We build AI-powered tooling that enables security operations to scale with AWS's growth. Our portfolio includes generative AI incident response assistants, natural language-driven response, detection enrichment pipelines, and security data analytics platforms. Security analysts depend on these systems around the clock.
We are hiring a Senior Applied Scientist to own the science strategy for our AI security response platform. You will define and execute the machine learning and AI roadmap across our service portfolio, from large language model-powered incident triage to anomaly detection in security telemetry. You will extend and invent techniques at the product level, partnering with software and security engineers to bring models from research into production systems that operate 24/7/365. You will be the scientific authority on the team, expected to teach, mentor, and set the technical bar for how we apply AI to security operations problems.
This role requires deep expertise in natural language processing, generative AI, or a closely related discipline, combined with a demonstrated ability to translate scientific methods into production systems that solve real business problems. You will operate in high-ambiguity, high-consequence domains where your scientific judgment directly affects security outcomes for AWS.
Key job responsibilities
- Define and own the science strategy for the team's AI-powered security automation portfolio, including model selection, evaluation methodology, and research direction.
- Design and implement LLM-powered systems for security incident triage, including retrieval-augmented generation, prompt engineering, and fine-tuning approaches that improve recommendation accuracy and reduce analyst toil.
- Build anomaly detection and classification models across security telemetry data sources to surface threats, reduce false positives, and prioritize analyst attention.
- Partner with software engineers to move models from experimentation to production. Define system-level technical requirements, guide adaptation to meet production constraints, and own model performance in deployment.
- Develop evaluation frameworks and metrics that measure model effectiveness against security outcomes, not just standard ML benchmarks.
- Mentor software and security engineers on ML best practices and raise the science bar across the team through design reviews, code reviews, and knowledge sharing.
A day in the life You start by reviewing model performance dashboards for overnight incident triage recommendations, investigating a drift in precision for a specific detection category. Mid-morning, you lead a design review for a retrieval-augmented generation pipeline that will surface relevant runbooks during security incidents. After lunch, you pair with a security analyst to label edge cases that your current model misclassifies, turning operational feedback into training signal. You close the day writing an experiment plan to evaluate a new embedding approach for security log similarity, then sync with your manager on the quarterly science roadmap.
About the team This team operates within AWS Security in a 24/7/365 organization that protects AWS's global cloud infrastructure. The team builds AI-powered security automation, data analytics platforms, and incident response tooling that security analysts depend on around the clock. We work at the intersection of machine learning, generative AI, and security operations. Our mission: give every security analyst the intelligent tooling they need to stay ahead of threats at AWS scale.
Diverse Experiences Amazon Security values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the 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.
Why Amazon Security? At Amazon, security is central to maintaining customer trust and delivering delightful customer experiences. Our organization is responsible for creating and maintaining a high bar for security across all of Amazon’s products and services. We offer talented security professionals the chance to accelerate their careers with opportunities to build experience in a wide variety of areas including cloud, devices, retail, entertainment, healthcare, operations, and physical stores.
Inclusive Team Culture In Amazon Security, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Ongoing DEI events and learning experiences inspire us to continue learning and to embrace our uniqueness. Addressing the toughest security challenges requires that we seek out and celebrate a diversity of ideas, perspectives, and voices.
Training & 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, training, 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 flexible work hours and arrangements are part of our culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
Basic Qualifications
- 3+ years of building machine learning models for business application experience
- PhD, or Master's degree and 6+ years of applied research experience
- Experience programming in Java, C++, Python or related language
- Experience with neural deep learning methods and machine learning
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with modeling tools such as R, scikit-learn, Spark MLLib, MxNet, Tensorflow, numpy, scipy etc.
- Experience with large scale machine learning systems such as profiling and debugging and understanding of system performance and scalability
- Experience in applied research
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or 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, 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, VA, Herndon - 167,100.00 - 226,100.00 USD annually USA, WA, Seattle - 167,100.00 - 226,100.00 USD annually