Applied Scientist II, Alexa Sensitive Content Intelligence; ASCI

Position: Applied Scientist II, Alexa Sensitive Content Intelligence (ASCI)
Description

Alexa+ is Amazon's next-generation, AI-powered virtual assistant. Building on the original Alexa, it uses generative AI to deliver a more conversational, personalized, and effective experience. As an Applied Scientist II on the Alexa Sensitive Content Intelligence (ASCI) team, you'll be part of an elite group developing industry-leading technologies in attribute extraction and sensitive content detection that work seamlessly across all languages and countries.

In this role, you'll join a team of exceptional scientists pushing the boundaries of Natural Language Processing. Working in our dynamic, fast-paced environment, you'll develop novel algorithms and modeling techniques that advance the state of the art in NLP. Your innovations will directly shape how millions of customers interact with Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show, and Fire TV devices every day.

What makes this role exciting is the unique blend of scientific innovation and real-world impact. You'll be at the intersection of theoretical research and practical application, working alongside talented engineers and product managers to transform breakthrough ideas into customer-facing experiences. Your work will be crucial in ensuring Alexa remains at the forefront of AI technology while maintaining the highest standards of trust and safety.

We're looking for a passionate innovator who combines strong technical expertise with creative problem-solving skills. Your deep understanding of NLP models (including LSTM and transformer-based architectures) will be essential in tackling complex challenges and identifying novel solutions. You'll leverage your exceptional technical knowledge, strong Computer Science fundamentals, and experience with large-scale distributed systems to create reliable, scalable, and high-performance products that delight our customers.

Key job responsibilities

In this dynamic role, you'll design and implement GenAI solutions that define the future of AI interaction. You'll pioneer novel algorithms, conduct ground breaking experiments, and optimize user experiences through innovative approaches to sensitive content detection and mitigation. Working alongside exceptional engineers and scientists, you'll transform theoretical breakthroughs into practical, scalable solutions that strengthen user trust in Alexa globally.

You'll also have the opportunity to mentor rising talent, contributing to Amazon's culture of scientific excellence while helping build high-performing teams that deliver swift, impactful results.

A day in the life

Imagine starting your day collaborating with brilliant minds on advancing state-of-the-art NLP algorithms, then moving on to analyze experiment results that could reshape how Alexa understands and responds to users. You'll partner with cross-functional teams - from engineers to product managers - to ensure data quality, refine policies, and enhance model performance. Your expertise will guide technical discussions, shape roadmaps, and influence key platform features that require cross-team leadership.

About the team

The Alexa Sensitive Content Intelligence (ASCI) team owns the Responsible AI and customer feedback charters in Alexa+ and Classic Alexa across all device endpoints, modalities and languages. The mission of our team is to (1) minimize negative surprises to customers caused by sensitive content, (2) detect and prevent potential brand-damaging interactions, (3) build customer trust through generating appropriate interactions on sensitive topics, and (4) analyze customer feedback to gain insight and drive continuous improvement loops.

The term "sensitive content" includes within its scope a wide range of categories of content such as offensive content (e.g., hate speech, racist speech), profanity, content that is suitable only for certain age groups, politically polarizing content, and religiously polarizing content. The term "content" refers to any material that is exposed to customers by Alexa (including both 1P and 3P experiences) and includes text, speech, audio, and video.

Basic Qualifications

- 3+ years of building models for business application experience

- PhD, or Master's degree and 4+ years of CS, CE, ML or related field experience

- Experience in patents or publications at top-tier peer-reviewed conferences or journals

- Experience programming in Java, C++, Python or related language

- Experience in any of the following areas: algorithms and data structures, parsing, numerical optimization, data mining, parallel and distributed computing, high-performance computing

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience building machine learning models or developing algorithms for business application

- Experience in solving business problems through machine learning, data mining and statistical algorithms

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…