Principal Applied Scientist, Prime Video Personalization & Discovery

Amazon • Sunnyvale, CA

7d

About The Position

Are you interested in shaping the future of entertainment through cutting-edge
AI? Prime Video’s technology teams are redefining the digital video experience
at scale.

As a Principal Applied Scientist at Prime Video, you will be a technical and
strategic leader responsible for inventing, developing, and deploying
groundbreaking AI solutions that power personalized, relevant, and delightful
experiences for millions of global customers. You will help shape the vision and
direction of key ML systems that support Prime Video’s mission to deliver
AI-powered customer experiences.

This role demands a unique blend of deep technical expertise in machine learning
and recommendation systems, industry leadership, and strong collaboration
skills. You will guide the development of high-impact systems end-to-end -
leading innovation from foundational research through production deployment -
while mentoring scientists and influencing product and engineering roadmaps.

We are looking for a thought leader who brings a strong track record of
delivering ML innovations at scale, along with the curiosity and drive to push
boundaries. This is a rare opportunity to drive meaningful impact at one of the
largest streaming services in the world.

Prime Video Personalization and Discovery (PVPD) is dedicated to creating a
highly personalized content discovery experience that not only delights our
customers but also drives both short-and long-term business goals. Our scope
includes personalized recommendations, search, marketing, and the advanced
machine learning technology and infrastructure that underpins these experiences.
Our mission is to automate and enhance customer engagement through
personalization, using ML and Generative AI.

Requirements

• PhD (or Master’s with 10+ years of applied experience) in machine learning, computer science, statistics, or a related field
• 8+ years experience designing, building, and deploying ML models for real-world business applications at scale
• Proven leadership in driving cross-functional ML/AI initiatives from ideation through production
• in Python, Java, or C++, and experience with ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch)
• Deep expertise in recommendation systems, search relevance, or large-scale personalization systems

Nice To Haves

• Strong publication record in top-tier conferences (e.g. NeurIPS, ICML, KDD, RecSys, SIGIR)
• Experience with large-scale distributed systems (e.g. Hadoop, Spark)
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical roadmaps and mentor other scientists and engineers
• Experience defining and delivering strategic AI vision for consumer-facing products

Responsibilities

• Invent, prototype, and productionize large-scale AI solutions across Prime Video’s personalization and discovery ecosystem using deep learning, generative AI, reinforcement learning, and optimization techniques;
• Provide technical leadership and influence product vision by collaborating closely with engineers, product managers, and senior stakeholders;
• Design and lead high-impact A/B tests and data analyses to validate hypotheses and guide product direction;
• Drive technical bar-raising across science and engineering teams through mentorship, design reviews, and collaboration;
• Stay ahead of industry trends and emerging research; leverage them to evolve long-term strategy and architecture;
• Publish impactful research internally and externally (e.g. top-tier conferences and journals).

Benefits

• 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

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree