Principal Research Scientist, Amazon Connect

About the role

The Eliza team within Amazon Connect (FCS) is looking for a Principal Research Scientist with a deep operations research specialization to set the research agenda in operations science — combinatorial optimization, queueing theory, stochastic modeling, and forecasting — and to translate that research into production systems that serve millions of customer interactions.

Key job responsibilities

• Set the multi-year research direction for operations research across contact-center demand prediction, workforce scheduling, and network optimization.
• Design and deliver novel algorithms in combinatorial optimization (large-scale scheduling, resource allocation, integer/constraint programming) and queueing theory (contact-center modeling, staffing under stochastic arrivals), alongside stochastic modeling and time-series forecasting, that advance the state of the art while solving real operational problems.
• Own end-to-end scientific solutions — from problem formulation and prototyping to production deployment — ensuring robustness, explainability, and seamless integration with existing systems.
• Design rigorous experiments and evaluation methodology to validate hypotheses and quantify business impact; establish scientific-excellence mechanisms (metrics, benchmarks, peer review) that the broader science team adopts.
• Partner with engineering, product, and operations teams to define data and logging requirements, get them prioritized on roadmaps, and translate scientific capabilities into measurable business outcomes.
• Influence senior leadership through written papers and deep-dives, framing complex algorithmic trade-offs in clear business terms.
• Mentor and raise the bar for applied and research scientists across the org while maintaining significant hands-on technical contribution.
• Represent the team's science externally where appropriate (publications, patents, top-tier venues such as INFORMS, NeurIPS, ICML).

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years of tech industry or equivalent experience
• PhD in a quantitative discipline such as statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, or any related quantitative field
• Experience working effectively with science, data processing, and software engineering teams

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in operations research, applied mathematics, theoretical computer science, or equivalent, or experience in at least one of the related science disciplines (optimization - LP, MIP, statistics, machine learning, process control, combinatorial optimization)
• Experience in leading large-scale, technical or engineering programs with a proven record of thought leadership, business case development, realizing customer benefits, and successful program completion
• Experience scripting in modern programming languages, or experience with training and deploying machine learning systems to solve large-scale optimizations
• Patents or publications at top-tier peer-reviewed conferences or journals

Pay

Base salary range: $208,300.00 - $281,800.00 USD annually. 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.

Benefits

• 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
• Parental leave

This response is AI-generated, for reference only.