Machine Learning Engineer - NLP Specialist

Placements24; Durban; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Health benefits

Professional development budget

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer specializing in NLP to design and deploy NLP models and data pipelines in Durban. You will fine-tune large language models and collaborate closely with product and engineering teams.

The role requires hands-on development, research on new NLP techniques, and contributing to production deployments with a fast-paced AI startup.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in CS, Computational Linguistics, or related field.
• Proven experience designing and deploying NLP models.
• Strong Python proficiency and NLP library experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy NLP models for text classification, NER, sentiment analysis, and QA.
• Build data pipelines for training and evaluation of NLP models.
• Fine-tune and adapt large language models for business applications.
• Integrate ML models into production with software engineers.

Skills

Python

NLP libraries

Transformers

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Data processing

Cloud platforms

Problem solving

Communication

Teamwork

Independent work

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Computational Linguistics

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

NLTK

spaCy

Hugging Face Transformers

Job description

About the Role

Our client, a dynamic tech startup revolutionizing customer engagement through AI, is seeking a talented Machine Learning Engineer specializing in Natural Language Processing (NLP). This role is based in Durban, and requires your presence in the office to foster close collaboration with the product and engineering teams. You will be at the heart of developing intelligent conversational agents, sentiment analysis tools, and other NLP-driven features that enhance user experiences. This is an exceptional opportunity to apply your expertise in a fast-paced, innovative environment and contribute directly to the success of groundbreaking AI solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy NLP models for tasks such as text classification, named entity recognition, sentiment analysis, and question answering.
• Build and maintain robust data pipelines for training and evaluating NLP models.
• Fine-tune and adapt large language models (LLMs) for specific business applications.
• Integrate ML models into production systems and collaborate with software engineers for seamless deployment.
• Conduct research on new NLP techniques and algorithms to continuously improve model performance.
• Perform data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model validation.
• Monitor model performance in production and implement strategies for ongoing improvement and retraining.
• Stay updated with the latest advancements in NLP and AI research.
• Contribute to the team's knowledge sharing and best practices in machine learning and NLP.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, or a related field.
• Proven experience in developing and deploying NLP models.
• Strong proficiency in Python and NLP libraries such as NLTK, spaCy, Hugging Face Transformers.
• Experience with deep learning frameworks like TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Familiarity with data processing and machine learning workflows.
• Understanding of linguistic principles and computational linguistics is a plus.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) for ML deployment is desirable.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Strong communication and teamwork abilities.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple tasks effectively.

Benefits

We offer a competitive salary, comprehensive health benefits, and a stimulating work environment in Durban. You'll have the opportunity to work with a talented team on cutting-edge AI projects. Our client provides excellent opportunities for professional development, including training budgets and conference attendance. You'll be part of a company that values innovation, collaboration, and employee growth. This role offers the chance to make a significant impact in the field of NLP and AI within a supportive and dynamic setting.