Linguist III

Iron Systems, Inc; Kansas City (MO); Remote; USD 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative company seeks a Linguist III to perform linguistic analyses and collaborate on AI projects. This role involves analyzing datasets, conducting research on language typology, and providing insights into linguistic quality across various languages. Ideal candidates will have a graduate degree in Linguistics, strong communication skills, and proficiency in Python and SQL. Join a forward-thinking team dedicated to enhancing AI language models and addressing cultural biases in multilingual settings. This position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to impactful research in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Graduate degree in Linguistics or a related field is required.
• Must have a strong grasp of language typology, syntax, morphology, and sociolinguistics.

Responsibilities

• Perform linguistic analyses on large datasets and error analysis of AI model outputs.
• Conduct typological and sociolinguistic research on multiple languages.
• Write and revise guidelines for human annotation and translation projects.

Skills

Written and spoken communication skills

Near-native proficiency in a language other than English

Coding in Python

SQL database querying

Project management skills

Knowledge of international language-classification standards

Ability to work independently

Education

Graduate degree in Linguistics

PhD in Linguistics

Background in corpus linguistics

Job description

Iron Systems is an innovative, customer-focused provider of custom-built computing infrastructure platforms such as network servers, storage, OEM/ODM appliances & embedded systems. For more than 15 years, customers have trusted us for our innovative problem solving combined with holistic design, engineering, manufacturing, logistic, and global support services.

Job Title: Linguist III

Location: US - MO - Remote

Job Description: Main duties:

1. Perform linguistic analyses on large datasets.
2. Perform linguistic error analysis of AI model outputs, determining the most frequent and severe error categories.
3. Write and revise guidelines for human annotation and translation projects.
4. Conduct typological and sociolinguistic research on a large number of languages, highlighting their similarities and differences.
5. Perform linguistic analyses for Responsible AI (toxic language, hate speech, gender bias, and other cultural biases) in massively multilingual settings.
6. Conduct linguistic literature reviews on various NLP-adjacent topics, and summarize findings.
7. Compare the quality of human translations between vendors, identify error patterns, and provide actionable feedback.
8. Provide information or guidance related to any aspect of linguistic knowledge (typology, morpho-syntax, sociolinguistics, classification, phonetics/phonology, pragmatics, etc.).
9. Reach out to and collaborate with native speakers in various languages.
10. Communicate results of linguistic analyses to engineers and research scientists.

Skills:

1. Must have strong written and spoken communication skills, especially in business and research contexts.
2. Must be near-native proficient in a language other than English, specifically from the following language families or groups: Afro-Asiatic, Indo-Aryan, Atlantic-Congo, or Austronesian.
3. Working knowledge of other languages is a plus. Proficiency in low-resource languages is valued.
4. Must be able to code in Python and query databases using SQL; knowledge of other data analysis languages like R is a plus.
5. Ability to work independently through complex requests and perform under pressure.
6. Strong ability to prioritize, plan, track work, and report progress; education or training in project management is a plus. Self-motivation is essential.
7. Working knowledge of international language-classification standards is valued.

Education:

1. Graduate degree in Linguistics or a related field is required.
2. PhD is a plus; a background or specialization in corpus linguistics is also a plus.
3. Experience with fieldwork is advantageous.
4. A graduate degree in Literature or English is not an appropriate substitute; a degree in Computer Science with a specialization in NLP is not acceptable as a substitute.
5. Must have a strong grasp of language typology, syntax, morphology, sociolinguistics (especially dialectology and discourse analysis), corpus linguistics, writing systems, pragmatics, and phonology.
6. Some experience with applying basic NLP techniques is required.

Experience:

1. 0-3 years of experience.
2. Experience working cross-functionally.
3. Experience collaborating with machine learning, NLP, or software engineers, or data scientists. Experience contributing to research papers is preferred.
4. Preferably no conflicts of interest in fields like machine translation, ASR, TTS, or LLM research, as FAIR Linguists need to contribute to research papers.