Senior UX Designer, AWS Applied AI Solutions

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior UX Designer, AWS Applied AI Solutions

Company: Amazon

Location: Sunnyvale, California, United States; Seattle, Washington, United States; New York, New York, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: User Experience (UX) Design, AI/ML Design

Date Posted: 2026-08-11

Experience Level: 7+ Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the end-to-end design strategy for complex, AI-native business applications and customer experiences within AWS Applied AI Solutions.

• Define and drive innovative interaction paradigms for proactive, context-aware, and trustworthy AI teammates, focusing on human-AI collaboration.

• Apply system-level thinking to create cohesive experiences across multiple products and touchpoints, ensuring scalability and consistent quality standards.

• Leverage AI-accelerated workflows, rapid prototyping, and "vibe coding" to quickly explore ideas, validate concepts, and influence product direction through tangible artifacts.

• Partner closely with product management, engineering, and applied science teams to shape product strategy, roadmap, and influence senior stakeholders through compelling storytelling and customer-backed insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor with significant strategic influence, focusing on pioneering new design approaches for AI-driven business solutions. The emphasis on "AI-native experiences," "proactive, context-aware AI teammates," and "trust, transparency, and human-AI collaboration" indicates a need for candidates who can think beyond traditional UI/UX and deeply engage with the complexities of artificial intelligence in user-facing products. The mention of "vibe coding" suggests a fast-paced, experimental environment where rapid iteration and tangible output are highly valued.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and drive comprehensive UX strategy across intricate product domains and multi-service customer journeys, translating ambiguous problem statements into clear, opinionated experience directions that articulate core customer value.

• Lead the design of AI-native experiences, including the development of proactive, context-aware AI teammates, and establish scalable interaction models that foster trust, transparency, and effective human-AI collaboration.

• Employ system-level thinking to engineer cohesive and integrated experiences across various products and customer touchpoints, and champion the development of reusable design patterns, frameworks, and quality standards to elevate the overall UX bar.

• Utilize AI-accelerated design workflows, rapid prototyping techniques, and "vibe coding" to explore innovative concepts, validate hypotheses, and influence product strategy and roadmap through the creation of compelling, tangible design artifacts.

• Collaborate effectively across product management, engineering, and applied science teams to shape the strategic direction and roadmap of AI solutions, influencing senior leadership through persuasive storytelling, data-driven insights, and a deep understanding of customer needs.

• Drive customer understanding and validate design decisions through rigorous user research, experimentation, and data analysis, while actively mentoring fellow designers and contributing to the elevation of team-wide design quality and culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic leadership, hands-on design execution, and cross-functional influence. The emphasis on "translating ambiguous problem spaces" and "shaping product strategy" suggests that this role requires a proactive and entrepreneurial mindset, not just execution of defined tasks. The expectation to "drive reusable design patterns" and "raise the UX bar" points to a focus on scalability and setting high standards for design quality within the team and broader organization.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is listed, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, or a related field is typically expected for senior design roles.

Experience: Minimum of 7+ years of professional design experience, with a demonstrated ability to lead complex, end-to-end design initiatives.

Required Skills:

• Advanced UX Strategy: Proven ability to define and drive UX strategy for complex product areas and multi-service journeys, translating ambiguity into clear experience directions.

• AI-Native Design Expertise: Experience designing for AI-powered systems, including interfaces for AI teammates, proactive assistance, and context-aware interactions.

• Interaction Design Mastery: High standards for usability, clarity, and craftsmanship in interaction design, with a portfolio showcasing complex problem-solving.

• Systems Thinking: Ability to apply system-level thinking to create cohesive experiences across products and touchpoints, and to develop scalable design patterns and frameworks.

• Rapid Prototyping & Iteration: Proficiency in rapid prototyping, leveraging AI-accelerated workflows and "vibe coding" for quick concept exploration and validation.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Strong track record of partnering with product, engineering, and science teams to influence product strategy and roadmap.

• Customer Understanding: Experience driving customer insight through research, experimentation, and data analysis.

• Influence & Storytelling: Ability to influence senior stakeholders through strong storytelling, data-backed insights, and tangible design artifacts.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing "agentic" experiences or systems that operate with a degree of autonomy.

• Experience defining novel interaction paradigms for emerging technologies.

• Experience building or scaling design systems and frameworks.

