend on daily. A day in the life As an Applied Scientist in the Alexa AI team, your day will involve collaborating with talented engineers and scientists to build scalable solutions for our conversational assistant. You'll dive into data analysis, experiment with novel algorithms, and iterate on models based on real-time user feedback. Working in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment, you'll tackle complex technical challenges—from debugging production issues to presenting research findings to stakeholders. Your self-motivated approach will drive you to swiftly deliver impactful solutions while maintaining the high standards that define our mission to revolutionize user experiences for millions of customers. About the team The Alexa AI team develops the intelligence behind one of the world's most popular voice assistants, serving millions of customers globally. We're a diverse group of scientists, engineers, and researchers united by our mission to make Alexa more natural, helpful, and delightful. Our culture thrives on innovation, collaboration, and customer obsession. We tackle some of the most challenging problems in conversational AI—from natural language understanding to personalization at scale. Here, you'll work alongside world-class talent, publish at top-tier conferences, and see your innovations impact customers daily. We move fast, think big, and celebrate both successes and learnings.
Applied Scientist, Agentic Automated Reasoning
GB, London
The Agentic Automated Reasoning Group is building the next generation of software verification tools combining advances in artificial intelligence, the computational capacity of the cloud, and our deep expertise in the domain. Join us if you want to be a part of this transformational endeavor. The Strata team (https://github.com/strata-org) is seeking an applied scientist with broad interest and expertise in model checking, interactive theorem proving, programming language semantics, and generative AI. You will combine your expertise with that of your coworkers to build new tools that solve code analysis problems previously considered beyond reach. Our application areas span all the way from Infrastructure as Code to high-performance cryptography written in assembly code, while our methods span from interactive theorem proving to automated test generation. Each day, hundreds of thousands of developers make billions of transactions worldwide on AWS. They harness the power of the cloud to enable innovative applications, websites, and businesses. Using automated reasoning technology and mathematical proofs, AWS allows customers to answer questions about security, availability, durability, and functional correctness. We call this provable security, absolute assurance in security of the cloud and in the cloud. https://aws.amazon.com/security/provable-security/ Key job responsibilities - Work with customer teams to understand the nature of their software and the properties they need to establish of it. - Identify tools and methods capable of addressing the verification needs of customers, including any novel analysis capabilities required. - Use techniques spanning property-based testing to model checkers, and interactive theorem provers to establish program properties. - Explore generative AI techniques to help customers formalize their requirements, find revealing tests, generate required boiler plate for testing and model checking, and find and repair program proofs. About the team The Agentic Automated Reasoning Group at AWS develops and applies state of the art formal methods and automated reasoning techniques to ensure the security, reliability, and correctness of AWS services and customer applications, with a strong focus on AI based agents. Our work innovates tools and services to perform verification at scale and apply them to build safe and secure systems at AWS. We are also pioneering the use of formal verification and automated reasoning to develop agentic systems, ensuring AI agents operate within defined safety boundaries.
Applied Scientist, Agentic Automated Reasoning
GB, London
The Agentic Automated Reasoning Group is building the next generation of software verification tools combining advances in artificial intelligence, the computational capacity of the cloud, and our deep expertise in the domain. Join us if you want to be a part of this transformational endeavor. The Strata team (https://github.com/strata-org) is seeking an applied scientist with broad interest and expertise in model checking, interactive theorem proving, programming language semantics, and generative AI. You will combine your expertise with that of your coworkers to build new tools that solve code analysis problems previously considered beyond reach. Our application areas span all the way from Infrastructure as Code to high-performance cryptography written in assembly code, while our methods span from interactive theorem proving to automated test generation. Each day, hundreds of thousands of developers make billions of transactions worldwide on AWS. They harness the power of the cloud to enable innovative applications, websites, and businesses. Using automated reasoning technology and mathematical proofs, AWS allows customers to answer questions about security, availability, durability, and functional correctness. We call this provable security, absolute assurance in security of the cloud and in the cloud. https://aws.amazon.com/security/provable-security/ Key job responsibilities - Work with customer teams to understand the nature of their software and the properties they need to establish of it. - Identify tools and methods capable of addressing the verification needs of customers, including any novel analysis capabilities required. - Use techniques spanning property-based testing to model checkers, and interactive theorem provers to establish program properties. - Explore generative AI techniques to help customers formalize their requirements, find revealing tests, generate required boiler plate for testing and model checking, and find and repair program proofs. About the team The Agentic Automated Reasoning Group at AWS develops and applies state of the art formal methods and automated reasoning techniques to ensure the security, reliability, and correctness of AWS services and customer applications, with a strong focus on AI based agents. Our work innovates tools and services to perform verification at scale and apply them to build safe and secure systems at AWS. We are also pioneering the use of formal verification and automated reasoning to develop agentic systems, ensuring AI agents operate within defined safety boundaries.
See more jobs
View from space of a connected network around planet Earth representing the Internet of Things.
Get more from Amazon Science
Subscribe to our newsletter

Amazon.com | Conditions of Use | Privacy | © 1996-2026 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Social