AI Research Scientist - SLM and Voice

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'll 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.

• Model Development
  Design, develop, and deploy machine learning models, with a particular focus on classification and retrieval tasks.
• Large Language Models
  Fine‑tune and distill 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 Git Hub for version control.
• Deployment
  Develop and deploy machine learning models on remote servers.
/ulQualifications
• Programming:
  Strong programming skills, with a high level of proficiency in Python and experience with key data manipulation libraries such as Pandas and Num Py.
• 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 Git Hub 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
• NLP:
  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
• Strong commission‑led OTE, comprehensive benefits package, generous paid time off and pension matching, private healthcare and wellbeing support, learning & development opportunities.
• Modern London office with games room, fully stocked kitchen, frequent social events and sporting activities.
• 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 internal learning portal and career opportunities within Zebra departments.
• Employee referral bonus for bringing new talent.
• Pension scheme with matched contribution up to 7%.
• Private medical and…