• Proven ability to work effectively in 0→1 or highly ambiguous problem spaces.

• Experience mentoring other designers and contributing to a high-performance design culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "7+ years" requirement combined with the responsibilities of driving strategy and influencing senior stakeholders suggests a need for a candidate who is not only a skilled practitioner but also a strategic thinker and a strong communicator. The emphasis on AI-specific design challenges is a key differentiator, requiring candidates to demonstrate an understanding of the unique considerations for designing with and for AI. "Vibe coding" is a strong indicator that hands-on, iterative, and potentially code-adjacent design skills are highly valued.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Case Studies: Showcase 2-3 in-depth case studies detailing the complete design process from problem definition through to launched solutions, emphasizing strategic thinking and problem-solving.

• AI/ML Design Examples: Include specific examples of designing for AI-powered systems, intelligent agents, or complex data-driven applications, highlighting how user needs were met within technical constraints.

• System-Level Design: Demonstrate projects where you considered the broader system or ecosystem, showing how your designs integrated across multiple products or touchpoints.

• Prototyping & Iteration: Provide examples of rapid prototyping, including work done using AI-accelerated tools or "vibe coding" techniques, showcasing iterative design and concept validation.

• Strategic Influence: Clearly articulate your role in shaping product strategy, influencing cross-functional decisions, and driving product direction through your design work.

Process Documentation:

• Problem Framing: Detail how you approach understanding and defining ambiguous problem spaces, including methodologies for customer research and opportunity identification.

• Design Iteration: Illustrate your iterative design process, including how you use feedback, data, and rapid prototyping to refine solutions.

• Collaboration & Influence: Showcase how you collaborate with product managers, engineers, and scientists, and how you influence stakeholders to adopt your design recommendations.

• Metrics & Impact: Present how you measure the success of your designs, focusing on customer value, business impact, and design quality metrics.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a senior role focused on AI and complex systems, portfolios should go beyond visual mockups. They need to demonstrate strategic thinking, a deep understanding of the design process, and the ability to articulate complex problems and solutions. The inclusion of AI-accelerated workflows and "vibe coding" implies that candidates should be prepared to discuss their tools and methods for rapid iteration and concept generation within their portfolio.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Sunnyvale, California: $151,600 - $205,000 USD annually

• New York, New York: $155,400 - $210,300 USD annually

• Seattle, Washington: $137,800 - $186,400 USD annually

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance package including medical, dental, and vision coverage.

• Prescription drug coverage and access to Basic Life & AD&D insurance, with options for Supplemental life plans.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and robust Mental Health Support.

• Medical Advice Line for quick consultations.

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) for healthcare and dependent care.

• Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage.

• 401(k) plan with company matching.

• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) policy.

• Comprehensive Parental Leave.

• Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) as part of the compensation package.

• Sign-on payments may be offered.

Working Hours: Typically a 40-hour workweek, aligned with standard business hours in the respective office locations. Flexibility may be expected based on project needs and team collaboration, especially given the emphasis on rapid iteration and cross-functional partnerships.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges provided are competitive for Senior UX Designer roles in these major tech hubs. The inclusion of RSUs and sign-on payments indicates a comprehensive compensation package typical of large technology companies like Amazon. The benefits list is extensive, covering physical and mental health, financial planning, and family support, which are attractive to experienced professionals. The stated working hours are standard, but the nature of the role in a fast-paced, innovative environment may require occasional flexibility.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Business Applications, Technology Services. AWS Applied AI Solutions operates within the highly competitive and rapidly evolving cloud computing and AI sectors, focusing on delivering practical, AI-driven business solutions to enterprises.

Company Size: Amazon is a massive, global technology conglomerate with hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide. This specific team, AWS Applied AI Solutions, is part of a larger, specialized organization within AWS, likely comprising dozens to hundreds of individuals focused on AI innovation.

Founded: Amazon was founded in 1994. AWS was launched in 2006, and the Applied AI Solutions organization represents a strategic expansion into leveraging AI for enterprise business applications. This history suggests a culture of innovation, customer obsession, and a willingness to invest in long-term technological advancements.

Team Structure:

• The AWS Applied AI Solutions team is likely structured to foster cross-functional collaboration, with designers working closely alongside product managers, engineering teams (including software development engineers and applied scientists), and potentially user researchers.

