Principal Voice AI Engineer

Zendesk is seeking an innovative and visionary Voice AI Engineering Principal to lead and accelerate our voice and conversational AI initiatives. In this pivotal role, you will spearhead the development and deployment of cutting‑edge AI/ML technologies focused on Speech and Natural Language Processing (NLP), shaping the future of voice‑enabled customer experiences at scale. You will oversee researchers innovating across Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text‑to‑Speech (TTS), Large Language Models (LLM), and voice conversational systems, driving impactful solutions that power Zendesk’s intelligent voice products.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the research, design, and engineering of next‑generation Voice AI solutions including noise‑robust multilingual ASR, neural TTS, and advanced QA dialog systems fine‑tuned with state‑of‑the‑art pretrained models (e.g., BERT, GPT).
• Drive collaboration across research scientists, software engineers, and product teams to transform advanced AI models into robust, scalable production systems.
• Oversee large‑scale AI research and development projects, ensuring delivery of high‑quality, real‑world solutions optimized for diverse tasks and computing environments.
• Architect and implement AI models leveraging deep learning algorithms such as DNNs, CNNs, RNNs, and Transformer‑based architectures across speech and NLP pipelines.
• Champion best practices in software development, including CI/CD, code reviews, version control (Git), and refactoring to support efficient and maintainable codebases.
• Stay ahead of the curve by continuously researching and applying the latest breakthroughs in AI/ML to enhance Zendesk’s voice capabilities.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define technical vision, roadmap, and strategy for voice AI products that deliver superior user experiences and business impact.

Who You Are

• Passionate about the frontiers of AI/ML and driven to apply breakthrough technologies to real‑world voice and language problems.
• Proven expertise developing and applying speech and NLP models, with extensive hands‑on experience using DL frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, and Huggingface Transformers.
• Deep knowledge of AI architectures including DNN, CNN, RNN, Transformers, and experience fine‑tuning large pre‑trained models (e.g., BERT, GPT).
• Skilled in programming languages and tools including Python, C++, Java, R, Linux/Shell scripting, with strong engineering discipline in software development lifecycle.
• Experience deploying voice AI systems in production, including ASR, diarization, TTS, NMT, and dialog systems with a focus on noise robustness and multilingual capabilities.
• Track record of managing large‑scale research projects with real‑world impact, combining fundamental research with prototyping and product delivery.
• Background in developing AI‑driven speech technologies for complex domains such as autonomous pilot systems or court reporting is a highly valued asset.
• Hold an M.S. in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, with a strong foundation in machine learning, speech processing, and on‑device AI for real‑time and low‑power applications.

Hybrid

In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration – while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in‑office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

The intelligent heart of customer experience Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love. Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law. Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer.

If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here. Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre‑employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e‑mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.