DESCRIPTION

Does the idea of setting the strategic direction for the product ontology that supports Amazon stores sound exciting? Would it be your dream job to generate, curate and manage product knowledge highlighting all of Amazon’s mammoth selection and services from door knobs to books to dishwasher installation to things that haven’t even been invented yet? Do you want to help use data to make finding and understanding Amazon’s product space easier?

The vision of the Product Knowledge Ontology Team is to provide a standardized, semantically rich, easily discoverable, extensible, and universally applicable body of product knowledge that can be consistently utilized across customer shopping experiences, selling partner listing experiences, and product catalog enrichment. As a Principal Ontologist you will lead the design and build world-class, intuitive, and comprehensive taxonomy and ontology solutions to optimize product discovery and classification.

Key job responsibilities
– Work with Product Knowledge leadership team to set strategic direction for ontology platform development
– Design and create knowledge models that leverage cutting-edge technology to meet the needs of Amazon customers
– Influence across a broad set of internal and external team stakeholders (engineers, designers, program and business leaders) while delivering impactful results for both manufacturers and customers
– Evangelize the powerful solutions that ontologies can to offer to solve common and complex business problems
– Use Generative Artificial Intelligence (generative AI) models to solve complex schema management use cases at scale
– Analyze knowledge performance metrics, customer behavior data and industry trends to make intelligent data-driven decisions on how we can evolve the ontology to provide the best data for customers and internal users
– Own business requirements related to knowledge management tools, metrics and processes
– Identify and execute the right trade-offs for internal and external customers and systems operating on the ontology
– Support a broad community of knowledge builders across Amazon by participating in knowledge sharing and mentorship

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

– Master’s degree in Library Science, Information Systems, Linguistics or equivalent professional experience
– 8+ years in an Ontology, Taxonomy or Metadata management role focused on modeling data for both customer engagement and systematic processing
– Demonstrated knowledge of upper-level ontology, taxonomy, controlled vocabularies, data modeling and classification
– Proven experience leading tool migrations, new data initiatives or otherwise building new solutions for ontology problems.
– Excellent project management skills and experience managing complex roadmaps.
– Proficiency with Semantic Web technologies (RDF/s, OWL), query languages (SPARQL), validation/reasoning standards (SHACL, SPIN), and open-source and commercial ontology engineering editors (e.g. Protege, TopQuadrant products, PoolParty)

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

– PhD in Information Management, Library Science, Linguistics or equivalent degree
– Experience designing knowledge graphs, product ontologies, including localization
– Proven ability to work and deliver effectively in cross-functional teams
– Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; comfortable working across all levels of leadership
– Great verbal communication skills with the ability to present complex technical and metadata information in a clear and concise manner to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences
– Experience working in production environments with aggressive deadlines
– Passionate about website usability and the role of ontologies in improving customer shopping experiences

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 $122,000/year in our lowest geographic market up to $272,800/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. This position will remain posted until filled. Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.

USA, WA, Seattle