• Designers will likely report into a design leadership structure within AWS or a dedicated design lead for the Applied AI Solutions group, ensuring mentorship and alignment with broader design principles and standards.

• Collaboration patterns will emphasize agility, rapid iteration, and direct input into product strategy and roadmap decisions, reflecting Amazon's "Day 1" philosophy and focus on speed. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A core tenet at Amazon, teams will rely heavily on data, customer feedback, and experimentation to inform design and product decisions.

• Customer Obsession: All initiatives are driven by a deep understanding of customer needs and a commitment to delivering exceptional value and experience.

• Bias for Action & Iteration: Teams are encouraged to move quickly, build, measure, and learn, embracing an iterative approach to product development.

• Invent and Simplify: A culture that encourages innovative solutions to complex problems, often focusing on simplifying user experiences and processes.

Company Website: https://www.amazon.com

📝 Enhancement Note: The context of AWS Applied AI Solutions within Amazon suggests a dynamic environment focused on cutting-edge technology. The "About the team" section emphasizes a mission to "accelerate our customers’ businesses by delivering intuitive, differentiated technology solutions that solve enduring business challenges," which translates to a focus on practical, high-impact AI applications. The blend of "vision with curiosity and Amazon’s real-world experience" points to a culture that values both innovation and grounded execution.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior UX Designer role, indicating a mid-to-senior level position within the design discipline. It requires a high degree of autonomy, strategic thinking, and the ability to lead complex design initiatives without constant supervision. The focus is on driving significant impact through design leadership and innovation in a specialized area (AI).

Reporting Structure: The Senior UX Designer will likely report to a Design Manager or Lead within AWS Applied AI Solutions. They will work closely with Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and Applied Scientists, acting as a key design voice within these cross-functional teams.

Operations Impact: The role's impact is measured by its ability to shape the product strategy and user experience of next-generation AI-powered business applications. Success will be demonstrated through the successful launch of innovative features and products, improved customer satisfaction, increased adoption rates, and the establishment of new interaction paradigms for human-AI collaboration that set industry standards.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: Progression to Principal UX Designer, Design Manager, or specialized AI design lead roles, focusing on larger scope, higher strategic impact, and team leadership.

• Skill Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI/ML design, human-AI interaction, complex systems design, or emerging technologies through project work and continuous learning.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Opportunities to move into product management or strategy roles, leveraging deep product and customer understanding gained as a designer.

• Mentorship and Advocacy: Play a key role in mentoring junior designers, shaping design processes, and advocating for user-centered design principles across the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior UX Designer role at Amazon, particularly within AWS Applied AI, growth potential extends beyond typical design career ladders. The emphasis on shaping product strategy and influencing senior stakeholders opens doors to broader product leadership roles. The unique domain of AI design also presents opportunities for specialization and thought leadership in a rapidly evolving field.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is an on-site role, meaning the Senior UX Designer will be expected to work from one of Amazon's established office locations in Sunnyvale, Seattle, or New York. These offices are typically modern, well-equipped corporate environments designed to foster collaboration and innovation.

Office Location(s):

• Sunnyvale, California: Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, offering access to a vibrant tech ecosystem.

• Seattle, Washington: Amazon's global headquarters, providing a large, integrated campus environment.

• New York, New York: A prominent hub for technology and innovation, offering a dynamic urban work setting.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: Offices will feature a mix of open-plan work areas, private offices, meeting rooms, and collaboration zones designed to support team interaction and brainstorming.

• Tools and Technology: Access to state-of-the-art design software, hardware, and potentially specialized AI tools and prototyping platforms. High-speed internet and robust IT support are standard.

• Team Interaction: Frequent opportunities for in-person collaboration with design peers, product managers, engineers, and applied scientists, facilitating rapid feedback loops and knowledge sharing.

Work Schedule: While the standard is a 40-hour workweek, the fast-paced nature of AI development and Amazon's culture often encourages flexibility and a commitment to achieving project goals. This may involve occasional extended hours or adjustments to work patterns to meet deadlines or facilitate cross-time zone collaboration, though the primary expectation is on-site presence.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement for this role underscores Amazon's emphasis on in-person collaboration, especially for complex, innovative projects. The office environments in these tech hubs are designed to support this, offering both focused work areas and ample spaces for team interaction and creative problem-solving. The specific details about the Sunnyvale, Seattle, and New York locations are provided to give candidates a geographical context for their potential work environment.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will conduct an initial phone screen to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: Candidates will present their portfolio, focusing on key case studies that demonstrate their strategic thinking, design process, and experience with complex systems and AI. A design challenge (e.g., a take-home exercise or a live design critique) may be part of this stage.

