Phonetician / Linguist (Spanish-US)

Omilia; Texas; Sur place; USD 70 000 - 90 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Fixed compensation

Long-term employment

Professional development opportunities

Collaborative work environment

Modern equipment

Résumé du poste

Omilia is seeking a linguist to ensure the linguistic and phonetic quality of our multilingual Text-to-Speech systems. The role involves conducting phonetic analysis, developing lexicons, and handling complex language features. Required qualifications include an M.Sc. or Ph.D. in Linguistics and experience with corpus annotation tools. The position offers a chance to work with cutting-edge technology and a diverse team, making a global impact in the service industry.

Qualifications

• M.Sc. or Ph.D. in a relevant field is essential.
• Proven experience in TTS or ASR lexicon development.
• Deep knowledge of phonological theory and acoustics.

Responsabilités

• Conduct systematic phonological analysis of American Spanish.
• Build and maintain pronunciation lexicons.
• Integrate linguistic artefacts into synthesis pipelines.

Connaissances

Phonological analysis

Pronunciation lexicon development

Machine-readable phoneme notation

Corpus annotation tools

Analytical skills

English fluency

Proficiency in additional languages

Python scripting

Formation

M.Sc. or Ph.D. in Linguistics, Phonetics, Computational Linguistics

Outils

Praat

ELAN

Audacity

Description du poste

Role Purpose

Ensure the linguistic and phonetic quality of Omilia's multilingual Text-to-Speech (TTS) systems by designing phoneme inventories, developing lexicons, and reviewing audio corpora to support enterprise-grade voice experiences.

Accountabilities

• Autonomy: Independently conduct phonological and phonetic analysis, design phoneme inventories, and develop lexicons for multiple languages
• Scope & Complexity: Responsible for linguistic quality across all supported languages in TTS, including handling underrepresented phenomena and complex language-specific features
• Impact: Directly influences the naturalness, accuracy, and quality of Omilia's TTS output, impacting customer experience in global contact center deployments
• Influence/Mentorship: Collaborates with TTS engineers, data scientists, and ML researchers; coordinates with native-speaker reviewers and external annotation pipelines

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct systematic phonological and phonetic analysis of the American Spanish language
• Document language-specific features (prosody, stress, tone, coarticulation, dialect variation)
• Produce structured language profiles for TTS model training and evaluation
• Define and maintain phoneme inventories; map to IPA and TTS-specific conventions
• Corpus audits and optimal audio references selections for TTS target voice tuning
• Build and maintain pronunciation lexicons, including G2P rules and exceptions
• Review and correct machine-generated G2P outputs; conduct pronunciation audits
• Annotate audio corpora, develop evaluation protocols, and produce error analyses
• Define linguistic criteria for TTS corpus selection and design prompts for data collection
• Collaborate with TTS engineers to integrate linguistic artefacts into synthesis pipelines
• Contribute to internal documentation and participate in research discussions

Requirements

• M.Sc. or Ph.D. in Linguistics, Phonetics, Computational Linguistics, or related field
• Proven experience building pronunciation lexicons or G2P systems for TTS or ASR
• Deep knowledge of phonological theory, articulatory and acoustic phonetics
• Proficiency with IPA and at least one machine-readable phoneme notation system (X-SAMPA, ARPAbet, etc.)
• Experience with corpus annotation tools (Praat, ELAN, WebAnno, etc.)
• Strong analytical and documentation skills
• Fluency in English; proficiency in at least one additional language relevant to Omilia's markets
• Technical skills: Praat, ELAN, Audacity, PLS/CMUdict/SSML lexicon formats, Phonetisaurus/Sequitur/neural G2P, basic Python or shell scripting, TTS text normalization

Benefits

• Fixed compensation
• Long-term employment with the working days vacation
• Development in professional growth (courses, training, etc.)
• Being part of successful cutting-edge technology products that are making a global impact in the service industry
• Proficient and fun-to-work-with colleagues
• Apple gear

Omilia is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We believe that embracing diversity in all its forms enriches our workplace and drives our collective success. We are committed to creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives without regard to factors such as race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, heredity, disability, age, or veteran status. All eligible candidates will be given consideration for employment.