Principal Controls Scientist, Systems and Control

Position: Principal Controls Scientist, Dynamic Systems and Control
This job is with Amazon, an inclusive employer and a member of my Gwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. Please do not contact the recruiter directly.

DESCRIPTION:

Amazon Lab
126 is an inventive research and development company that designs and engineers high-profile consumer electronics. Lab
126 began in 2004 as a subsidiary of , Inc., originally creating the best-selling Kindle family of products. Since then, we have produced groundbreaking devices like Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and the Astro household robot. What will you help us create?

As a Principal Controls Scientist, you will be responsible for developing solutions to control complex electromechanical systems. You will take responsibility for developing models, performing analysis, and producing algorithms for the control and estimation of robotic systems that guide and inform mechanical and electrical designs, software implementation, and other software modules that affect overall device safety and performance. You will demonstrate cross-functional interaction to accomplish your goals.

You will play a role in defining processes and methods to improve the productivity of the entire team. You will interface with Amazon teams outside your immediate organization to identify leverage opportunities with minimized dependencies. You will investigate applicable academic and industry research applications, identify and initiate investigations of production technologies, prototype and test solutions to support product features, and design and validate production designs that deliver an exceptional user experience.

Key job responsibilities
- Produce models and simulations of complex, high degree-of-freedom dynamic electromechanical systems
- Design estimation and control algorithms that achieve performance targets within hardware and software constraints
- Hands-on prototyping and testing on physical systems in the lab
- Influence hardware and software design decisions owned by other teams to optimize system-level performance
- Define key performance indicators and allocate error budgets across hardware and software modules
- Perform root cause analysis of system-level failures and distinguish between hardware/software failures and hardware/software mitigations
- Balance objectives of safety, performance, and cost in architectural design decisions
- Lead cross-functional teams (controls, firmware, perception, planning, sensors, mechanical, electrical, etc.) to solve complex system integration issues
- Translate business requirements to engineering requirements and identify trade-offs and sensitivities
- Mentor junior and senior engineers in good design practice; actively participate in hiring of new team members

About the team
The Dynamic Systems and Control team develops models, algorithms, and code to bridge hardware and software development teams and bring robotic products to life. We contributed to Amazon Astro () and Echo Show 10 (), along with several new technology introductions and unannounced products currently in development.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

- PhD or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
- 10+ years of experience designing, implementing, and verifying control and estimation algorithms for closed-loop feedback systems

- Experience with robotic manipulation: impedance control, admittance control, operational space control, joint space control, etc.

- Experience with Model-Predictive Control and Reinforcement Learning for high degree-of-freedom dynamic systems

- Experience with simulation environments for dynamic systems and bridging the sim2real gap
- Experience programming in MATLAB, Python, C++, or a related language
- Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead and mentor
- Proven written and verbal technical communication with the ability to present complex topics clearly to audiences with varying levels of technical familiarity

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

- Experience with control design and validation for mobile manipulation platforms

- Experience with gait planning and optimization for high degree-of-freedom dynamic…