Senior Vision System Engineer, Amazon Robotics

Amazon is hiring a Senior Vision System Engineer, Amazon Robotics. It pays $151k-$205k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Amazon.

Level's read on this job

Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this role: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include computer vision.
Level classifies it as a senior role.
Level lists 20,000+ other open roles at Amazon.
The role was posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

computer-vision

We're building the next generation of vision and perception systems that give machines the power to see, understand, and act, and we need a Vision Systems Engineer to lead the charge from customer problem to deployed solution. If you love working at the intersection of sensors, machine learning, and compute hardware, and you want your work to directly shape products that operate at massive scale, this is the role for you.

In this position, you'll be the bridge between our customers and our engineering teams. You'll gather real world requirements, determine the right combination of sensors and ML models, define what compute hardware is needed to run them, and hand off clear specs to hardware teams for execution. This is a high impact, cross functional role where your technical judgment drives what we build and how we build it.

You won't be siloed into one discipline. You'll operate across the full perception stack, from the optics on the sensor to the neural network running on an edge device to the customer conversation where it all starts. Your work directly shapes what gets built, and you'll see the impact end to end.

You're someone who is equally comfortable talking to customers about their challenges and diving into datasheets to find the right component. You can explain the difference between a depth ML model and a classical stereo algorithm to a non technical audience, and you can turn around and have a detailed conversation with a hardware engineer about power budgets and memory bandwidth. You connect the dots between sensing, computation, and real world performance.

Key job responsibilities
- Engage directly with customers to understand perception and sensing requirements, and translate those into clear, quantifiable engineering specifications
- Evaluate and recommend sensor technologies (cameras, depth sensors, barcode readers) for each application, performing trade off analysis on resolution, frame rate, field of view, cost, and reliability
- Define the ML model requirements for perception tasks such as depth estimation, object detection, damage detection, and barcode reading
- Profile compute resource needs (processing power, memory, accelerators, power consumption) for running inference models and determine optimal deployment locations (edge, cloud, hybrid)
- Communicate hardware requirements including power budgets, memory bandwidth, thermal constraints, and I/O interfaces to hardware engineering teams
- Author system architecture documents, interface control documents, and technical trade studies
- Drive cross functional alignment between software, hardware, and product teams to ensure customer requirements are met end to end
- Support lab and field activities related to sensor integration, system validation, and performance characterization
- Identify technical risks early in the design cycle and propose mitigation strategies that balance performance, cost, and schedule

A day in the life
Your day starts with a customer call. They need to add damage detection to an inspection station but don't know what sensor or compute platform will work. You ask the right questions, dig into the constraints, and start shaping a technical approach.

Later, you're reviewing inference benchmarks to recommend whether the current edge board can handle another ML model, or if hardware needs to spec something more robust. By afternoon, you're presenting a sensor trade study to the hardware and software teams, walking through the pros and cons of two candidates.

No two days look the same. Some days you're drafting architecture documents. Others you're visiting a customer site to see challenges firsthand. You're the connective tissue between what customers need and what engineering builds.

Amazon offers a full range of benefits that support you and eligible family members, including domestic partners. Benefits can vary by location, the number of regularly scheduled hours you work, length of employment, and job status such as seasonal or temporary employment. The benefits that generally apply to regular, full-time employees include:
1. Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage
2. Maternity and Parental Leave Options
3. Paid Time Off (PTO)
4. 401(k) Plan

If you are not sure that every qualification on the list above describes you exactly, we'd still love to hear from you! At Amazon, we value people with unique backgrounds, experiences, and skillsets. If you’re passionate about this role and want to make an impact on a global scale, please apply!

About the team
Our team is the sensing architecture authority for robotics. We design, benchmark, and deliver camera and perception hardware that our customers trust to deploy at scale. We don't build one off solutions. We build platforms, reusable building blocks across optics, imaging, and compute that make every future product stronger.

You'll work alongside systems engineers, optical engineers, mechanical engineers, and test engineers, all focused on turning real customer problems into hardware that works in the field. Whether a customer needs something off the shelf or a purpose built design for a problem no one has solved before, we're the team they come to.

Basic qualifications

- Experience working cross functionally with tech teams
- Bachelor's degree + 7 years of experience in Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or a related engineering field
- 5+ years of experience in system-level engineering involving vision systems, imaging systems, or sensor-based perception systems
- 3+ years of experience working with image sensors, cameras, or optical sensor technologies (selection, integration, or characterization)
- 2+ years of experience with ML/deep learning inference workloads on embedded or edge compute platforms (e.g., GPU, NPU, or accelerator-based systems)
- Experience translating customer or product requirements into engineering specifications (sensor specs, compute specs, or system-level requirements documents)
- Experience with one or more of the following perception domains: object detection, depth estimation, barcode reading, damage detection, or image classification

Preferred qualifications

- Experience communicating with customers, technical, regulatory, business teams, and management to collect requirements, describe product features, and technical designs
- Master's degree +5 years or PhD +3 years of experience in Optical Engineering, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science
- Experience evaluating and selecting imaging sensor technologies (CMOS, ToF, structured light, stereo vision) including trade-off analysis on resolution, frame rate, field of view, and cost
- Experience deploying or benchmarking ML inference models on edge compute platforms such as NVIDIA Jetson, Intel Movidius, or Qualcomm RB series
- Experience with ML inference frameworks such as TensorRT, ONNX Runtime, or OpenVINO
- Experience profiling ML model resource requirements including memory footprint, latency, throughput, and power consumption to inform hardware platform selection
- Experience authoring system architecture documents, interface control documents (ICDs), or technical trade studies
- Experience in warehouse automation, logistics, robotics, or industrial inspection environments
- Familiarity with computer vision libraries (OpenCV, PCL), ROS, or real time embedded systems
- Knowledge of SoC architecture

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, MA, North Reading - 151,200.00 - 204,600.00 USD annually
USA, MA, Westboro - 151,200.00 - 204,600.00 USD annually

How we rate this

Senior Vision System Engineer, Amazon Robotics at Amazon rates 15 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.