Job Title: Linguist III Duration: 24 months Location: Remote (PST preference, open however) Must-Have Skills:
Perform linguistic error analysis of machine translations and identifying the most frequent and severe error categories
Experience with Python
the following families or groups: Afro-Asiatic, Indo-Aryan, Atlantic-Congo, or Austronesian.
Nice-to-have Skills:
Experience with creating and/or maintaining specialized lexical resources (e.g., profanity dictionaries) a plus
Ability to independently work through ambiguous requests, based on priorities established by CWAM, and perform under pressure. Able to work cross functionally.
Years of Experience:
0-3 years
Degrees/Certifications Required:
Graduate degree in Linguistics or related field is a must; PhD is a plus
Main duties:
Perform linguistic analyses on large datasets.
Perform linguistic error analysis of AI model outputs, determining what the most frequent and severe error categories are.
Write and revise guidelines for human annotation and translation projects.
Conduct typological and sociolinguistic research on a large number of languages, highlighting their similarities and differences.
Perform linguistic analyses for Responsible AI (toxic language, hate speech, gender bias and other cultural biases) in massively multilingual settings.
Conduct linguistic literature reviews on various NLP-adjacent topics, and summarize findings.
Compare the quality of human translations between vendors, identify error patterns, and provide actionable feedback.
Provide information or guidance relative to any aspect of linguistic knowledge (typology, morpho-syntax, sociolinguistics, classification, phonetics/phonology, pragmatics, etc.).
Reach out to and collaborate with native speakers in various languages.
Communicate results of linguistic analyses to engineers and research scientists.
Skills:
Must have strong written and spoken communication skills, especially business and research communication.
Must be near-native proficient in a language other than English, more specifically a language of the following families or groups: Afro-Asiatic, Indo-Aryan, Atlantic-Congo, or Austronesian.
Working knowledge in other languages is a plus. Proficiency in a low-resource language is valued.
Must be able to code in Python (must) and query databases using SQL, other coding languages used for data analysis (e.g., R) are a plus.
Must be able to independently work through complex requests and perform under pressure.
Strong ability to work independently, prioritize, plan, and track work, as well as report progress
education or training in the basics of project management is a plus
self-motivation is a must
Working knowledge of international language-classification standards is valued.
Education:
Graduate degree in Linguistics or related field is a must; PhD is a plus
a background or specialization in corpus linguistics is a plus
experience with field work is a plus
a graduate degree in Literature or English is not an appropriate substitution
degree in Computer Science with a specialization in NLP is not an appropriate substitution
Must have a very firm grasp of the following linguistic fields: language typology, syntax, morphology, sociolinguistics (especially dialectology and discourse analysis), corpus linguistics, writing systems, pragmatics, phonology.
Must have some experience with applying basic Natural Language Processing techniques.
Experience:
Years of experience: 0-3
Experience working cross-functionally
Experience collaborating with machine learning, NLP, or software engineers, or data scientists
Experience contributing to research papers
Important: Preferably no known conflicts of interest in the fields of machine translation, ASR, TTS, or LLM research (as FAIR Linguists need to be contributing to research papers)
What makes this role interesting: FAIR's mission could be summarized for the candidates as:
Research whatever the "next big AI thing" is
Try to open source as much of it as possible
Here are some examples of the cool big things the FAIR C&L Linguistics team has provided impactful support for:
NLLB (pivotless text-based translation system for 200 languages), now UNESCO's Universal Translator and one of the top translation engines on Wikipedia for low-resource languages. The research was published in Nature.
MMS (ASR and TTS for over 1,000 languages), now UNESCO's ASR system in support of the Decade of Indigenous Languages
Seamless (pivotless speech-based translation system for 100 languages), which was recognized as one of Time's best 2023 AI inventions. The research was recently published in Nature.
How many rounds of interviews:
A one-hour technical interview including linguistics questions and a Python coding exercise
[If technical interview is solid] A 30-to-45-minute behavioral interview to confirm that candidate will be a good fit in the company context
Types of Interviews: Zoom
About Us: SPECTRAFORCE is one of the fastest-growing workforce solutions firms in the United States. As a diversity-owned business, we place human connection at the heart of everything we do, building strong relationships with both clients and candidates to fill roles successfully. Our teams in North and Central America and India serve more than 150 Fortune clients globally, leveraging custom AI technology to provide direct hire, executive search, nearshoring, offshoring, and project staffing solutions.
Benefits: SPECTRAFORCE offers ACA compliant health benefits as well as dental, vision, accident, critical illness, voluntary life, and hospital indemnity insurances to eligible employees. Additional benefits offered to eligible employees include commuter benefits, 401K plan with matching, and a referral bonus program. SPECTRAFORCE provides unpaid leave as well as paid sick leave when required by law.
Equal Opportunity Employer: SPECTRAFORCE is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability or veteran status, or any other category protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Please contact Human Resources at LOA@spectraforce.com if you require reasonable accommodation.
California Applicant Notice: SPECTRAFORCE is committed to complying with the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) effective January 1, 2023; and all data privacy laws in the jurisdictions in which it recruits and hires employees. A Notice to California Job Applicants Regarding the Collection of Personal Information can be located on our website. Applicants with disabilities may access this notice in an alternative format by contacting NAHR@spectraforce.com.
LA County, CA Applicant Notice: If you are selected for this position with SPECTRAFORCE, your offer is contingent upon the satisfactory completion of several requirements, including but not limited to, a criminal background check. We consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with all local ordinances and state laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers (FCO) and the California Fair Chance Act (FCA). The background check assessment will consider whether a criminal history could reasonably have a direct, adverse impact on the job-related safety, security, trust, regulatory compliance, or suitability for this role. Such findings may result in withdrawal of a conditional job offer.
At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws. This position’s starting pay is: $50.00/hr.
