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About This Role
DESCRIPTION
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Are you interested in building Agentic AI solutions that solve complex builder experience challenges with significant global impact? The Security Tooling team designs and builds high\-performance AI systems using LLMs and machine learning that identify builder bottlenecks, automate security workflows, and optimize the software development lifecycle—empowering engineering teams worldwide to ship secure code faster while maintaining the highest security standards.
As a Data Scientist on our Security Tool team, you will focus on building state\-of\-the\-art ML models to enhance builder experience and productivity. You will identify builder bottlenecks and pain points across the software development lifecycle, design and apply experiments to study developer behavior, and measure the downstream impacts of security tooling on engineering velocity and code quality. Our team rewards curiosity while maintaining a laser\-focus on bringing products to market that empower builders while maintaining security excellence. Competitive candidates are responsive, flexible, and able to succeed within an open, collaborative, entrepreneurial, startup\-like environment. At the forefront of both academic and applied research in builder experience and security automation, you have the opportunity to work together with a diverse and talented team of scientists, engineers, and product managers and collaborate with other teams. This role offers a unique opportunity to work on projects that could fundamentally transform how builders interact with security tools and how organizations balance security requirements with developer productivity.
Key job responsibilities
Design and run rigorous experiments to evaluate and improve security tooling performance, builder experience, and adoption across hundreds of thousands of builders, multiple security tools, and diverse business verticals.
Lead the end\-to\-end lifecycle of data science and ML models — from research and experimentation through production launch — including defining success metrics, obtaining stakeholder sign\-off, and managing rollout.
Conduct online and offline analyses to measure the real\-world impact of security tooling improvements beyond adoption metrics, including downstream effects on vulnerability resolution, builder productivity, and organizational security posture.
Develop and deploy production\-grade machine learning and statistical models using Python, SQL, and related tools to automate insights, detect patterns, and drive decision\-making across STF's security tool ecosystem.
Perform large\-scale exploratory data analysis on builder feedback, ticket resolution, tool usage, and customer satisfaction data to uncover patterns, identify opportunities, and inform product and tooling decisions.
Translate complex research findings into clear insights and recommendations for technical and non\-technical stakeholders at all levels, including STF leadership metric reporting and customer satisfaction publications.
Contribute to Amazon's scientific community and the broader research field through collaboration and publication in top\-tier venues.
A day in the life
Morning
- Review overnight pipeline health — nudge systems, ticket classification models, and adoption dashboards running as expected
- Join daily standup with the SDI team to align on priorities and flag blockers
- Dive into exploratory analysis — investigating a spike in unresolved tickets or segmenting builder feedback to understand adoption gaps
Midday
- Partner with security tool owners (e.g., Shepherd, Talos, Scorecard) to review experiment results — did the latest nudge improve resolution rates?
- Translate findings into actionable recommendations for leadership reviews or WBR updates
- Analyze CSAT survey data to surface emerging dissatisfaction themes
Afternoon
- Write production code — building features for the classification pipeline, optimizing SQL for the metrics scorecard, or iterating on a model for predicting resolution timelines
- Collaborate with STF stakeholders to define success metrics for an upcoming model launch
- Document findings, update trackers, and queue next steps
About the team
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
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- 2\+ years of data scientist experience
- 3\+ years of data querying languages (e.g. SQL), scripting languages (e.g. Python) or statistical/mathematical software (e.g. R, SAS, Matlab, etc.) experience
- 3\+ years of machine learning/statistical modeling data analysis tools and techniques, and parameters that affect their performance experience
- 1\+ years of guiding and coaching a group of researchers experience
- 1\+ years of working with or evaluating AI systems experience
- 1\+ years of creating or contributing to mathematical textbooks, research papers, or educational content experience
- Master's degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM), or experience working in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM)
- Experience applying theoretical models in an applied environment
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
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- Ph.D. in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM)
- Knowledge of machine learning concepts and their application to reasoning and problem\-solving
- Experience in Python, Perl, or another scripting language
- Experience in a ML or data scientist role with a large technology company
- Experience in defining and creating benchmarks for assessing GenAI model performance
- Experience working on multi\-team, cross\-disciplinary projects
- Experience applying quantitative analysis to solve business problems and making data\-driven business decisions
- Experience effectively communicating complex concepts through written and verbal communication
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, WA, Seattle \- 136,000\.00 \- 184,000\.00 USD annually
Salary Context
This $136K-$184K range is above the median for Data Scientist roles in our dataset (median: $155K across 226 roles with salary data).
View full Data Scientist salary data →Role Details
About This Role
Data Scientists extract insights and build predictive models from data. In the AI era, many roles now include LLM-powered analytics, automated reporting, and integration with generative AI tools. The role has evolved from 'the person who runs SQL queries' to 'the person who builds AI-powered data products.'
