Machine Learning Engineer - NLP Focus

Placements24; Kempton Park; Remote; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and benefits

Fully remote position

Professional development budget (confr

Access to computing resources

Collaborative online environment

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a talented Machine Learning Engineer with a strong NLP focus to join their team in Gauteng. This remote-first role involves building and deploying NLP models and data pipelines that power core products.

The ideal candidate will have experience with spaCy, Hugging Face, TensorFlow or PyTorch, Python, and cloud-based model training, along with strong collaboration in a distributed team. Ongoing professional development is supported.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or related field.
• Experience building and deploying NLP models using spaCy, NLTK, Hugging Face Transformers, TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Proficiency in Python and libraries (pandas, scikit-learn).
• Solid understanding of ML concepts and NLP techniques.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) for training and deployment.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication and teamwork, especially remotely.
• Experience with Docker is a plus.
• NLP project portfolio is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement NLP models for text classification, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, and QA.
• Build and maintain data pipelines for training and deploying NLP models.
• Collaborate with software engineers and data scientists to integrate NLP features.
• Conduct experiments to evaluate model performance and identify improvements.
• Stay current with NLP and ML research and techniques.
• Design and run A/B tests to measure NLP feature impact.
• Contribute to internal NLP tools and libraries.
• Ensure scalable and reliable NLP deployments.
• Document architectures, training procedures, and deployment strategies.

Skills

Python

NLP

Machine learning

Communication

Remote collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or related field

Master's degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or related field

Tools

spaCy

NLTK

Hugging Face Transformers

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Docker

Job description

About the Role

Our client is seeking a talented Machine Learning Engineer with a strong focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP) to join their innovative team in Tembisa, Gauteng . This role is crucial for developing and deploying advanced NLP solutions that power our client's core products. You will work on challenging problems, transforming raw text data into actionable insights and intelligent features. This is a remote-first position, offering flexibility and the opportunity to contribute from anywhere. You will be part of a forward-thinking organization dedicated to leveraging AI to solve real-world problems. The ideal candidate will have a passion for NLP and a proven ability to build robust, scalable machine learning systems. Your contributions will directly impact user experience and drive business growth through intelligent language understanding. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement state-of-the-art NLP models for tasks such as text classification, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, and question answering.
• Build and maintain data pipelines for training and deploying NLP models.
• Collaborate with software engineers and data scientists to integrate NLP features into production systems.
• Conduct experiments to evaluate model performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Stay current with the latest research and techniques in NLP and machine learning.
• Design and execute A/B tests to measure the impact of NLP features.
• Contribute to the development of internal tools and libraries for NLP tasks.
• Ensure the scalability and reliability of NLP model deployments.
• Document model architectures, training procedures, and deployment strategies.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or a related quantitative field.
• Demonstrable experience in building and deploying NLP models using frameworks like spaCy, NLTK, Hugging Face Transformers, TensorFlow, or PyTorch.
• Proficiency in Python and experience with relevant libraries (e.g., pandas, scikit-learn).
• Solid understanding of machine learning concepts and NLP techniques.
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) for model training and deployment.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication and teamwork abilities, especially in a remote setting.
• Experience with containerization technologies like Docker is a plus.
• A portfolio of NLP projects is highly desirable.

Benefits

• This role offers a highly competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package, including excellent health coverage, retirement planning options, and generous paid time off.
• As a fully remote position, you benefit from the flexibility to work from home, reducing commute stress and enhancing work-life balance.
• Our client provides a dedicated budget for professional development, including access to online courses, conferences, and training programs.
• You will have access to powerful computing resources and a collaborative online environment.
• We foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation.
• There are ample opportunities for career growth within a leading technology company.