diff --git a/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Include/Atom/Feature/Material/MaterialAssignment.h b/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Include/Atom/Feature/Material/MaterialAssignment.h
index 907b1a1740..987e78ae0f 100644
--- a/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Include/Atom/Feature/Material/MaterialAssignment.h
+++ b/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Include/Atom/Feature/Material/MaterialAssignment.h
@@ -66,6 +66,6 @@ namespace AZ
 
         //! Find an assignment id corresponding to the lod and label substring filters
         MaterialAssignmentId FindMaterialAssignmentIdInModel(
-            const Data::Instance<AZ::RPI::Model> model, const MaterialAssignmentLodIndex lodFilter, const AZStd::string& labelFilter);
+            const Data::Instance<AZ::RPI::Model>& model, const MaterialAssignmentLodIndex lodFilter, const AZStd::string& labelFilter);
     } // namespace Render
 } // namespace AZ
diff --git a/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Source/Material/MaterialAssignment.cpp b/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Source/Material/MaterialAssignment.cpp
index e43dde5d78..4d437be244 100644
--- a/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Source/Material/MaterialAssignment.cpp
+++ b/Gems/Atom/Feature/Common/Code/Source/Material/MaterialAssignment.cpp
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ namespace AZ
         }
 
         MaterialAssignmentId FindMaterialAssignmentIdInLod(
-            const Data::Instance<AZ::RPI::Model> model,
+            const Data::Instance<AZ::RPI::Model>& model,
             const Data::Instance<AZ::RPI::ModelLod>& lod,
             const MaterialAssignmentLodIndex lodIndex,
             const AZStd::string& labelFilter)
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ namespace AZ
         }
 
         MaterialAssignmentId FindMaterialAssignmentIdInModel(
-            const Data::Instance<AZ::RPI::Model> model, const MaterialAssignmentLodIndex lodFilter, const AZStd::string& labelFilter)
+            const Data::Instance<AZ::RPI::Model>& model, const MaterialAssignmentLodIndex lodFilter, const AZStd::string& labelFilter)
         {
             if (model && !labelFilter.empty())
             {