Principal Natural Language Processing Scientist

Placements24; Durban; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Dental/vision coverage

Generous PTO

Conference & training budget

Retirement plan

Home office stipend

Remote work culture

Extensive computational resources

Job summary

Placements24 seeks a Principal NLP Scientist to lead the development of advanced NLP models in a fully remote AI research division. You will guide research, mentor junior researchers, and drive impactful language technologies.

Collaborating with engineers and product teams, you will publish findings in top conferences and steer direction while benefiting from a flexible remote culture and ample computational resources.

Qualifications

• PhD in CS, computational linguistics, AI or related field with NLP specialization.
• 7+ years of NLP research and development with a strong publication record.
• Deep learning frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch) and libraries like Hugging Face Transformers.
• Excellent communication and ability to lead and mentor teams.
• Experience deploying NLP models into production environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead research and development of NLP models, including transformers and LLMs.
• Design novel algorithms for sentiment, NER, translation, summarization, QA, and dialogue.
• Drive end-to-end NLP project lifecycle from concept to deployment and monitoring.
• Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, and product managers to deploy NLP capabilities.
• Publish findings in top NLP conferences and journals; mentor junior researchers.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Public speaking

Education

PhD in CS/Computational Linguistics/AI (NLP)

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Hugging Face Transformers

Python

Job description

About the Role

Our client is seeking a visionary Principal Natural Language Processing (NLP) Scientist to join their cutting-edge AI research division. This fully remote role is an exceptional opportunity for a seasoned expert to drive innovation in NLP and contribute to groundbreaking projects that will redefine human-computer interaction. You will be responsible for conceiving, developing, and implementing advanced NLP models and algorithms that power our next generation of intelligent applications. This position requires a deep theoretical understanding of NLP, extensive practical experience, and the ability to mentor and guide junior researchers. You will work on challenging problems, explore novel research directions, and publish your findings in leading academic venues. The ideal candidate is a thought leader in the field, passionate about uncovering the nuances of language and building AI systems that can understand and generate human-like text with unprecedented accuracy and fluency. Embrace the freedom of working from anywhere while making a significant impact on the future of AI.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead research and development of advanced NLP models, including transformers, large language models (LLMs), and deep learning architectures for text understanding and generation.
• Design and implement novel algorithms for tasks such as sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, machine translation, summarization, question answering, and dialogue systems.
• Drive the end-to-end NLP project lifecycle, from conceptualization and prototyping to deployment and monitoring in production.
• Collaborate closely with software engineers, data scientists, and product managers to integrate NLP capabilities into various applications and platforms.
• Conduct rigorous experimentation, evaluate model performance, and iterate based on findings.
• Stay at the forefront of NLP research, identifying and exploring emerging trends and technologies.
• Publish research findings in top-tier NLP conferences and journals.
• Mentor and guide junior scientists and engineers, fostering a collaborative and innovative research environment.
• Contribute to the strategic direction of the NLP research group.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field with a specialization in NLP.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in NLP research and development, with a strong publication record.
• Expertise in deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and libraries like Hugging Face Transformers.
• Proficiency in programming languages, particularly Python.
• Deep understanding of statistical NLP, machine learning, and deep learning techniques applied to language.
• Experience with large-scale datasets and distributed computing environments.
• Proven ability to lead complex research projects and deliver impactful results.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience in deploying NLP models into production environments.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and a creative approach to tackling challenging research questions.

Benefits

• Highly competitive salary and bonus structure.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Generous vacation and paid time off.
• Significant budget for professional development, including conferences and training.
• Retirement savings plan with company contributions.
• Home office setup allowance.
• Opportunity to work on industry-leading NLP projects with significant societal impact.
• Access to extensive computational resources.
• Flexible work schedule and a supportive remote work culture.