Principal AI Scientist

Cerence AI; United States; Remote; USD 124,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus opportunity

Flexible Time Off

Medical coverage (Health)

Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

401(k) with employer match

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Paid parental leave

Disability and life insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Tuition reimbursement

Global rewards and recognition program

Job summary

Cerence AI is seeking a senior AI scientist to design and implement state-of-the-art Generative AI models (LLMs/MLLMs) and push the boundaries of multilingual, multimodal speech and language tech. You will train, fine-tune, optimize production models and collaborate with cross-functional teams across engineering and domain experts.

The ideal candidate holds an advanced degree (Ph.D. preferred) in CS or EE, has strong Python skills, and a proven track record delivering conversational AI systems,

Qualifications

• Strong Python programming skills.
• Experience developing LLM/MLLM based conversational AI systems.
• Experience deploying models in multiple languages or on multilingual platforms.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement Generative AI models (auto-regressive, diffusion, Discrete Diffusion, Hybrid SSM).
• Train, fine-tune, and optimize models for production environments.
• Collaborate with AI scientists, software engineers, and domain experts to deliver customized AI solutions.

Skills

Python

LLMs/MLLMs

Conversational AI

Multilingual deployment

Model deployment

Education

Ph.D. preferred in CS/EE or related field

Job description

A Moving Experience. Your Impact Architect, design, and implement state-of-the-art Generative AI models (auto-regressive, diffusion, Discrete Diffusion, Hybrid SSM etc ) and advance the SOTA in very small LLMs. Leverage your expertise to effectively train, fine-tune, and optimize models that impact LLMs (Multimodal & Multilingual), shaping them for optimal accuracy, naturalness, and performance. Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams comprising agentic AI scientists, software engineers, and domain experts. By understanding their requirements, you will collaboratively develop customized solutions that leverage the prowess of LLMs/MLLMs. Innovate and enhance existing applications by integrating the power of LLMs/MLLMs, thereby ensuring optimal performance and speed even on resource-constrained platforms. Stay fully abreast of the latest advancements, trends, and research in the realms of Generative AI, Conversational AI, and language modeling, actively incorporating new techniques, technologies, and best practices to continually enhance the overall performance of our systems. What You Bring Extensive experience and demonstrated mastery in developing LLM/MLLMs. Well versed with commercial deployments, post-deployment support, model-profiling and optimization needed for production environments. It would be preferable to be experienced in deploying models in different languages. Advanced degree (Ph.D. preferred) in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field. Exceptional programming skills in Python along with a strong ability to implement complex machine learning algorithms. Proven track-record in developing conversational AI systems, successfully working with diverse elements such as acoustic models, language models, and pronunciation models. Possess strong analytical thinking, problem-solving capabilities, and a collaborative mindset, ensuring you can thrive within our fast-paced and innovative environment. It would be nice to have extensive experience porting these models on very small footprint devices.

What we offer

At Cerence AI, we offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial security, personal wellbeing, and life outside of work. Benefits are effective from the date of hire.

Our benefits include:

• The expected salary range for this position is $123,500 USD - $197,600 USD / $174,605.54 CDN - $279,401.46 CDN
• The actual salary will be determined based on experience and other job-related factors.
• Annual bonus opportunity
• Flexible Time Off
• Choice‑based medical coverage plus Dental and Vision plans
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and 401(k) USA retirement plan with an employer match / CDN RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan)
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Paid parental leave and adoption assistance
• Disability and life insurance
• We also offer an Employee Assistance Program, a wellbeing platform, volunteer hours, a broad employee discount marketplace, tuition reimbursement and a global rewards and recognition program.

All compensation and benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the underlying plans or programs, as applicable, and may be amended, terminated, or replaced from time to time.

Cerence Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNC and www.cerence.com) is the global industry leader in creating unique, moving experiences for the automotive world. Spun out from Nuance in October 2019, Cerence is a new, independent company that has quickly gained traction as a leader in the automotive voice assistant space, working with all of the world’s leading automakers – from Ford and Fiat Chrysler to Daimler, Audi and BMW to Geely and SAIC – to transform how a car feels, responds and learns. Its track record is built on more than 20 years of industry experience and leadership and more than 500 million cars on the road today across more than 70 languages. As Cerence looks to the future and continues an ambitious growth agenda, we need someone to join the team and help build the future of voice and AI in cars. This is an exciting opportunity to join Cerence’s passionate, dedicated, global team and be a part of meaningful innovation in a rapidly growing industry.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Cerence is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, protected military or veteran status, genetic information and other protected classifications. Cerence Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement. All prospective and current Employees need to remain vigilant when it comes to executing security policies in the workplace. This includes:

• Following workplace security protocols and training programs to familiarize with the ways to maintain a safe workplace.
• Following security procedures to report any suspicious activity.
• Having respect for corporate security procedures to allow those procedures to be effective.
• Adhering to company's compliance and regulations.
• Encouraging to follow a zero tolerance for workplace violence.
• Basic knowledge of information security and data privacy requirements (e.g., how to protect data & how to be handling this data).
• Demonstrative knowledge of information security through internal training programs.

At Cerence AI, we help the world's leading automotive and technology brands leverage AI to create safer, more productive and more joy-filled brand and user experiences. We're looking for motivated, collaborative individuals who come alive with big challenges and are excited about AI's potential to shape the future of how people experience the world.