Lead NLP Engineer - Conversational AI

Placements24; Durban; Sur place; ZAR 1 200 000 - 2 000 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Salary commensurate with experience

Health and wellness benefits

Generous annual leave

Professional development opportunities

Relocation assistance

Access to advanced compute resources

Résumé du poste

WhatJobs Direct in Durban is seeking a Lead NLP Engineer to guide the development of conversational AI, chatbots, and virtual assistants. You will lead a team of engineers and researchers to deliver cutting-edge NLP solutions and scale deployments.

The role requires a strong background in ML/NLP, leadership, and hands-on Python, with experience on cloud platforms. You will collaborate with product teams and contribute to innovative projects in AI.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Linguistics, AI, or related field with NLP focus.
• 7+ years of NLP and ML experience, with leadership on technical projects.
• Deep understanding of NLP libraries (NLTK, spaCy, HF Transformers).
• Experience building scalable NLP systems and chatbots.
• Strong Python skills and ML toolchain.

Responsabilités

• Lead design, development, and implementation of NLP models and algorithms.
• Build and deploy scalable conversational AI systems, including chatbots, virtual assistants, and voice interfaces.
• Manage and mentor a team of NLP engineers and data scientists, fostering technical excellence and collaboration.
• Oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of NLP projects, from data collection and preprocessing to model training, evaluation, and deployment.
• Collaborate with product managers and stakeholders to define NLP features and project roadmaps.
• Stay current with the latest advancements in NLP, deep learning, and conversational AI research.
• Develop and maintain robust APIs and integration points for NLP services.
• Ensure the performance, scalability, and reliability of deployed NLP systems.
• Conduct rigorous testing and validation of NLP models to ensure accuracy and user satisfaction.
• Contribute to the company's intellectual property through innovation and publication.

Connaissances

Leadership

NLP

Machine Learning

Python

Deep Learning

Transformers

Cloud platforms

Formation

Master's or PhD in CS/AI/NLP

Outils

NLTK

spaCy

Hugging Face Transformers

TensorFlow

PyTorch

scikit-learn

Description du poste

About the Role

Our client, WhatJobs Direct, is looking for an experienced and innovative Lead NLP Engineer to spearhead their efforts in Conversational AI development in Durban. This role involves leading a team of talented engineers and researchers to design, build, and deploy sophisticated natural language processing models and applications. You will be at the forefront of creating intelligent conversational agents, chatbots, and virtual assistants that enhance user experiences and streamline operations. The ideal candidate possesses a deep understanding of NLP techniques, machine learning, and software engineering best practices, coupled with strong leadership capabilities. Join us in shaping the future of human-computer interaction within the vibrant AI & Emerging Technologies sector.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and implementation of cutting-edge Natural Language Processing (NLP) models and algorithms.
• Build and deploy scalable conversational AI systems, including chatbots, virtual assistants, and voice interfaces.
• Manage and mentor a team of NLP engineers and data scientists, fostering technical excellence and collaboration.
• Oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of NLP projects, from data collection and preprocessing to model training, evaluation, and deployment.
• Collaborate with product managers and stakeholders to define NLP features and project roadmaps.
• Stay current with the latest advancements in NLP, deep learning, and conversational AI research.
• Develop and maintain robust APIs and integration points for NLP services.
• Ensure the performance, scalability, and reliability of deployed NLP systems.
• Conduct rigorous testing and validation of NLP models to ensure accuracy and user satisfaction.
• Contribute to the company's intellectual property through innovation and publication.

Requirements

• Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Linguistics, AI, or a related field with a focus on NLP.
• 7+ years of professional experience in NLP and machine learning, with a proven track record in leading technical projects.
• Extensive experience with NLP libraries and frameworks (e.g., NLTK, spaCy, Hugging Face Transformers).
• Strong understanding of deep learning models for NLP, such as LSTMs, Transformers, BERT, and GPT.
• Proficiency in Python and experience with relevant libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Experience in building and deploying large-scale NLP systems and conversational AI agents.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their ML services.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and algorithmic thinking skills.
• Strong leadership, communication, and team management abilities.
• Experience with data annotation and management for NLP tasks.

Benefits

• Attractive salary commensurate with experience and leadership skills.
• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits package.
• Generous annual leave and public holiday allowance.
• Professional development opportunities, including conferences and training.
• Opportunity to lead innovative projects in a fast-growing field.
• Collaborative work environment with a talented team of experts.
• Access to advanced computational resources.
• Relocation assistance for qualified candidates.