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.

Responsibilities

• 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, HuggingFace, and custom training infrastructure.

Qualifications

• 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.

Benefits

• 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

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

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About us

We're a dedicated recruiter bringing together the brightest talent with organisations creating cutting-edge technology to change the world for the better.

We partner with technology providers at the forefront of meaningful innovation. And we’re here for talented individuals who are passionate about using their skills to drive positive change.

Mind Detect provides exceptional recruitment services to businesses who are leading the way in Data, Machine Learning and AI-driven technologies throughout Europe, the US and Asia.