Machine Learning Researcher

Our cutting-edge client, building the AI infrastructure layer for modern e-commerce, is searching for a Machine Learning Researcher to join the data team in Cape Town (hybrid).

We’re searching for bright minds in order to push the boundaries of what's possible in zero-shot multimodal discovery. In this role, you'll design, implement, and evaluate novel architectures that power this embryonic business’ core technology.

• Research and develop advanced ML models for e-commerce discovery.
• Run hyperparameter optimisation and ablation studies.
• Design novel loss functions and training objectives.
• Manage experiment tracking and reproducibility.
• Publish results and contribute to the broader research community.
• Work with PyTorch, Hugging Face, and custom training infrastructure.

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field, from a top-tier university
• Masters or PhD studied preferred
• 4+ years of ML research experience (academia or industry).
• Strong publication record in CV, NLP, or recommender systems.
• Expert-level PyTorch and deep learning fundamentals.
• Experience with RL, representation learning, or multimodal models.
• Ability to go from paper to production prototype quickly.
• Generous equity in the business
• An opportunity to join an early-stage start-up
• Great opportunity to make a large technological impact on the product and its systems
• Complex challenges with fast feedback loops
• Great remuneration package
• Advanced equipment/technology

This position is open to people already eligible for work in South Africa