Senior NLP Engineer - Cognitive Services

Placements24; Gqeberha; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Competitive salary

Health benefits

Paid time off

Learning opportunities

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Senior NLP Engineer for a fully remote role. The candidate will design and deploy advanced NLP models, build data pipelines, and collaborate with cross-functional teams while staying current with research.

The role requires 5+ years in NLP, advanced degrees, and expertise in Python, Transformers, and cloud-based ML services. Remote-first culture allows work from anywhere with Port Elizabeth proximity a plus.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in CS, Computational Linguistics, AI, or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of professional NLP experience.
• Strong Python and NLP libraries experience (NLTK, spaCy, Transformers).
• Proficiency with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Experience deploying NLP models in a production environment.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their AI/ML services.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong communication and collaboration abilities for remote teamwork.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement advanced NLP models for tasks such as text classification, NER, and MT.
• Build pipelines for data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model training.
• Integrate NLP models into production systems and APIs.
• Collaborate with product managers and engineers to define requirements and deliver NLP features.
• Stay current with NLP research and transformer architectures (BERT, GPT).
• Experiment with various NLP techniques and optimize model performance.
• Contribute to AI strategy and roadmap for language understanding.

Skills

Python

NLTK

SpaCy

Hugging Face

Transformers

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Remote collaboration

Large-scale text processing

Education

Master's or PhD in CS/Computational Linguistics/AI

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

About the Role

Our client is a pioneer in developing intelligent systems that understand and process human language. We are looking for a Senior Natural Language Processing (NLP) Engineer to join our fully remote engineering team. This position is based remotely and is ideal for individuals residing in or near Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, ZA, or any other remote location, who possess a deep expertise in NLP and a passion for building sophisticated language understanding models. You will be instrumental in designing, developing, and deploying cutting-edge NLP solutions that power our next-generation cognitive services. This role offers the chance to work on challenging projects, contribute to state-of-the-art research, and collaborate with a talented group of AI professionals in a flexible, remote-first environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and implement advanced NLP models for tasks such as text classification, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, and machine translation.
• Build and maintain robust pipelines for data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model training.
• Integrate NLP models into production systems and cognitive service APIs.
• Collaborate with product managers and software engineers to define requirements and deliver NLP features.
• Stay current with the latest research and advancements in NLP and deep learning for language.
• Experiment with various NLP techniques, including transformer architectures (e.g., BERT, GPT) and traditional methods.
• Evaluate model performance, identify areas for improvement, and implement optimization strategies.
• Contribute to the overall AI strategy and roadmap for language understanding capabilities.
• Mentor junior engineers and share knowledge within the NLP community of practice.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues related to NLP model performance and deployment.
• Document research, development processes, and model implementations.

Requirements

• Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, AI, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in Natural Language Processing.
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with NLP libraries (e.g., NLTK, spaCy, Hugging Face Transformers).
• Proficiency with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Solid understanding of NLP concepts, algorithms, and linguistic theories.
• Experience in building and deploying NLP models in a production environment.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their AI/ML services.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong communication and collaboration abilities for remote teamwork.
• Proven ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in a remote setting.
• Experience with large-scale text data processing.

Benefits

Our client offers a fully remote position, allowing you to work from anywhere, including Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, ZA. We provide a competitive salary, excellent health and retirement benefits, and generous paid time off. You'll have access to continuous learning opportunities, including funding for conferences, certifications, and online courses. This role offers the chance to work on impactful projects that define the future of human-computer interaction, collaborating with a passionate and talented team. We encourage innovation and provide the resources needed to excel in a remote setting. Join us and help shape the future of language AI.