Lead AI Engineer - Natural Language Processing

Placements24; Pietermaritzburg; On-site; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Annual performance bonuses

Stock options

Job summary

Placements24 in Pietermaritzburg seeks a Lead AI Engineer with NLP expertise to drive the development and deployment of cutting-edge NLP solutions. You will lead a team of engineers and researchers, guiding projects from ideation to production within an innovative technology hub.

The role requires a Master’s or PhD in CS/AI and 5+ years in AI/ML with a strong NLP focus, plus hands-on Python, spaCy, transformers, and cloud/MLOps experience.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, AI or related field required.
• Minimum 5 years of professional AI/ML experience with a strong NLP focus.
• Proven leadership of technical teams and complex projects.
• Deep knowledge of NLP techniques and libraries (spaCy, NLTK, Transformers).
• Proficiency in Python and data science libraries (Pandas, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Strong software development practices including testing, CI/CD, and Git.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor AI engineers and data scientists focused on NLP.
• Architect and implement scalable NLP systems and ML pipelines.
• Develop models for text classification, sentiment analysis, NER, translation, QA.
• Oversee data acquisition, cleaning, and preprocessing for NLP training.
• Ensure robustness and accuracy of deployed NLP models.
• Define NLP roadmaps with product and engineering teams.
• Conduct code reviews and enforce MLOps best practices.
• Evaluate and integrate third-party NLP tools and libraries.
• Present progress and findings to stakeholders and leadership.

Skills

Team leadership

NLP expertise

Python

CI/CD

Git

Analytical thinking

Communication

Education

Master's or PhD in CS/AI

Tools

spaCy

NLTK

Hugging Face

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Scikit-learn

Pandas

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Job description

About the Role Our client is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Lead AI Engineer with a specialization in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to join their innovative technology hub in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal . This leadership position involves driving the development and deployment of cutting-edge NLP solutions that power intelligent applications and enhance user experiences. You will lead a team of talented engineers and researchers, overseeing the entire lifecycle of NLP projects from ideation to production. This role is pivotal for our client's commitment to leveraging AI to solve real-world problems and maintain a competitive edge in the tech industry. We are looking for a visionary leader ready to make a significant impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of AI engineers and data scientists focused on NLP development.
• Architect, design, and implement scalable NLP systems and machine learning pipelines.
• Develop and refine models for tasks such as text classification, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, machine translation, and question answering.
• Oversee the data acquisition, cleaning, and preprocessing stages for NLP model training.
• Ensure the robustness, efficiency, and accuracy of deployed NLP models.
• Collaborate with product management and engineering teams to define NLP roadmaps and feature requirements.
• Conduct code reviews and enforce best practices in software engineering and MLOps.
• Evaluate and integrate third-party NLP tools and libraries.
• Present project progress and findings to stakeholders and leadership.

Requirements

• Master's or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in AI/ML engineering, with a significant focus on NLP.
• Demonstrated experience in leading technical teams and managing complex projects.
• Deep understanding of NLP techniques, algorithms, and libraries (e.g., spaCy, NLTK, Hugging Face Transformers).
• Proficiency in Python and common data science/ML libraries (e.g., Pandas, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Strong software development skills, including testing, CI/CD, and version control (Git).
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Effective communication and leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and guide a team.
• Experience with large language models (LLMs) is highly desirable.

Benefits

• Attractive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
• Opportunity to lead impactful AI projects in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal .
• Continuous learning and professional development opportunities.
• Access to cutting-edge technology and computational resources.
• Collaborative and supportive work culture.
• Annual performance bonuses and stock options.
• Relocation assistance for qualified candidates.
• Contribute to the innovation and growth of a leading technology company.