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Home / Compensation / Amazon / ML Engineer
Total compensation for a Amazon ML Engineer ranges from about $150K at the entry level to $1.6M+ at the most senior bands, with a typical mid-level package around $410K. Below is the full breakdown by level - base salary, annual equity, and bonus - from public-source data.
Public-source estimates (Beta). Last updated 2026-05. Figures are annualized USD.
| Level | Years | Base (p50) | Equity/yr (p50) | Bonus (p50) | Total (p25-p90) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDE IApplied Scientist I | 0-2 YOE | $130K | $25K | $25K | $150K - $225K |
| SDE IIApplied Scientist II | 3-5 YOE | $175K | $60K | $30K | $215K - $390K |
| SDE IIISenior Applied Scientist | 5-9 YOE | $185K | $165K | $45K | $320K - $680K |
| PrincipalPrincipal Applied Scientist | 9-14 YOE | $185K | $350K | $75K | $480K - $1.1M |
| Senior PrincipalSenior Principal Applied Scientist | 14+ YOE | $185K | $615K | $115K | $700K - $1.6M |
Entry-level. Most ML hires arrive at SDE II or higher.
Mid-level. Common entry for fresh PhDs.
Senior IC. AWS Bedrock and Alexa AI command top-of-band offers.
Principal IC. Sign-on backfills the back-loaded vesting cliff.
Senior Principal. External hires very rare.
Applied scientist / ML engineer titles share the SDE level scheme but cluster at L5-L7. The $185K base cap applies. AWS Bedrock and the Alexa AI org pay top-of-band for foundation-model and inference-systems work.
7 rounds. 6 of them can be practised here - each one below links the rep that trains it.
Recruiter screen
30 minutes. Background, ML focus, level, and the Leadership Principles.
Online assessment or phone screen
Coding plus Leadership Principle questions; some teams add ML questions.
Free rep: Coding challenges with a real sandbox →Onsite: Coding
60 minutes. Coding with principle questions alongside.
Free rep: Coding challenges with a real sandbox →Onsite: ML breadth
60 minutes. Algorithms, evaluation, overfitting, feature engineering, and trade-offs.
Free rep: Machine learning questions →Onsite: ML depth / past project
60 minutes. Deep dive into ML work you owned, with Dive Deep follow-ups.
Free rep: Machine learning questions →Onsite: ML system design
60 minutes. Recommendations, ranking, forecasting, or fraud - end to end, including deployment and monitoring.
Free rep: Design walkthrough: Design a Recommendation System (YouTube / Netflix / TikTok) →Onsite: Bar Raiser
60 minutes. Principle-heavy round from outside the team.
Free rep: STAR answers: Customer Obsession (Amazon Leadership Principle) →The full Amazon prep pack → what they value, topic emphasis, and the questions candidates ask.
Get one interview question, one comp insight, and one job-market signal each week - free.
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The offer calculator compares your current and target offers 4 years out - vesting, refresh grants, and federal + state + FICA tax - so you negotiate with real take-home numbers.
Open the offer calculator