Senior Applied Scientist, AWS Security

Amazon.com Inc

Herndon, VA

JOB DETAILS
SKILLS
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Analysis Skills, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automation, Benchmarking, Best Practices, Cloud Computing, Code Reviews, Computer Security, Customer Experience, Data Analysis, Develop and Maintain Customers, Establish Priorities, Healthcare, Incident Management, Incident Response, Machine Learning, Machine Tool, Mentoring, Metrics, Model Review, Modeling Languages, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Performance Modeling, Problem Solving Skills, Production Systems, Reporting Dashboards, Retail, Security Analysis, Security Infrastructure, Security Software, Software Engineering, Telemetry, Training/Teaching
LOCATION
Herndon, VA
POSTED
30+ days ago

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.

About the Company

A

Amazon.com Inc

At Amazon, we don’t wait for the next big idea to present itself. We envision the shape of impossible things and then we boldly make them reality. So far, this mindset has helped us achieve some incredible things. Let’s build new systems, challenge the status quo, and design the world we want to live in. We believe the work you do here will be the best work of your life.

Wherever you are in your career exploration, Amazon likely has an opportunity for you. Our research scientists and engineers shape the future of natural language understanding with Alexa. Fulfillment center associates around the globe send customer orders from our warehouses to doorsteps. Product managers set feature requirements, strategy, and marketing messages for brand new customer experiences. And as we grow, we’ll add jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

It’s Always Day 1
At Amazon, it’s always “Day 1.” Now, what does this mean and why does it matter? It means that our approach remains the same as it was on Amazon’s very first day – to make smart, fast decisions, stay nimble, invent, and stay focused on delighting our customers. In our 2016 shareholder letter, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shared his thoughts on how to keep up a Day 1 company mindset. “Staying in Day 1 requires you to experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and double down when you see customer delight,” he wrote. “A customer-obsessed culture best creates the conditions where all of that can happen.” You can read the full letter here

Our Leadership Principles
Our Leadership Principles help us keep a Day 1 mentality. They aren’t just a pretty inspirational wall hanging. Amazonians use them, every day, whether they’re discussing ideas for new projects, deciding on the best solution for a customer’s problem, or interviewing candidates. To read through our Leadership Principles from Customer Obsession to Bias for Action, visit https://www.amazon.jobs/principles
COMPANY SIZE
10,000 employees or more
INDUSTRY
Retail
FOUNDED
1994
WEBSITE
http://Amazon.com/militaryroles