Lead NLP Engineer

Placements24; Mossel Bay; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Stock options

Remote work

Professional development budget

Health, dental, vision insurance

Home office stipend

Access to computation resources

Continuous learning culture

Opportunity to lead NLP capabilities

Job summary

Placements24 seeks a Lead NLP Engineer to drive the development and deployment of cutting-edge NLP models for a fully remote, international team. You will lead engineers and researchers, shaping language understanding, generation, and translation capabilities while defining the technical roadmap.

The role demands deep NLP expertise, strong leadership, and a passion for solving complex language problems in a fast-paced, remote environment.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, AI, or related field.
• 5+ years hands-on NLP experience with production-ready solutions.
• Proven experience leading technical teams and projects.
• Deep understanding of tokenization, embeddings, sequence models (RNNs, Transformers), and language generation.
• Proficiency in Python and NLP libraries (spaCy, NLTK, Hugging Face Transformers).
• Experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Strong problem-solving and remote leadership skills.
• Experience with cloud AI workloads (AWS/Azure/GCP).

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and deployment of advanced NLP models and applications.
• Mentor a team of NLP engineers and researchers; drive technical excellence.
• Define the NLP roadmap aligned with company objectives.
• Architect scalable NLP systems with focus on efficiency and maintainability.
• Oversee end-to-end NLP projects from data prep to deployment.
• Stay updated with NLP research and integrate new techniques.
• Collaborate with product managers to define requirements and deliver features.
• Promote best practices in model versioning, testing, and ethics.

Skills

NLP expertise

Team leadership

Remote collaboration

Problem solving

Research mindset

Education

Master's or PhD in CS/CL/AI

Tools

spaCy

NLTK

Hugging Face Transformers

PyTorch

TensorFlow

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

About the Role

Our client, a dynamic force in the AI & Emerging Technologies sector, is seeking a visionary Lead NLP Engineer to join their fully remote team. This is a pivotal role where you will spearhead the development and implementation of advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) solutions. As a remote-first company, we are committed to building a world-class team unbound by geography, offering you the flexibility to work from anywhere. You will lead a talented group of engineers and researchers, driving innovation in areas such as language understanding, generation, and translation. The ideal candidate possesses a deep technical expertise in NLP, a passion for solving complex language-related challenges, and proven leadership capabilities. You will play a critical role in shaping the future of how our client interacts with and processes human language, creating intelligent applications that redefine user experiences. This role is essential for advancing our client's capabilities in conversational AI, text analytics, and information extraction. The successful candidate will thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced, and intellectually stimulating remote environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of cutting-edge NLP models and applications.
• Mentor and guide a team of NLP engineers and researchers, fostering technical excellence and career growth.
• Define the technical roadmap for NLP initiatives, aligning with the company's strategic objectives.
• Architect robust and scalable NLP systems, considering factors like efficiency, accuracy, and maintainability.
• Oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of NLP projects, from conceptualization and data preparation to model training, evaluation, and production deployment.
• Stay at the forefront of NLP research, evaluating and integrating new techniques and technologies.
• Collaborate with product managers and other stakeholders to define requirements and deliver impactful NLP features.
• Champion best practices in NLP development, including model versioning, testing, and ethical considerations.

Requirements

• Master's or PhD degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in Natural Language Processing, with a strong track record of delivering production-ready solutions.
• Proven experience leading technical teams and projects.
• Deep understanding of NLP concepts, including tokenization, embeddings, sequence models (RNNs, Transformers), and language generation.
• Proficiency in Python and major NLP libraries (e.g., spaCy, NLTK, Hugging Face Transformers).
• Experience with deep learning frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Excellent problem-solving abilities and a passion for tackling challenging linguistic problems.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, essential for a remote leadership role.
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) for AI workloads is highly desirable.

Benefits

• Our client offers a highly competitive salary, substantial performance-based bonuses, and attractive stock options.
• As a fully remote position, we provide unparalleled flexibility and work-life balance.
• Employees benefit from a generous professional development budget, covering conferences, courses, and certifications.
• We offer comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance, along with a robust retirement savings plan.
• Our client also provides a home office setup stipend to ensure you have a productive working environment.
• Access to state-of-the-art computational resources and collaborative tools is standard.
• We foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation, encouraging employees to pursue their intellectual interests.
• This role provides a unique opportunity to lead and shape the NLP capabilities of a leading AI company.