AI Research Scientist - SLM and Voice in London

Remote Work: Hybrid

At Zebra, we are a community of innovators who come together to create new ways of working. United by curiosity and a culture of caring, we develop smart solutions that anticipate our customer’s and partner’s needs and solve their challenges.

Being a part of Zebra Nation means you are seen, heard, valued, and respected. Drawing from our unique perspectives, we collaborate to deliver on our purpose. Here you are a part of a team pushing boundaries today to redefine the work of tomorrow for organizations, their employees, and those they serve.

You will have opportunities to learn and lead in a forward-thinking environment, defining your path to a fulfilling career while channeling your skills toward causes you care about – locally and globally. Come make an impact every day at Zebra.

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Research Scientist with expertise in programming, problem-solving, and machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to join our innovative team. The ideal candidate will be a creative thinker with a strong background in developing and deploying cutting-edge machine learning models. You will play a key role in advancing our research and development efforts, with a focus on small language models and voice at the edge.

Responsibilities:

• Model Development: Design, develop, and deploy machine learning models, with a particular focus on classification and retrieval tasks.
• Large Language Models: Fine-tune and Distil small language models (SLMs) for specific use cases, utilizing techniques such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), foundation model APIs, and advanced prompt engineering.
• Audio & Voice Processing: Work on audio and voice manipulation tasks, including text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT).
• Experimentation & Tracking: Utilize tools such as Hydra for configuration management and Weights & Biases to track and manage experiments.
• Data Management: Handle and manipulate large datasets to prepare them for machine learning model development and evaluation.
• Collaboration: Collaborate effectively in a team environment, working on shared codebases and remote projects using Git and GitHub for version control.
• Deployment: Develop and deploy machine learning models on remote servers.

Qualifications:

• Programming: Strong programming skills, with a high level of proficiency in Python and experience with key data manipulation libraries such as Pandas and NumPy.
• Machine Learning: A solid background in machine learning, particularly in classification and retrieval tasks. Hands-on experience with large language models (LLMs), including fine-tuning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and prompt engineering.
• Collaboration: A proven ability to collaborate effectively in a team environment, particularly when working on shared codebases and remote projects.
• Version Control: Proficiency in using Git and GitHub for version control.
• Data Skills: Strong data management and manipulation skills.
• Remote Development: Experience working on remote servers to develop and deploy machine learning models.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Natural Language Processing (NLP): A strong understanding of Natural Language Processing (NLP), with experience in audio/voice manipulation tasks, specifically text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT).
• ML Libraries: Familiarity with the Hugging Face Transformers and Datasets libraries.
• Experiment Management: Proficiency in using tools such as Hydra for configuration management and Weights & Biases for tracking experiments.

Benefits:

• Zebra offers a comprehensive benefits package, including generous paid time off and pension matching, private healthcare and wellbeing support, learning & development opportunities.
• 25 days of vacation.
• Up to 32 hours paid time off per year to volunteer with a charity of your choice.
• Training and personal development in soft skills and hard skills, access to our internal learning portal and internal career opportunities within Zebra departments.
• Employee referral bonus for bringing New Talent to Zebra.
• Pension Scheme with a matched contribution up to 7%.
• Private medical and dental covers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Employee Assistance Program.

To protect candidates from falling victim to online fraudulent activity involving fake job postings and employment offers, please be aware our recruiters will always connect with you via email accounts. Applications are only accepted through our applicant tracking system and only accept personal identifying information through that system. Our Talent Acquisition team will not ask for you to provide personal identifying information via e-mail or outside of the system. If you are a victim of identity theft contact your local police department.

Zebra Technologies leverages AI technology to evaluate job applications using objective, job-relevant criteria. This approach enhances efficiency and promotes fairness in the hiring process. However, every decision regarding interviews and hiring is made by our dedicated team, because we believe people make the best decisions about people. For more on how we use technology in hiring and how we process applicant data, see our Zebra Privacy Policy.