Principal AI Architect - Natural Language Processing

Placements24; Durban; Hybrid; ZAR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Executive compensation potential

Healthcare coverage

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Principal AI Architect specializing in NLP to lead architectural strategy and execution for advanced NLP projects in Durban. The role demands deep NLP research experience and a proven ability to architect scalable AI systems.

You will mentor engineers, drive cutting‑edge model development (Transformers, BERT, GPT), and collaborate with product teams to deliver high‑impact solutions while championing responsible deployment of NLP technologies.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent research experience in NLP or related field.
• 10+ years of AI/ML experience with a focus on NLP.
• Experience architecting large‑scale NLP systems.
• Proficiency with PyTorch, TensorFlow and NLP libraries (Transformers, spaCy, NLTK).
• Strong understanding of linguistic theories and statistical NLP methods.
• Experience with cloud AI platforms (AWS SageMaker, Google AI Platform).
• Excellent problem solving, leadership and communication skills.
• Residency or strong ties to Durban preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the architectural strategy for NLP initiatives across the organization.
• Design, develop, and evaluate cutting‑edge NLP models and systems (Transformers, BERT, GPT).
• Lead development of text classification, sentiment analysis, translation, QA, and summarization solutions.
• Collaborate with product managers, data scientists, and engineers to translate requirements into robust architectures.
• Ensure scalability, reliability, and performance of NLP systems in production.
• Evaluate and select NLP tools and technologies; mentor junior engineers and researchers.
• Stay updated with NLP research and industry trends; contribute to IP through research and publications.

Skills

NLP leadership

AI/ML architecture

Stakeholder influence

Mentoring

Publication track record

Education

PhD in CS/AI/NLP

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Hugging Face Transformers

spaCy

NLTK

AWS SageMaker

Google AI Platform

Job description

About the Role

Our client, a leading innovator in artificial intelligence solutions, is searching for a Principal AI Architect specializing in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to join their elite team in Durban . This is a senior strategic role responsible for designing and overseeing the implementation of our most ambitious NLP projects. You will shape the architectural vision for our NLP capabilities, ensuring scalability, efficiency, and groundbreaking performance. The ideal candidate is a visionary leader with deep expertise in NLP research and development, a proven ability to architect complex AI systems, and a passion for leveraging language technologies to drive business value. You will work with a world-class team on challenging problems that are at the forefront of AI innovation. This is an exceptional opportunity to make a significant impact in a growing technological landscape.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive the architectural strategy for all Natural Language Processing initiatives across the organization.
• Design, develop, and evaluate cutting-edge NLP models and systems, including deep learning architectures (e.g., Transformers, BERT, GPT).
• Lead the development of solutions for tasks such as text classification, sentiment analysis, machine translation, question answering, and summarization.
• Collaborate with product managers, data scientists, and software engineers to translate business requirements into robust AI architectures.
• Ensure the scalability, reliability, and performance of NLP systems in production environments.
• Evaluate and select appropriate NLP tools, libraries, and technologies.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers and researchers in NLP best practices and advanced techniques.
• Stay abreast of the latest advancements in NLP research and industry trends, and integrate them into our strategy.
• Contribute to the company's intellectual property through research and publications.
• Champion the ethical considerations and responsible deployment of NLP technologies.

Requirements

• Ph.D. or equivalent research experience in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field with a specialization in NLP.
• 10+ years of experience in AI/ML, with a significant focus on Natural Language Processing.
• Demonstrated experience in architecting and delivering large-scale NLP systems.
• Expertise in deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) and NLP libraries (e.g., Hugging Face Transformers, spaCy, NLTK).
• Strong understanding of linguistic theories, computational linguistics, and statistical NLP methods.
• Experience with cloud-based AI platforms and services (e.g., AWS SageMaker, Google AI Platform).
• Excellent problem-solving, strategic thinking, and leadership skills.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Published research in top-tier NLP conferences (e.g., ACL, EMNLP, NAACL) is a strong advantage.
• Residency or strong ties to Durban are preferred.

Benefits

• Executive-level compensation package including salary and significant bonus potential.
• Comprehensive premium healthcare coverage.
• Generous retirement plan with substantial company contributions.
• Extensive professional development budget for conferences, training, and certifications.
• Opportunity to work on challenging and impactful AI projects.
• A highly collaborative and intellectually stimulating work environment.
• Relocation assistance available for qualified candidates.
• Executive perks and benefits.