Senior Principal Applied AI Scientist

Preply; Barcelona; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Preply seeks a seasoned leader to drive AI-driven personalized learning initiatives. You will shape the scientific roadmap, design scalable ML solutions, and guide teams from research to production.

Applicants should have a PhD in a relevant field, 8+ years in industry, and deep expertise in NLP, LLMs, and retrieval methods, with strong PyTorch and cloud experience. Collaboration with product and engineering is essential.

Qualifications

• PhD in NLP, IR, ML or related field required.
• 8+ years of industry experience.
• Expertise in deep learning for NLP and LLMs.
• Strong knowledge of retrieval models and ranking methods.
• Experience with RAG and deploying LLM-based solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of AI-driven personalized learning solutions and shape Preply's scientific roadmap.
• Design and deploy scalable machine learning solutions for personalized learning and intelligent tutor systems.
• Develop long-term scientific roadmaps aligned with product strategy and business goals.
• Advise senior leadership on investments, technology direction, and organizational planning.
• Partner with applied science leaders, product managers, and engineering teams to deliver AI solutions.
• Guide and mentor scientists and engineers.
• Establish and advocate for ML best practices, including architecture, roadmaps, and deployment pipelines.
• Report directly to the VP of Data and Applied AI.

Skills

PhD in NLP

Deep Learning NLP

Retrieval Models

Ranking Models

RAG & LLMs

PyTorch

AWS / Google Cloud

Roadmap Leadership

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Problem Solving

Education

PhD in NLP, IR, ML or related

Tools

PyTorch

AWS

Google Cloud

Job description

Responsibilities

• Lead development of AI-driven personalized learning solutions and shape Preply's scientific roadmap
• Design and deploy scalable machine learning solutions for personalized learning and intelligent tutor systems
• Develop long-term scientific roadmaps aligned with product strategy and business goals
• Advise senior leadership on investments, technology direction, and organizational planning
• Partner with applied science leaders, product managers, and engineering teams to deliver AI solutions
• Guide and mentor scientists and engineers
• Establish and advocate for machine learning best practices, including architecture design, research roadmaps, and deployment pipelines
• Report directly to the VP of Data and Applied AI

Requirements

• PhD in NLP, IR, Machine Learning, or related fields (or equivalent experience)
• 8+ years of industry experience
• Strong focus on deep learning-based NLP, LLM continuous pre-training, and IR methods
• Demonstrated expertise in retrieval models
• Extensive experience with ranking models
• Strong understanding and experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and LLMs for real-world applications
• Proficiency in deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or Google Cloud
• Proven ability to lead scientific roadmaps across multiple product areas
• Track record of solving real-world problems throughout the entire product lifecycle, from research to production
• Passion for scientific innovation in personalized learning
• Ability to work cross-functionally with diverse teams

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in developing AI-driven personalized learning solutions, with a strong focus on deep learning-based NLP and LLMs. Proven ability to lead scientific roadmaps and collaborate cross-functionally to deliver innovative AI solutions.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• PhD In NLP
• Deep Learning-Based NLP
• Machine Learning Solutions
• Proficiency In PyTorch
• Cloud Platforms Experience

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Machine Learning
• Natural Language Processing
• Deep Learning
• Retrieval Models
• Ranking Models
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation
• LLMs
• AI Solutions Development
• Scientific Roadmap Development
• Problem Solving

Soft Skills

• Leadership
• Mentoring
• Collaboration
• Advisory Skills
• Communication

Industry Keywords

• Personalized Learning
• AI-Driven Solutions
• Product Lifecycle
• Research Roadmaps
• Deployment Pipelines

Tools & Technologies

• PyTorch
• AWS
• Google Cloud