Principal Applied Scientist, Music Catalog and Search, Amazon Music Search and Catalog
Company websiteamazon.com (Amazon, opens in new tab)
Base salary $228,700 to $309,400
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in San Francisco, CA +1 more
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationSan Francisco, CA +1 more
- WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (3 h ago) · observed since
All places named
- San Francisco, CA
- Sunnyvale, CA
About this job
Do you want to shape the future of music discovery by building applied science solutions at Amazon scale? Join our Amazon Music team where you'll define and execute the applied science roadmap for catalog and search systems, directly impacting millions of customers worldwide. You'll work at the exciting intersection of large-scale content systems, applied science, and applying the latest advances in foundation models to build an intelligence layer on top of one of the world's largest music and podcast catalogs.
As a Principal Applied Scientist, you'll drive innovation in music content understanding, leveraging foundational models to enrich catalog data intelligence and create breakthrough customer experiences. Your work will span across music catalog, search, and data systems teams, where success is measured by customer satisfaction, partner team success, and music labels' ability to share high-quality content seamlessly.
Key job responsibilities
- Lead the design and implementation of applied science solutions for large-scale music catalog systems, leveraging foundational models to enhance content intelligence and understanding
- Define and execute the technical roadmap for Amazon Music catalog and search teams, driving architectural decisions across multiple systems and ensuring alignment with long-term business objectives
- Design, propose, and collaborate on experiments that leverage rich music content for enhanced customer experiences in search, personalization, and recommendation systems
- Drive technical excellence across three teams (music catalog, music search, music data systems) by conducting design reviews, setting engineering standards, and mentoring senior technical talent
- Solve complex problems at the intersection of content systems and applied science, proactively identifying risks and implementing solutions that balance short-term deliverables with long-term architectural maintainability
About the team
The Amazon Music Catalog and Search team is responsible to help our customers discover the most relevant audio content including music, podcasts and audiobooks. The team invents technology at the intersection of the largest audio catalog in the world, applying latest advances in foundation models and proprietary data assets of Amazon Music. We build technology and products that is deployed worldwide but at the same time is customizable for local markets. We measure our success by the success of our customers, partners and audio content creators.
Basic Qualifications
- PhD, or Master's degree and 10+ years of applied research experience
- Experience working in content understanding systems in digital media
- Experience building applied science solutions on top of foundational models
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in large knowledge graphs
- Experience with large scale distributed data systems
- Experience in search retrieval and ranking
- Experience in designing and evaluating online experiments
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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, CA, San Francisco - 228,700.00 - 309,400.00 USD annually
USA, CA, Sunnyvale - 228,700.00 - 309,400.00 USD annually
Source: Amazon · View original posting (opens in new tab)
Pay in context
This role's base floor ($228,700) is above 76% of the 1,729 Data & ML roles in California listed on this site; 2 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $184,000; the middle half runs from $154,000 to $224,000.
Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 8, 2026.
This listingPrincipal Applied Scientist, Music Catalog and Search, Amazon Music Search and Catalog$228,700 to $309,400
Principal Applied Scientist, CX Science$228,700 to $309,400
Principal Applied Scientist, Prime Video Personalization & Discovery$228,700 to $309,400
Head of Product, Alexa Connections$227,600 to $307,900
Mgr III, ASIC - AMZ25936.5$223,641 to $272,400
Senior Manager, Software Development, Aurora DSQL$220,100 to $297,700
Sr Software Development Manager, EC2$220,100 to $297,700
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Principal Applied Scientist, Music Catalog and Search, Amazon Music Search and Catalog (this listing) | $228,700 - $309,400 |
| Principal Applied Scientist, CX Science | $228,700 - $309,400 |
| Principal Applied Scientist, Prime Video Personalization & Discovery | $228,700 - $309,400 |
| Head of Product, Alexa Connections | $227,600 - $307,900 |
| Mgr III, ASIC - AMZ25936.5 | $223,641 - $272,400 |
| Senior Manager, Software Development, Aurora DSQL | $220,100 - $297,700 |
| Sr Software Development Manager, EC2 | $220,100 - $297,700 |
Observed changes
- First observed on the employer's board
- Began meeting the published-salary criteria
- Observed since
- Employer-stated posting date
- 2026-05-29
Where this pay comes from
Location as the employer wrote it: US, CA, San Francisco • US, CA, Sunnyvale
USA, CA, San Francisco - 228,700.00 - 309,400.00 USD annually
- Method
- Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
- Checked
- Rule set
- us-base-v2
The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.
What we verified
- The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
- The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
- The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.
We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.