Member of Technical Staff Hardware Science, Frontier AI & Robotics (FAR)

Amazons Frontier AI & Robotics (FAR) team is seeking a Member of Technical Staff to drive foundational research and build intelligent robotic systems from the ground this role you will operate at the intersection of innovative AI research and real-world robotics - conducting original research publishing and deploying your innovations into production systems at Amazon scale. Were looking for researchers who think from first principles push the boundaries of whats possible and take full ownership of turning breakthrough ideas into working systems.

You will join the next revolution in robotics where youll work alongside world-renowned AI pioneers to push the boundaries of whats possible in robotic intelligence. As a Member of Technical Staff youll develop breakthrough foundation models that enable robots to perceive understand and interact with the physical world in unprecedented wayswith a strong emphasis on the hardware systems that bring these models to life. Youll drive independent research initiatives in areas such as locomotion manipulation motor control actuator design sim2real transfer and multi-modal robot learning designing novel frameworks that bridge state-of-the-art research with real-world hardware deployment at Amazon scale.

In this role youll balance innovative technical exploration with hands-on hardware implementation collaborating with mechanical electrical and controls engineering teams to ensure your models and algorithms perform robustly on physical robotic platforms in dynamic real-world environments. Youll have access to Amazons computational resources and advanced robotics infrastructureincluding high degree-of-freedom prototype platforms custom actuators and precision sensing systemsenabling you to tackle ambitious problems in areas like multi-modal robotic foundation models motor-level control optimization and efficient model architectures that scale across diverse robotic hardware.

Key job responsibilities
- Drive independent research initiatives across the full robotics stack including robot co-design manipulation mechanisms innovative actuation and motor control strategies state estimation low-level control system identification reinforcement learning and sim-to-real transfer as well as foundation models for perception and manipulation
- Lead full-stack robotics projects from conceptualization through hardware deployment taking a system-level approach that integrates actuator dynamics sensor feedback (force/torque IMUs encoders) and electromechanical constraints with algorithmic development
- Develop and optimize control algorithms and sensing pipelines for physical robotic hardware including motor characterization actuator performance tuning and robust sensor integration in production environments
- Collaborate with hardware mechanical and electrical engineering teams to ensure seamless integration of learned models across the robotics stackfrom embedded compute and communication buses to actuator-level control
- Contribute to the teams technical strategy and help shape our approach to next-generation hardware-aware robotics challenges including hardware-in-the-loop validation and prototype-to-deployment transitions

A day in the life
- Design and implement innovative systems and algorithms leveraging our extensive computational and robotics hardware infrastructure to prototype and evaluate at scale
- Collaborate with hardware and software engineers to solve complex technical challenges spanning motors actuators sensors and learned control
- Lead technical initiatives from conception to hardware deployment working closely with robotics engineers and lab teams to integrate your solutions into physical robotic platforms
- Participate in technical discussions and design reviews with team leaders hardware engineers and fellow scientists
- Leverage our compute cluster and advanced robotics labincluding high-DoF prototype platforms and custom actuation systemsto rapidly prototype and validate new ideas
- Transform theoretical insights into practical solutions that perform reliably on real-world robotic hardware

About the team
At Frontier AI & Robotics were not just advancing robotics were reimagining it from the ground up. Our team is building the future of intelligent robotics through ground breaking foundation models and end-to-end learned systems. We tackle some of the most challenging problems in AI and robotics from developing sophisticated perception systems to creating adaptive manipulation strategies that work in complex real-world scenarios.

What sets us apart is our unique combination of ambitious research vision and practical impact. We leverage Amazons massive computational infrastructure and rich real-world datasets to train and deploy state-of-the-art foundation models. Our work spans the full spectrum of robotics intelligence from multimodal perception using images videos and sensor data to sophisticated manipulation strategies that can handle diverse real-world scenarios. Were building systems that dont just work in the lab but scale to meet the demands of Amazons global operations.

Join us if youre excited about pushing the boundaries of whats possible in robotics working with world-class researchers and seeing your innovations deployed at unprecedented scale.

- PhD or Masters degree and 4 years of CS CE ML or related field experience
- Experience programming languages such as C/C Python Java or Perl
- Experience with hardware design low-level control state estimation system identification or complex electrical systems
- Experience in patents or publications at top-tier peer-reviewed conferences or journals
- Experience building machine learning models or developing algorithms for business application and applying theoretical models in an applied environment

- Prior industry or academic research experience and demonstrated expertise in full-stack robotics or foundation models or large-scale robotics system development
- Extensive programming skills in Python and PyTorch/JAX
- History of impactful first-author publications at major or top-tier Robotics/ML/AI conferences
- Hands-on experience bridging research with practical engineering implementation in robotics systems and track record of successful production robotics deployments.
- Experience with large-scale distributed systems

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 Companys reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $150000/year in our lowest geographic market up to $300000/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge skills and experience. Amazon is a total compensation company. Dependent on the position offered equity sign-on payments and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package in addition to a full range of medical financial and/or other benefits. For more information please visit Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.