Futures Design is the advanced concept design and incubation team within Amazon’s Device and Services Design Group (DDG). We are responsible for exploring and defining think (very) big opportunities globally and locally – so that we can better understand how new products and services might enrich the lives of our customers and so that product teams and leaders can align on where we’re going and why we’re going there. We focus on a 3-10+ year time frame, with the runway to invent and design category-defining products and transformational customer experiences. Working with Amazon business and technology partners, we use research, design, and prototyping to guide early product development, bring greater clarity to engineering goals, and develop a UX-grounded point of view.
We’re looking for a Principal Design Technologist to join the growing DDG Futures Design Engineering team. You’ll apply your deep technical expertise to advancing design and product concepts through software and hardware prototyping. You will design with code, provoking design thinking and iteration through demos, installations, and walkthroughs.
You will work quickly, choosing the right technology for the task at hand, to flesh out design concepts (interaction, visual, and motion). You’ll help your peers unlock technically challenging scenarios and mature the design studio’s ability to deliver design at scale, across a breadth of devices. You will work around platform limitations and push platform capabilities through your work. Your curiosity will inspire those around you and facilitate team growth, while your hands-on, collaborative nature will build trust with your peers and studio partners.
Key job responsibilities
– Build high-quality, functional prototypes that convey, prove, and advance the vision of future products and applications
– Collaborate with design leadership and key stakeholders from concept through shipping
– Work with designers, product managers, management, internal business partners and other subject matter experts
– Participate in the full lifecycle of product development; including ideation, design, development, implementation and validation
– Advance design thinking through your knowledge of platform capabilities and limitations as you support your design team and work with partner engineering teams
– Work quickly with minimal documentation and technical support
We are open to hiring candidates to work out of one of the following locations:
Seattle, WA, USA
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
– Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, related field or equivalent experience
– 10+ years of experience as a Creative Technologist, Front-End Engineer or web technologist role, preferably within a UI design team
– A portfolio of work demonstrating experience creating great user-centered design solutions across consumer electronics, including embedded systems (TV, mobile, wearables, etc.).
– Deep understanding and fluent usage across a broad spectrum of technologies including: Native mobile development (Android/iOS), HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript, XML, JSON, web and server programming and Responsive/Adaptive design
– Experience with object oriented design and service oriented architecture
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
– Passion for building new products in a fast paced, team-oriented environment
– Strong interest and proficiency in visual design.
– Experience collaborating with UX, Product, and non-technical partners
– Programming experience on mobile platforms, preferably Android
– Experience taking a lead role developing complex software systems that have successfully been delivered to customers
– Experience in communicating with users, and other technical teams to collect requirements, describe software product features and technical designs
– Knowledge of professional software engineering & best practices for full software development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, continuous deployments, testing and operational excellence
Amazon is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. For individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please visit https://www.amazon.jobs/en/disability/us.
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $131,200/year in our lowest geographic market up to $244,000/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Amazon is a total compensation company. Dependent on the position offered, equity, sign-on payments, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. For more information, please visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits. Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.