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Applied Scientist Interview Prep

At Amazon, our goal is to be the world’s most customer-centric company by delivering innovative products, services, and ideas. The applied scientist interview is designed to identify candidates who have the technical proficiency, behavioral skills, and cultural fit required to help us achieve this mission.

What does an Applied Scientist do at Amazon?

Applied scientists work and solve a broad array of practical problems, dramatically improving customer experience, reducing costs, and driving speed and automation. Amazon has the eagerness of a fresh start-up to absorb machine learning solutions, and the scale of a mature firm to help support their development.

We have a rich data environment for applied scientists to develop new models and algorithms, and use those to have an impact on the lives of millions of customers. Applied science is highly experimental and needs to be supported through strong theoretical analysis and associated process innovations.

Our applied scientists work closely with our software engineers to put algorithms into practice. We encourage careful consideration of modeling assumptions, a thorough review of ML literature, experimentation using state-of-the-art methods, and error-free scalable implementations.

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The process

To be considered for an applied scientist role, you must first submit a job application. If you meet the basic qualifications for the role, you’ll then complete a technical phone screening. Depending on the team and role, you may be asked to complete a second phone screening as well. If your technical phone screening is successful, a recruiter will contact you to arrange an interview loop. If your interview loop is successful, you’ll be made an offer.

  • Job Application

  • Technical Phone Screening

  • Technical Phone Screening Outcome

  • Interview Loop

  • Interview Outcome (within 5 business days)

  • Offer Discussion

Technical phone screening

Depending on the role, you will have one to two technical phone screenings. A technical phone screening lasts 60 minutes and is with a senior leader on our team. The interviewer will ask you behavioral and technical questions.

Interview loop

Your loop will include four 55-minute interviews where you’ll meet with members of our science community.

You’ll have the chance to discuss your experiences and expertise in several areas that help us determine success at Amazon.

These areas include both technical competencies and non-technical competencies that are based off of our Leadership Principles, which different interviewers will be assigned to evaluate.

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Learn more about the interview loop

Technical competencies

Video resources

Behavioral interview

A significant portion of the conversation will focus on how you’ve demonstrated our Leadership Principles in your past jobs. This is because past behavior is an indicator of future success. We won’t ask brain teasers. Instead, we’ll focus on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of your experiences, as well as the ‘why’ of your decisions.

Each interviewer will typically ask two or three behavioral-based questions about successes or challenges and how you handled them using our Leadership Principles.

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How to prepare

First, think about your most memorable experiences in your previous jobs and recall specific details. Amazon is a data-driven company, so your answers should include metrics or data where applicable. Then, consider how you applied the Leadership Principles in your experiences.

Have examples that showcase your expertise and demonstrate how you’ve taken risks, succeeded, failed and grown. Make sure your answers are well-sructured. Use the STAR method to frame your responses.

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Amazon culture

We’re a company that brings a wide range of perspectives to inventing on behalf of our customers. These include race, ethnicity, gender, age, physical and mental ability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, culture, language, and education, as well as professional and life experience. We’re committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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