Modern data science roles fall into two camps: analytics-focused (insights, dashboards, experimentation) and ML-focused (building predictive models, recommendation systems, NLP features). The best data scientists can operate in both modes. The AI shift means that even analytics-focused roles now involve building automated insight pipelines using LLMs, going well beyond one-off reports.
Across the 3,708 AI roles we're tracking, Data Scientist positions make up 8% of the market. At Amazon.com, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Data Scientist roles remain in high demand, though the definition keeps shifting. Companies increasingly want candidates who can bridge traditional statistics with modern ML and LLM capabilities. The 'pure insights' data scientist role is consolidating into analytics engineering, while the 'build models' data scientist role is merging with ML engineering.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: analyzing experiment results for a product feature launch, building a predictive model for customer churn, creating an automated reporting pipeline using LLM-powered summarization, presenting insights to stakeholders, and cleaning data (always cleaning data). The ratio of analysis to engineering varies by company, but expect both.
Data Scientist roles remain in high demand, though the definition keeps shifting. Companies increasingly want candidates who can bridge traditional statistics with modern ML and LLM capabilities. The 'pure insights' data scientist role is consolidating into analytics engineering, while the 'build models' data scientist role is merging with ML engineering.
Skills Required
Python, SQL, and statistical modeling are the foundation. Increasingly, roles want experience with LLMs for data analysis, automated insight generation, and building AI-powered data products. Familiarity with cloud data platforms (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks) and ML frameworks (scikit-learn, PyTorch) covers most job requirements.
Experimentation design and causal inference are underrated skills that separate strong candidates. Companies care about whether their product changes cause improvements, and can distinguish causation from correlation. A/B testing methodology, Bayesian statistics, and the ability to communicate uncertainty to non-technical stakeholders are high-value skills.
Good postings specify the data stack, the types of problems you'll work on, and the team structure. Look for companies that differentiate between analytics and ML data science. Vague 'data scientist' postings that list every skill under the sun usually mean the company doesn't know what they need.
Compensation Benchmarks
Data Scientist roles pay a median of $192,890 based on 463 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $200,000. This role's midpoint ($160K) sits 17% below the category median. Disclosed range: $136K to $184K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $217,500. Top-quartile compensation starts at $272,100. The 90th percentile reaches $325,000. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($300,000) and Research Engineer ($280,000). By seniority level: Entry: $120,000; Mid: $200,000; Senior: $230,000; Director: $272,150; VP: $250,000.
Amazon.com AI Hiring
Amazon.com has 97 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across Research Scientist, AI/ML Engineer, Data Scientist, AI Product Manager. Positions span Sunnyvale, CA, US, Culver City, CA, US, San Francisco, CA, US. Compensation range: $97K - $327K.
Location Context
AI roles in Seattle pay a median of $236,900 across 267 tracked positions. That's 9% above the national median.
Career Path
Common paths into Data Scientist roles include Data Analyst, Statistician, Quantitative Researcher.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Senior Data Scientist, ML Engineer, AI Product Manager.
Start with statistics and SQL. Build a real analysis project on public data that demonstrates insight generation alongside model building. The market values data scientists who can communicate findings clearly to business stakeholders. If you want to move toward ML engineering, invest in software engineering fundamentals and production deployment skills.
What to Expect in Interviews
Interviews combine statistics, coding, and business acumen. SQL is almost always tested, often with complex joins and window functions. Expect a case study round where you're given a business problem and asked to design an analysis plan. Coding rounds focus on pandas, statistical modeling, and visualization. The strongest differentiator is how well you communicate insights to non-technical stakeholders during presentation rounds.
When evaluating opportunities: Good postings specify the data stack, the types of problems you'll work on, and the team structure. Look for companies that differentiate between analytics and ML data science. Vague 'data scientist' postings that list every skill under the sun usually mean the company doesn't know what they need.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 3,708 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 102 entry-level, 1,705 mid-level, 1,469 senior, and 432 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 14% of the market (508 positions). The remaining 3,180 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $217,500. Top-quartile compensation starts at $272,100. The 90th percentile reaches $325,000. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($300,000 median, 21 roles); Research Engineer ($280,000 median, 147 roles); AI Architect ($254,798 median, 67 roles).
Data Scientist roles remain in high demand, though the definition keeps shifting. Companies increasingly want candidates who can bridge traditional statistics with modern ML and LLM capabilities. The 'pure insights' data scientist role is consolidating into analytics engineering, while the 'build models' data scientist role is merging with ML engineering.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 3,708 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,605), Data Scientist (310), AI Software Engineer (259). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (102) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,705) and senior (1,469) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 432 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 14% of all AI roles (508 positions), with 3,180 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $217,500. Top-quartile roles start at $272,100, and the 90th percentile reaches $325,000. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $300,000 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,890 postings), Aws (1,103 postings), Azure (877 postings), Rag (855 postings), Gcp (631 postings), Prompt Engineering (560 postings), Pytorch (545 postings), Claude (498 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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