Join the Personal Robotics Group at Amazon, where you'll help pioneer intelligent robotic products that deliver meaningful customer experiences. As a Senior Applied Scientist, you'll lead the development of advanced control systems that enable robots to operate naturally, safely, and intelligently in complex real-world environments. You'll drive technical excellence in areas such as RL-based locomotion policies, whole-body manipulation, sim-to-real transfer, vision-aided control, and safe human-robot interaction.
In this role, you'll combine hands-on technical work with scientific leadership, developing robust control solutions that enable robots to perform complex loco-manipulation tasks in dynamic environments. You'll leverage Amazon's computational resources and robotics infrastructure to tackle ambitious robotics problems.

• Key job responsibilities
• Lead technical initiatives in whole-body control and locomotion, driving breakthrough approaches through hands-on research and development in areas including policy learning, natural motion generation, vision-aided locomotion, and loco-manipulation
• Design and implement novel RL architectures and training paradigms for robust whole-body control that enables complex tasks across diverse scenarios
• Develop sim-to-real transfer techniques that enable policies trained in simulation to perform reliably on physical hardware
• Guide technical direction for locomotion and control projects from research through deployment, ensuring robust performance in real-world environments
• Collaborate with navigation, manipulation, and hardware teams to ensure seamless integration of whole-body control with perception and planning systems
• Mentor fellow scientists and engineers while maintaining strong individual technical contributions
• Establish benchmarks and evaluation frameworks for measuring locomotion and whole-body control performance across simulation and on-device testing

About the team
The Personal Robotics Group is pioneering intelligent robotic products that deliver meaningful customer experiences. We're building the next generation of robotic systems that will redefine how customers interact with technology. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of personal robotics working with world-class teams pushing the boundaries of what's possible in robotic manipulation, locomotion, and human-robot interaction.
Join us if you’re passionate about creating the future of personal robotics, solving complex challenges at the intersection of hardware and software, and seeing your innovation deliver transformative customer experiences.

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 with simulation environments for robot learning (Isaac Gym/Lab, Mu JoCo, or similar)
• 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 with large-scale distributed training for RL
• History of technical leadership and cross-functional collaboration
• Experience bridging research with practical engineering implementation in robotics systems
• Extensive programming skills in Python and Py Torch/JAX

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.

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, 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.

USA, CA, Sunnyvale - 192,200.00 - 260,000.00 USD annually