Senior Data Scientist, Language Technology

World Resources Institute • United States • 1d ago

This is a hybrid position which requires 8 days/month intheoffice. You can be based in our office inWashington D.C.,London,TheHague,New Delhi, or Mumbai.Existing work authorization is required at the time of application submission as WRI is unable to sponsor any visa work sponsorship for this position.To be eligible for this positionin US, you must be a resident of DC, Maryland or Virginia at the start of employment.

About the Program:

The Data Lab is World Resources Institute’s core data innovation and product delivery unit. We are a growing team of engineers, product managers and data scientists on a mission to use advances in data and technology to improve lives, protect nature, and ensure just transitions. We do this by (1) supporting technical innovation and quantitative research across WRI’s Programs and Country Offices and (2) designing, building, and maintaining digital products that turn data into action.

WRI seeks to use language technology to help our staff and users understand and act in a rapidly changing world. Examples of the impact we seek include accelerating research by automating time-consuming data cleaning tasks; shorting time-to-insight and improving experience through chat-based features on user-facing products; automating repetitive monitoring and reporting tasks.

Job Highlight:

Reporting toGlobal Director, Data Labortheir designee,you willintegrateequity into your work.You willjoin the Data Labs andwill be at the forefront using language technology—including large language models (LLMs) and traditional natural language processing (NLP) approaches—to address urgent challenges for people, nature, and climate.You will identify and lead technical experiments and work with product, engineering, and subject matter experts across the Institute to turn successful experiments into useful tools and user-facing products.You will be based in the Data Lab’s Data Science team and collaborate with other teams across the Lab, including the Data Lab’s Product Studio and Product and Engineering teams. You will directly manage a small team of data scientists and external consultants.

What will you do:

Design, Implementing and Evaluating Language Technology Experiments (60%):

Evaluate user needs and explore use cases for language technology across WRI’s research and product portfolios in collaboration with Data Lab’s Product Studio
Set the overall research and development strategy for language technology at WRI including LLMs and traditional NLP approaches in collaboration with the Data Lab’s Global Director and/or their designee
Identify and initiate a selection of experiments with internal partners from WRI’s Programs and Country Offices
Evaluate the results of the experiments and iterate to improve promising outcomes and learn from unsuccessful outcomes
Manage, mentor, and advise data scientists using language technology across the Data Lab, helping them solve technical challenges and build capacity
Serve as the external face of WRI’s work on language technology, representing the organization at relevant sector and industry conferences

Adviseon the Productization of Successful Experiments (30%):

Communicate experimentation efforts to the Data Lab’s Product and Engineering Teams and internal partners to help them understand the current state of the art and future trajectory for language technology
Integrate feedback from Product teams into the design of experiments, solving issues identified via the productization process
Analyze and recommend infrastructure design and strategic approaches for transitioning successful prototypes into scalable products, focusing on cost-effectiveness, environmental impact, privacy and security

GuideResponsible Use of Language Technology at WRI (10%):

Complete quarterly updates to WRI’s Generative AI guidance for staff in collaboration with WRI’s Research Integrity team
Contribute to scoping and strategy efforts with Data Lab’s internal clients across Programs and Country Offices and external partners

What will you need:

Education:You have a completed abachelor’sdegree in statistics, computer science, data science, or linguistics.Relevant work experience in lieu ofdegreeis accepted
Experience:You have a minimumof10years offull-time relevant experienceincluding at least 3 as team leader, principal investigator or equivalent
Experience in the following is preferred:
Strong understanding of machine learning, NLP, and LLM fundamentals including transformers
Ability to conceptualize and execute projects that leverage language technology to help users in the real world
Experience conducting designing and developing small applications using a range of coding languages, APIs, and frameworks for language technology
Experience using LLM-focused methods including prompt engineering, tool calling, retrieval augmented generation, and fine-tuning to improve existing models
Experience developing and implementing evaluations for models and applications across a range of NLP and LLM tasks
Sound judgement about data governance and ethics
Understanding of the cost structures and implications of deploying language technologies at scale
Ability to think holistically about data product pipelines from initial data collection to UX design
Experience working across data science, product, and engineering teams
Languages:Verbal andWritten proficiency in English required and additional fluency on a language spoken in WRI Offices encouraged (e.g. Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese)
Requirements:Existing work authorization is required where this positionis based.WRI is unable to authorize visa workauthorization

Potential Salary:US salary range is between139,000and167,000USD.UK:65–82KGBP;NL:80K –101K EUR.If located in another country office, salary will be determined by local market conditions.

Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

How to Apply: Please submit a resume with a required cover letter by the date of10January 2025.We may close for applications sooner if we receive a high volume of qualified applications.

We are unable to consider your application without a cover letter.

You must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered.

What we offer:

Access to the WRI global network with the opportunity to exchange with and learn from passionate colleagues working at the cutting edge of their fields across Asia, Africa, Europe, LatinAmericaand theUS
The chance to have an impact and to develop your career within a mission drivenorganizationwith access to varied learning and training opportunities.
A workplace that strives to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of ourwork
The opportunity to join and get involved in different working groups and affinity groups to shape the future ofWRI
Commitment to hybrid working model with flexible workinghours
Generous leavedays that increase with tenure
For US location:Medical Coverage, Dental Coverage, Vision Coverage, retirement plan access and employer contribution

About Us:

Founded in 1982, World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global researchorganizationthat turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment,economic opportunity, and human well-being. We are working to address seven criticalchallenges that the world must overcome this decade to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities,and the ocean. WRI has a global staff of over 1,800 people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India,Indonesia, Mexico,Colombiaand the United States, as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps, and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business, and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bringtogether partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.

Our mission and values:

WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

Our values are shared ideals that bind us together: Integrity, Innovation, Urgency,Independenceand Respect.

Our culture:

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to ourorganizationaland programmatic practices.

Weare committed to providing equal opportunities inemployment;we embrace alldiversity and encourage women, the LGBTQ+ community, persons with disabilities, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people to apply.Recognizingour strong commitment to gender equality, WRI has also been awarded EDGE certification.

Our team in Human Resources carefully reviews all applications.

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