Principal Artificial Intelligence Engineer

Tipp Focus (Pty) Ltd; Pretoria; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 000 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology firm in Pretoria is seeking an experienced AI Leader. The role involves developing innovative AI solutions and mentoring junior staff. Candidates must have a degree and 5-10 years of experience in AI and machine learning. Familiarity with AWS, TensorFlow, and cloud-based platforms is essential. Competitive compensation and growth opportunities are offered.

Qualifications

• Honour's degree in computer science/engineering or related field.
• At least 7 years of experience in AI/machine learning.
• Master's degree advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership in technical solutions.
• Research and develop innovative AI solutions.
• Supervise/mentor junior staff.

Skills

Computer vision tasks

Building multimodal models

Data platform engineering

Natural language processing and understanding

Cloud-based platforms

AWS

IBM Cloud

Azure

Education

Degree

Tools

TensorFlow

Keras

Theano

Job description

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership in the provision of technical solutions to client programmes;
• Propose and/or contribute to the strategic investment plan and implement Parliamentary Grant, Contract Research and Development and other grant-funded projects;
• Research, develop and test innovative solutions in AI and remain well-versed in new approaches in tools, methods or technologies in the evolving AI space;
• Advance theoretical AI approaches to deployable solutions, i.e. implemented and deployed into large-scale production systems
• Develop technology demonstrators to contribute to an increase in new localised technologies
• Supervise/mentor junior staff in the area(s) of expertise;
• Generate and lead science engineering and technology (SET) activity outputs e.g. reports, guidelines, system requirements, peer-reviewed publications, and technology and software packages;
• Understand and interpret client requirements by contributing to user requirement analysis and/or well-articulated proposals;
• Participate in external task teams or committees in relevant domains;
• Provide technical support on business development and participate in client interactions;
• Manage projects through planning of appropriate processes and policies to ensure Intellectual Property (IP) protection and technology transfer

Desired Skills

• Computer vision tasks
• Building multimodal models
• Data platform engineering
• Natural language processing and understanding
• Cloud-based platforms
• AWS
• IBM Cloud
• Azure

Desired Work Experience

• 5 to 10 years

Desired Qualification Level

• Degree

About The Employer

• An Honour's degree in computer science/engineering, electrical/electronic engineering, information technology or related fields with at least seven years\' experience in artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) and software development in artificial intelligence technologies;
• A Master\'s degree will be advantageous;
• Experience in the following is required:
• Applied machine-learning with regression, classification, etc. models for supervised learning;
• Computer vision tasks
• Natural language processing and understanding
• Building multimodal models
• Unstructured data
• Big-data unsupervised learning
• Data platform engineering
• Demonstrated experience in bringing theoretical machine-learning approaches illustrated in academia research papers to actual implementations, i.e. implemented and deployed into large-scale production system certain advanced ML and applied ML algorithms;
• Cloud-based platforms: AWS, IBM Cloud, Azure;
• Proficiency and experience building AI models with a deep learning framework such as TensorFlow, Keras or Theano;
• Ability to select hardware (and relevant production/deployment knowledge) to run an ML model with the required latency;
• Business Development and financial acumen;
• Ability to construct scopes and proposals for potential clients.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills;
• Exposure to Project Management;
• Technical lead for complex projects involving multiple stakeholders.
• Understanding of transforming/implementing software/algorithms for use in real-life systems would be advantageous;
• Conflict management skills will be advantageous;
• Knowledge of programming in modern object orientated languages, with Open-Source development tools and platforms;
• Ability to apply resource management techniques to run an ML model with the required latency;
• Ability to demonstrate Object-orientated software engineering skills;
• Strong quantitative skills (mathematics/statistics/computer science);
• Demonstrated ability to supervise/mentor/develop junior staff;
• Demonstrated skills in: analytical thinking, flexibility and adaptability, investigative orientation, planning and organising, problem solving, verbal and written communication, team work, self-management (planning, prioritising and time management - includes the ability to work independently), systems level thinking, multi-disciplinary knowledge.