Overview
The Amazon.com Universal Shopping Experience team (USX) is seeking a uniquely innovative and highly motivated Design Technologist (Prototyper) to bring to life bold concepts for the future of shopping. In this role, you will use a variety of tools and technologies to prototype new ways of interacting and shopping on the web and devices, with a variety of modalities. You’ll work with a small, highly capable team of designers, researchers and engineers in a studio environment, inventing and iterating on concepts that start and end with the customer. The ideal candidate will have an inventor’s spirit, an eye for detail, a can-do approach, and proficiency in a wide range of languages, platforms and technologies.
Responsibilities
- Actively participate in concept development and design ideation as part of a small team.
- Rapidly build and iterate prototypes that push the bounds of today’s computing to prove concepts and test ideas.
- Develop polished, high-fidelity functional prototypes to prove and sell concepts to development teams and senior leadership.
- Partner with engineering to ensure that interactive techniques and technologies translate through to shipping products and services.
Qualifications
- BS in Computer Science or related technical field (In lieu of degree, 4 years of relevant work experience).
- At least 3 years’ experience as a key member of a UI design team participating in the complete product development lifecycle of successfully launched applications.
- Proficiency in native mobile development and HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript, with a strong grasp on Object-Oriented thinking.
- Strong interaction and rapid prototype engineering skills across a broad spectrum of technologies including: Native mobile development, e.g. Objective-C/Xcode, HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript, JS frameworks, W3C DOM methods and properties
- Knowledge of web development tools such as Frameworks (e.g. jQuery, Backbone, Bootstrap), Package Management (e.g. Require.js, AMD), Browser Debugging (e.g. Web Inspector, Firebug, WebDev Toolbar), Templating (e.g. Handlebars, Underscore templates), and Preprocessors (e.g. SASS, LESS, CoffeeScript).
- Strong grasp of Physics, Algebra and Calculus and experience with application and modeling, e.g. transitions, gestures, image processing, 3D, etc.
- Portfolio of work that demonstrates detailed attention to typography, color, imagery, motion, and graphic elements
- Preferred: Experience in fetching data from services and screen scraping using a RESTful API (e.g. Twitter, AWS, OAuth).
- Preferred: Experience with Object Oriented JavaScript and modern JavaScript libraries (e.g., Closure, jQuery, Node).
- Preferred: Experience with vector and motion graphics, including SVG, HTML5 Canvas, and Animation via JavaScript and CSS.
- Preferred: Fluency in one or more of: Python/PHP/Ruby, Flash/ActionScript, C, C++ or Java.
- Preferred: Experience with unconventional hardware and software platform. Experience with sensors integration, including basic signal processing.
- Preferred: HCI and research experience, including mobile HCI, tangible interfaces, and physical computing.
Benefits
- A choice of four medical plans, including prescription drug coverage, designed to meet your individual needs, with domestic partner coverage
- Dental plan
- Vision plan
- Company-paid basic life and accident coverage as well as optional coverage at a low cost
- Company-paid short- and long-term disability plan
- Employee assistance program including dependent-care referral services and financial/legal services
- Health-care and dependent-care flexible spending accounts
- Salaried employees earn two weeks of vacation time in the first year, three weeks of vacation in the second
- Hourly employees earn 40 hours of vacation time in the first year, 80 hours in the second
- Six personal days every year in addition to six holidays
- 401(k) savings plan with a company match
- Several employee discount programs
- Most Amazon employees receive Amazon Restricted Stock Units
- Amazon may provide relocation assistance for certain positions. (Ask your interviewer whether the position is eligible for relocation assistance.)