• On-site/Virtual Interviews: A series of interviews with team members, including designers, product managers, engineers, and potentially senior leadership. These interviews will delve into problem-solving abilities, systems thinking, collaboration skills, and your approach to designing AI-native experiences.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A final interview with the hiring manager to discuss career aspirations, team fit, and overall alignment with the role and Amazon's culture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your process, your specific contributions, the solutions you designed, and the measurable impact of those solutions.

• Highlight AI/Complex Systems: Showcase projects that demonstrate your ability to handle ambiguity, design for complex technical constraints, and specifically address AI-driven features or systems.

• Showcase Strategy: Emphasize your role in defining strategy, influencing product direction, and making critical design decisions, not just executing visual design.

• Demonstrate Process: Be prepared to walk through your design process, including research, ideation, prototyping, iteration, and collaboration. Explain why you made certain decisions.

• Prepare for "Vibe Coding" Discussion: Be ready to discuss your experience with rapid prototyping tools and any experience you have with AI-assisted design workflows or "vibe coding."

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand AI Design Principles: Familiarize yourself with current thinking on human-AI interaction, trust models, and designing for AI teammates.

• Practice Problem Decomposition: Develop your ability to quickly break down complex, ambiguous problems into manageable components.

• Articulate Trade-offs: Be prepared to discuss design trade-offs, considering factors like user needs, technical feasibility, business goals, and AI capabilities.

• Think Systemically: Practice thinking about how your design fits into a larger product ecosystem and impacts multiple user journeys.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process at Amazon is rigorous and designed to assess candidates across multiple dimensions. For this Senior UX Designer role, the portfolio review and subsequent interviews will heavily scrutinize the candidate's strategic capabilities, their ability to innovate in the AI space, and their capacity for cross-functional influence and collaboration. The emphasis on "vibe coding" and AI-accelerated workflows suggests that candidates should be prepared to discuss their proficiency with modern, fast-paced design tooling.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping Software: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, XD), InVision, Axure, or similar industry-standard tools for wireframing, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototyping.

• AI-Accelerated Design Tools: Proficiency with or willingness to learn AI-powered design assistants, generative design tools, or rapid prototyping platforms that leverage AI to speed up the design process.

• "Vibe Coding" Tools: Familiarity with or openness to exploring tools that enable rapid, code-adjacent prototyping or quick visualization of concepts, potentially including frameworks like React, Vue, or even more experimental tools.

Analytics & Reporting:

• User Analytics Platforms: Experience with tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, Google Analytics, or internal Amazon analytics platforms to understand user behavior and validate design decisions.

• A/B Testing Tools: Familiarity with setting up and analyzing A/B tests to compare design variations and optimize user flows.

• Data Visualization: Ability to interpret data visualizations and potentially create simple dashboards to communicate insights.

CRM & Automation:

• While not a primary focus for UX design, familiarity with CRM systems (like Salesforce) and workflow automation tools can provide context for business applications and user workflows. Understanding how data flows through systems is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "AI-accelerated workflows" and "vibe coding" is a significant indicator of the technology stack and preferred working methods. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their experience with or interest in adopting these newer design paradigms. Proficiency in standard design tools is a given, but demonstrating adaptability to cutting-edge, AI-integrated design processes will be crucial.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Obsession: A deep commitment to understanding and meeting customer needs, driving all design and product decisions with the customer at the forefront.

• Invent and Simplify: A drive to create innovative solutions to complex problems and to simplify processes and user experiences.

• Ownership & Accountability: Taking full responsibility for design outcomes, from initial concept through to launch and iteration.

• Deliver Results: A focus on achieving tangible outcomes and driving business impact through design.

• High Standards: Maintaining a consistently high bar for quality in design, craftsmanship, and execution.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Highly collaborative, working closely with product managers, engineers, and applied scientists as integrated team members.

• Data-Informed: Design decisions are informed by user research, data analytics, and experimentation.

• Iterative & Agile: Embraces an agile development approach with rapid iteration cycles and continuous feedback.

• Direct & Respectful Communication: Open and honest communication, with a focus on constructive feedback and problem-solving.

