Postdoctoral Associate & Conversational AI & NLP

Mohamed Bin Zayed University Of Artificial Intelligence; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading research university in the UAE seeks a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Conversational AI & NLP. The role involves leading the development of a Conversational Booking Agent, utilizing advanced NLP models and ensuring safety in interactions. Ideal candidates will have a PhD in Computer Science or a related field and relevant experience in dialogue systems and LLMs. The position offers competitive compensation and opportunities for professional development in a dynamic research environment.

Benefits

Opportunity to work on a high-impact research project

Competitive compensation and benefit package

Opportunities for professional development

Qualifications

• Experience in managing preprocessing and storing data while ensuring privacy compliance.
• Knowledge of methods for evaluating conversational AI systems, such as coherence and safety.
• Track record of relevant publications in leading NLP conferences or journals.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop the core conversational capabilities of the booking agent.
• Investigate and implement strategies to enhance model safety.
• Collaborate with the project team to define data requirements for training.

Skills

Experience in developing and evaluating dialogue systems or conversational agents

Proficiency in fine-tuning and evaluating NLP models

Strong understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs)

Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Education

PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field

Tools

Deep learning frameworks

Job description

Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is the worlds first AI focused university. Founded in 2019 MBZUAI started as a research-oriented graduate level university that has grown to host over 80 world-class faculty over 330 graduate-level students and is already ranked in the worlds top 25 byCSRankingsfor AI-related fields. Located in Abu Dhabi the university aims to become a global leader in AI education and research by providing cutting-edge programs in Artificial Intelligence empowering students to shape the future of technology. MBZUAI is committed to fostering innovation collaboration and ethical practices in AI to address global challenges.

About the role:

This project is a collaboration between MBZUAI and a Major Industry Partner in the UAE that aims to create a state-of-the-art Conversational Booking Agent. The agent will integrate with existing company systems engage users naturally and effectively in English (with future expansion to Arabic) ensure safety and reliability and provide personalized recommendations. This position focuses on the core natural language processing and developing conversational capabilities of the agent.

The Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Conversational AI & NLP will lead the research and development of the core dialogue engine. This involves designing implementing and evaluating advanced NLP models to ensure coherent engaging and safe user interactions. The role requires a deep understanding of large language models (LLMs) dialogue systems context management and techniques to mitigate risks like hallucination and manipulation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and develop the core conversational capabilities of the booking agent using state-of-the-art LLMs and NLP techniques.
• Investigate and implement strategies to prevent misleading advice and enhance model safety and robustness against manipulation.
• Collaborate closely with the project team to define data requirements for training and fine-tuning conversational models.
• Coordinate the evaluation of the agents conversational quality safety and security.
• Work with engineers to integrate the conversational module with backend systems and user interfaces.
• Stay updated on the latest research in conversational AI dialogue systems LLM safety and related fields.
• Publish research findings in top-tier conferences and journals.
• Mentor junior researchers or research assistants (RAs) involved in related tasks.
• Collect preprocess and store conversational data ensuring compliance with privacy standards and efficient use in model training and improvement.
• Benchmark and evaluate NLP models to assess performance across various metrics and fine-tune models based on results.

PhD in Computer Science Machine Learning or a related field with a focus on Natural Language Processing and Conversational AI.

Minimum:

• Experience in developing and evaluating dialogue systems or conversational agents.
• Experience in managing preprocessing and storing data while ensuring privacy compliance.
• Proficiency in fine-tuning benchmarking evaluating and NLP models.
• Strong understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs) including their strengths limitations.
• Knowledge of methods for evaluating conversational AI systems (e.g. coherence relevance safety).
• Proficiency in working with deep learning frameworks.
• Track record of relevant publications in leading NLP conferences or journals.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred:

• Experience with LLM safety alignment and hallucination mitigation techniques.
• Experience with bilingual or multilingual NLP models.
• Familiarity with evaluation methods for conversational interfaces.
• Experience working in collaborative multi-disciplinary research projects.

What we offer:

• Opportunity to work on a high-impact industry-relevant research project.
• A stimulating research environment at MBZUAI with leading experts in AI.
• Competitive compensation and benefit package aligned with top-tier academic markets.
• Opportunities for professional development and conference travel.