Senior Machine Learning Engineer_Linguistics and Speech

Aimlroles; California; On-site; USD 161,000 - 274,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

401(k) Plan with company match

ESPP

Matching donations

Flexible time away plan

Family leave programs

Job summary

ServiceNow, based in California, seeks a Senior Voice AI Engineer – Linguistics & Speech to design, develop, and deploy Voice AI applications across the Speech Platform, including ASR and TTS. You will own language support end to end, add new languages, and work with engineers to deliver robust voice experiences.

The role requires a Master's or PhD in Linguistics or related field, 4+ years of experiment design, and hands-on experience with Python and LLMs. Hybrid work options are available.

Qualifications

• Masters or PhD in Linguistics, Cognitive Science, or related field.
• Specialization in phonetics, acoustics, psycholinguistics, or cognitive science (applied or interdisciplinary).
• 4+ years of experience in large-scale experiment design in industry or applied research.
• Hands-on experience building Voice AI applications.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to design, development and implementation of Voice AI applications.
• Own language support end to end: add languages and locales, and maintain pronunciation rules.
• Analyze complex speech problems across languages, accents and dialects.
• Collaborate with linguists to map language problem spaces.
• Diagnose language and speech failures in production and drive fixes with the team.
• Partner with engineers to solve linguistic problems and contribute code.
• Partner with product managers to understand use cases and customer challenges.
• Design linguistic experiments to guide technology choices for Voice AI.
• Build tooling to analyze linguistic problems at scale.
• Mentor colleagues and promote knowledge sharing across teams.

Skills

Linguistics

Experiment design

Speech processing

Python

Education

Master's or PhD in Linguistics/Cognitive Science

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

Windsurf

Job description

It all started when engineer Fred Luddy wrote code that automated a tedious task for his coworker, Phyllis. She cried tears of joy. That moment inspired Fred to build a company that could do that for everyone—freeing people from busywork so they could focus on meaningful work. Today, ServiceNow is the AI control tower for business reinvention. Our ServiceNow AI platform brings together any AI, any data, and any workflow— helping 85% of the Fortune 500® work smarter, faster, and better. We're building an AI-native culture where technology and talent are unstoppable together. And we're just getting started.

Join us to put AI to work for people.

What you get to do in this role:

As a Senior Voice AI Engineer – Linguistics & Speech, you will

• Contribute to the design, development and implementation of Voice AI applications, bringing linguistic and speech expertise to the core Voice Platform (Speech Recognition, Conversation Management, Speech Generation)
• Own language support end to end: add new languages and locales, and maintain language-specific instructions, normalization and pronunciation rules.
• Analyze complex speech problems across a diverse set of languages, accents and dialects
• Work with other linguists to map the problem space of specific languages
• Diagnose language and speech failures in production calls, trace them to the responsible component, and drive the fix with the team.
• Partner with engineers to identify and solve the right linguistic problems, and contribute code to the features that power the user experience.
• Partner with product managers to work with customers, understand their use cases and linguistic challenges, and build for their success
• Design linguistic experiments that drive technology choices (e.g. STT/TTS models and vendors) for Voice AI applications
• Build tooling, with the help of AI, to analyze linguistic problems at scale
• Mentor colleagues and help promote knowledge-sharing across linguistics and Voice AI engineering disciplines

To be successful in this role you have:

• A Master's or PhD in Linguistics, Cognitive Science, or a related field
• A specialization in phonetics, acoustics, psycholinguistics, or cognitive science (applied or interdisciplinary rather than theoretical linguistics)
• 4+ years of experience in large-scale experiment design and quantitative research projects in an industry setting or applied research
• Hands-on experience building Voice AI applications
• Development experience with Python or similar languages
• Deep knowledge of the structure of several languages; fluency in a language other than English is a plus.
• Ability to explain linguistic findings clearly to engineers, product managers, and customers.
• Experience evaluating speech recognition and speech synthesis systems (considered an asset)
• Experience building applications on top of LLMs, including prompt engineering (considered an asset)
• A self-starter, outcome-driven mindset and the ability to work with many stakeholders
• The ability to think critically about integrating AI into your work, including hands-on experience with AI tools such as Claude Code, Cursor or Windsurf.

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $161,300 - $274,200, plus equity (when applicable), variable/incentive compensation and benefits. Sales positions generally offer a competitive On Target Earnings (OTE) incentive compensation structure. Please note that the base pay shown is a guideline, and individual total compensation will vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, competencies, and work location. We also offer health plans, including flexible spending accounts, a 401(k) Plan with company match, ESPP, matching donations, a flexible time away plan and family leave programs. Compensation is based on the geographic location in which the role is located and is subject to change based on work location.

Work Personas

We approach our distributed world of work with flexibility and trust. Work personas (flexible, remote, or required in office) are categories that are assigned to ServiceNow employees depending on the nature of their work and their assigned work location. Learn more here. To determine eligibility for a work persona, ServiceNow may confirm the distance between your primary residence and the closest ServiceNow office using a third-party service.

Equal Opportunity Employer

ServiceNow is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity, veteran status, or any other category protected by law. In addition, all qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with legal requirements.

Accommodations

We strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are unable to use this online application and need an alternative method to apply, please contact [e-mail] for assistance.

Export Control Regulations

For positions requiring access to controlled technology subject to export control regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), ServiceNow may be required to obtain export control approval from government authorities for certain individuals. All employment is contingent upon ServiceNow obtaining any export license or other approval that may be required by relevant export control authorities.

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