Director of Machine Learning

At Speechmatics, we are searching for a Director of Machine Learning to help us push the boundaries of applied AI and transform how the world interacts with voice technology. As pioneers in machine learning for speech, our mission is to Understand Every Voice-a vision that has propelled us to create Flow, our revolutionary new Conversational AI platform. By blending cutting-edge research with real-world impact, we deliver solutions that set new standards for accessibility, accuracy, and performance.

We are at the forefront of Speech-to-text (STT) technology, powered by proprietary, unpublished self-supervised systems that drive our market leadership. Now, we are looking for an exceptional leader to steer our innovation in Conversational AI and guide us on the path to achieving and surpassing the "Speech-first Turing Test."

As Director of ML, this is your chance to make an impact on a global scale. You will lead and inspire world-class teams of researchers and machine learning engineers, driving breakthroughs that will shape the future of AI-driven speech technology.

What you'll be doing:

• Shape and articulate a forward-looking vision for Machine Learning at Speechmatics, aligning research priorities with our ambitious product roadmap.
• Identify and execute high-impact research opportunities that drive measurable advancements in speech recognition performance and scalability.
• Guide and mentor our Machine Learning teams and their leads, building a cohesive culture of collaboration, innovation, and operational excellence.
• Cultivate an environment where engineers and researchers thrive, developing their skills through coaching, feedback, and exposure to challenging technical problems.
• Scale the team's capabilities by implementing best practices for recruiting, performance management, and career development.
• Oversee the development, training, and deployment of large-scale machine learning models, with an emphasis on optimising self-supervised learning techniques and transformer-based architectures.
• Drive innovations in distributed training and GPU optimized models.
• Ensure research outputs and publications are seamlessly integrated into scalable, production-ready pipelines to deliver tangible business impact.
• Serve as a key interface between research, engineering, and business teams to align technical efforts with organisational goals.
• Represent Speechmatics on global stages, contributing to leading conferences, open-source initiatives, publications and industry discussions that define the future of applied AI.

Who we are looking for:

• An inspiring leader with a proven ability to lead diverse teams, align them around a shared vision, and deliver world-class results in an applied research environment.
• Expertise in modern machine learning methodologies, including:
  - Advanced transformer architectures
  - Distributed training systems and GPU optimization.
  - Self-supervised learning
• A track record of delivering innovative, scalable solutions that have driven measurable results in production environments.
• Recognised contributions to the AI community, demonstrated by publications in top-tier conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML), impactful open-source projects or equivalent.
• Strong communication and writing skills, with the ability to convey complex ideas clearly to diverse audiences.

What we can offer you:

No matter what stage of your career you're at - from paid internships and first-job opportunities through to management and senior positions - we'll support you with the training and development needed to reach your career aspirations with us. There really is no shortage of opportunities here for you to get involved and collaborate with those around you to deliver your best work.

We offer incredibly flexible working, regular company lunches, and birthday celebrations. But that's not all. We've spoken to our teams to find out what they want. From Private Medical and Dental for you and your family, through to global working opportunities, a generous holiday allowance and pension/401K matching, we want to make sure our employees and their families are looked after. Every employee will receive a working from home allowance for tech or home office equipment (on top of your choice of laptop and accessories of course). Our approach to parental leave is designed to support employees globally. While this varies by geo, we have support in place for parents (including adoption assistance) to ensure they have the time and financial resources needed to care for their growing families.

At Speechmatics, our mission is simple: Understand Every Voice out there.

That's not just about our tech - it's the heart and soul of who we are. We welcome different experiences, viewpoints, and identities. For us, it's not just the right thing to do; it's our catalyst for sparking innovation and creativity. Our teams thrive in an environment that celebrates and supports everyone - no matter their gender, identity or expression, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, marital status, national origin, veteran status, pregnancy, or maternity status.

So, come as you are and join our Speechling community. We're building a place where every voice not only gets heard but is also respected and valued.