DESCRIPTION

Alexa Search's charter is to enable customers to interact with unstructured and semi-structured content via a broad range of mechanisms that include Question Answering (Q&A), Summarization, Search, and Multi-Turn Dialogues. Alexa Search services are powered by scalable information systems and cutting-edge machine learning and conversational AI technologies. The services are accessed directly by customers who interact with Alexa on more than 100MM devices, worldwide. You might have interacted with services developed by Alexa Search when you asked Alexa

• factoid questions ("Alexa, how healthy is orange juice"; Answer: "Here's what I found on indianriverselect.com: 100% orange juice contains naturally occurring phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that may help support a healthy immune system.");
• open-ended questions that require a summary in order to be answered ("Alexa, what's happening in Afghanistan"; Answer: "Here's what I found on Afganistan on Fox News: US preparing to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan as part of proposed Taliban deal - The Pentagon is preparing to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan as part of a proposed peace deal with the Taliban, U.S. officials told Fox News Thursday. One official warned the withdrawal would be subject to the completion of any agreement. So far, no such deal has been finalized.")
• or when Alexa keeps you informed with latest updates by recommending you a news story of potential interest ("Alexa, How old is Diego Maradona"; Answer: "Diego Maradona is 58 years old. Do you wanna hear some news about Diego Maradona?" Response on acceptance: "From Reuters earlier today: Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona was released from hospital after being admitted earlier on Friday with internal bleeding in the stomach which was discovered during routine examinations, his daughter Dalma said. "For those who were really worried about my dad I can tell you that he is well", Dalma wrote on twitter after fears over her father's health spread. He is going home soon.")
• or questions in a foreign language.
We are encouraged by the positive reaction these services have elicited from our customers but we believe that there is much more to be done and we are working on transforming Alexa into a trusted, highly knowledgeable partner who can assist customers meet all their information needs while interacting with Alexa in the way that comes most natural to them.

Technical challenges you will be expected to address and overcome:
• Scale: Build systems that can handle requests coming from more than 100MM Alexa-enabled end-points and information found across hundreds of billions of web pages.
• Efficiency: Build efficient, low-latency systems that can understand and respond to customer requests in real-time.
• Customer solution definition: Articulate novel customer solutions that continuously redefine what is possible.
What you should expect when you join the Alexa Search team?
• High visibility project: Work on products used by millions of people, including friends and family.
• Fast-paced organization: Join a fast-growing organization that takes pride in its record of delivery and ability to solve complex science and engineering challenges. Contribute to our unique, highly diverse team culture, which is rated high on internal satisfaction surveys across Amazon.
• Technologies: Java, Python, Lucene, Elastic Search, MXNet, TensorFlow (but we are not dogmatic about technology choices)

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering
• 7+ years of Software Development experience
• Experience developing with modern programming languages (Python, Java, C/C++), open-source technologies, and Linux
• Experience serving as technical lead throughout the full software development lifecycle, end-to-end, from scoping, planning, conception, design, implementation, and testing to documentation, delivery and maintenance.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related technical discipline
• Experience with machine learning toolkits
• Experience with NLP algorithms and libraries
• Experience working with common Big Data infrastructure systems, such as Hadoop, Spark, EMR
• Excellence in technical communication with peers and non-technical cohorts