📝 Enhancement Note: The core Amazon Leadership Principles (Customer Obsession, Invent and Simplify, Ownership, Deliver Results, High Standards) are deeply embedded in the company culture and will be evident in team interactions and decision-making processes. For this role, the emphasis on "invent and simplify" is particularly relevant to pioneering AI-native experiences, and "deliver results" will be tied to the impact of these innovations on business applications.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Ambiguity: Navigating highly ambiguous problem spaces and translating them into clear, actionable design directions for AI-native products.

• Pioneering New Paradigms: Defining novel interaction models for AI teammates, trust, and human-AI collaboration in areas where best practices are still emerging.

• Balancing Innovation with Practicality: Creating cutting-edge AI solutions that are also intuitive, scalable, and address real business needs.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring alignment and buy-in from diverse stakeholders (product, engineering, science) on complex design strategies and roadmaps.

• Rapid Iteration & Tool Adoption: Adapting quickly to new AI-accelerated design tools and workflows ("vibe coding") while maintaining high design quality.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep AI/ML Design Expertise: Opportunities to become a thought leader in designing for artificial intelligence, human-AI interaction, and intelligent agents.

• System Design Mastery: Developing expertise in designing complex, interconnected systems and scalable design frameworks.

• Strategic Product Influence: Gaining experience in shaping long-term product vision and strategy within a major cloud provider.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and contribute to the growth of the design function within AWS Applied AI Solutions.

• Access to Cutting-Edge Technology: Working with and influencing the development of advanced AI technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are inherent to working at the forefront of AI and cloud computing. Success will require a proactive approach to learning, a high tolerance for ambiguity, and a strong ability to influence and collaborate. The growth opportunities are significant, offering a chance to shape the future of AI-driven business applications and develop highly sought-after expertise.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to define the experience strategy for a complex, ambiguous problem space. What was your process, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on problem framing, research, and strategic articulation).

• "How do you approach designing for AI-native experiences, particularly for proactive or context-aware AI teammates? What are the key considerations for trust and transparency?" (Prepare examples of AI design, principles of human-AI interaction).

• "Tell me about a project where you had to apply system-level thinking to create cohesive experiences across multiple products or touchpoints. What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them?" (Highlight your ability to see the big picture and design for interconnectedness). Company & Culture Questions:

• "How do you embody Amazon's 'Customer Obsession' leadership principle in your design process?" (Prepare specific examples of how you've put customers first).

• "Describe your experience working with engineering and applied science teams. How do you ensure effective collaboration and alignment on complex technical projects?" (Focus on your cross-functional communication and influence skills).

• "What are your thoughts on 'vibe coding' or AI-accelerated design workflows? How do you see these impacting the future of UX design?" (Demonstrate your awareness of and openness to new methodologies). Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your presentation logically, typically with an overview of the problem, your role, your process, key decisions, the solution, and its impact.

• Quantify Impact: Use data and metrics whenever possible to demonstrate the success and value of your designs.

• Tell a Story: Make your case studies engaging narratives that highlight your problem-solving journey and strategic contributions.

• Focus on Senior-Level Thinking: Emphasize strategic thinking, trade-offs, and influence, not just visual polish or execution details.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your process, decisions, and the challenges you encountered.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation for this role should heavily emphasize strategic thinking, AI design nuances, and the ability to articulate complex processes and influences. Candidates should be ready to discuss their experience with ambiguity, system thinking, and how they leverage data and collaboration to drive results. Demonstrating enthusiasm for and understanding of emerging design methodologies like AI-accelerated workflows will be a significant advantage.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the Amazon Jobs portal via the provided link.

• Tailor your Resume: Highlight your 7+ years of experience, focusing on leadership in complex UX strategy, AI/ML design, system design, and cross-functional influence. Use keywords from the job description naturally.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best showcase your end-to-end design process, strategic thinking, and experience with complex or AI-driven projects. Ensure each case study clearly articulates the problem, your role, your process, your solutions, and the measurable impact.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio with a focus on storytelling, strategic decision-making, and quantifiable results. Be ready to discuss your experience with AI-accelerated workflows and "vibe coding."

• Research Amazon & AWS: Understand Amazon's Leadership Principles and AWS's mission in Applied AI Solutions. Prepare to discuss how your values and working style align with the company culture and the specific demands of this role.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.