Lead AI Engineer - NLP Specialist

Placements24; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 2,284,000 - 3,426,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote work

Professional development budget

Access to cloud infrastructure and AIツ

Flexible work arrangement

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead AI Engineer specializing in NLP to lead development of scalable language models within a fully remote team. You will guide technical direction, mentor engineers, and ensure delivery of high-impact AI-driven products across the company.

The ideal candidate holds advanced degrees, deep NLP expertise, strong Python and DL framework skills (PyTorch or TensorFlow), and proven leadership of technical projects in distributed environments.

Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, AI, Linguistics, or related field.
• Extensive NLP development experience including sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and translation.
• Proficiency in Python and DL frameworks (PyTorch or TensorFlow).

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and deployment of large-scale NLP models.
• Architect scalable AI systems for language understanding and generation.
• Mentor AI engineers and data scientists, fostering collaboration.
• Stay updated on NLP advancements and identify innovative opportunities.
• Collaborate with product teams to define roadmaps and deliver impact.

Skills

NLP expertise

Team leadership

Mentoring

Education

Master's degree or Ph.D. in CS/AI/Linguistics

Tools

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Job description

About the Role

Our client is looking for an experienced and innovative Lead AI Engineer with a specialization in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to join their fully remote team. In this leadership position, you will guide the development of advanced NLP solutions, architecting scalable systems that process and understand human language. You will play a crucial role in defining the technical direction, mentoring a talented team, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality AI-driven products. This role is ideal for a seasoned professional who is passionate about NLP, thrives in a remote-first setting, and seeks to drive significant impact through technological innovation and team leadership, contributing to the company's mission from anywhere in the world.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of large-scale NLP models and applications.


• Architect robust and scalable AI systems for language understanding, generation, and analysis.


• Mentor and guide a team of AI engineers and data scientists, fostering a culture of collaboration and technical excellence.


• Stay abreast of the latest advancements in NLP and related AI fields, identifying opportunities for innovation.


• Collaborate with product management and stakeholders to define project roadmaps and deliver impactful solutions.

Requirements

• Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, AI, Linguistics, or a related field.


• Extensive experience in NLP development, including expertise in areas like sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and machine translation.


• Proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.


• Proven experience leading technical projects and mentoring teams.


• Strong understanding of machine learning principles and data science methodologies.

Benefits

• Highly competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.


• Fully remote work arrangement, offering flexibility and work-life balance.


• Generous budget for professional development, conferences, and training.


• Opportunity to work on challenging and impactful NLP projects.


• Access to cutting-edge cloud infrastructure and AI tooling.