Principal Data Scientist - Natural Language Processing

Placements24; Durban; Hybrid; ZAR 1,500,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary including bonus and equity

Health insurance

Conferences and training

Research tools access

Job summary

Placements24 seeks a Principal Data Scientist with a focus on NLP to lead advanced research and development in Durban. The role drives state‑of‑the‑art NLP models and scalable AI solutions across products and services.

You will mentor a team of researchers and engineers, collaborating with product teams to translate linguistic challenges into practical implementations. A PhD and deep expertise in NLP are required.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, AI or related field with NLP focus.
• Extensive production NLP model development and deployment experience.
• Deep expertise in transformer architectures and LLMs.
• Strong Python programming and NLP library experience (NLTK, SpaCy).
• Proven ability to lead research projects and mentor junior staff.
• Experience with large-scale data processing and distributed computing.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead research and development of advanced NLP models including transformers and LLMs.
• Design end-to-end NLP solutions for sentiment, summarization, translation, QA.
• Develop state-of-the-art algorithms for semantic understanding and information extraction.
• Mentor and guide a team of data scientists and engineers.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to integrate NLP capabilities.
• Evaluate and benchmark NLP models for performance and accuracy.
• Stay current with NLP breakthroughs and publish findings.

Skills

NLP

Transformers

Python

Mentoring

Education

PhD in CS / AI / NLP

Tools

Hugging Face

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Job description

About the Role

Our client, a global leader in AI-driven solutions, is seeking an exceptional Principal Data Scientist with a deep specialization in Natural Language Processing (NLP). This crucial role will be based in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, and will involve leading advanced research and development initiatives focused on understanding and generating human language. You will spearhead the design and implementation of state-of-the‑art NLP models and algorithms, driving innovation across our client's product portfolio. This position requires a visionary leader who can translate complex linguistic challenges into scalable AI solutions. The ideal candidate will possess a strong theoretical foundation, extensive practical experience, and a passion for pushing the boundaries of AI. You will collaborate with a team of world‑class researchers and engineers, influencing the strategic direction of NLP development. This is a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on how machines understand and interact with the world through language. Our client fosters a culture of intellectual curiosity, scientific rigor, and collaborative problem‑solving, providing the resources and support necessary to achieve groundbreaking results in the field of AI.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the research and development of advanced NLP models, including transformers, large language models (LLMs), and text generation techniques.
• Design and implement end-to-end NLP solutions for tasks such as sentiment analysis, text summarization, machine translation, and question answering.
• Develop and apply state‑of‑the‑art algorithms for semantic understanding, information extraction, and knowledge representation.
• Mentor and guide a team of data scientists and engineers, fostering their technical and professional growth.
• Collaborate with product management and engineering teams to integrate NLP capabilities into client products and services.
• Evaluate and benchmark NLP models, ensuring high performance and accuracy.
• Stay current with the latest research trends and breakthroughs in NLP and AI.
• Contribute to the company's intellectual property through publications and patent applications.
• Ensure the responsible and ethical development and deployment of NLP technologies.

Requirements

• PhD in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field with a focus on NLP.
• Extensive experience in developing and deploying production‑level NLP models.
• Deep expertise in transformer architectures, LLMs, and related frameworks (e.g., Hugging Face, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with NLP libraries (e.g., NLTK, SpaCy).
• Proven ability to lead research projects and mentor junior team members.
• Experience with large‑scale data processing and distributed computing.
• Excellent analytical, problem‑solving, and critical thinking skills.
• Exceptional communication and presentation abilities.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) is highly desirable.

Benefits

• Top‑tier compensation package including base salary, bonus, and equity options.
• Premium health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
• Generous vacation allowance and company holidays.
• Significant budget for professional development, conferences, and training.
• Access to cutting‑edge computational infrastructure and research tools.
• A highly collaborative and intellectually stimulating work environment.
• Opportunities for impactful work on transformative AI projects.
• Support for publishing research and attending academic events.