ABOUT THE JOB

The ACLU seeks applicants for the full-time position of Data Scientist II, Natural Language Processing (NLP) Specialist in the Analytics Division of the Technology Department of the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, or Washington, DC. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. 

The ACLU Technology Department is a broad umbrella covering both the ACLU’s Analytics and its Product & Engineering teams, two robust and innovative divisions that power the work of the ACLU. The department provides trusted, dependable, and impactful analytics, engineering, as well as product management and product design expertise for the ACLU. In partnership with experts across the ACLU, the Technology Team delivers best-in-class solutions, services, and innovation that advance the ACLU mission and organizational priorities. The tech team strives to ensure the ACLU leads by example in the ethical use of technology by ensuring privacy and security standards are maintained, directional insights are used to inform programming and business strategy, best-in-class products are designed to get the ACLU message out into the world and grow the ACLU supporter base, as well as to help steward high standards for algorithmic fairness, accountability, and transparency.  

The Analytics division includes analysts, data scientists, survey experts, social scientists, and analytics engineers that support evidence-based decision making and bring quantitative insights on our issues to the courtroom and the public. 

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU).

WHAT YOU'LL DO 

Reporting to the Data Science Manager — Algorithmic Justice Specialist and collaborating closely with our DevOps Engineering Team, Product Manager for Discovery, and Algorithmic Justice Fellow, the Data Scientist II, NLP Specialist, will support development and evaluation work for high-priority, carefully scoped projects using NLP to support the ACLU’s mission. In this role, the NLP Specialist will be responsible for evaluating proposed uses of generative AI and non-generative natural language AI systems, providing recommendations on whether AI tooling is appropriate or ill-suited for various tasks, and when appropriate, contributing to the development and implementation of AI-based solutions to support the organization’s mission.  

YOUR DAY TO DAY

• Work with various teams and departments to evaluate proposed AI use cases for feasibility and alignment with ACLU values and requirements related to privacy, security, transparency, bias, and environmental impacts  
• Provide recommendations to department and organizational leaders on whether AI tooling is appropriate or ill-suited for various tasks and use cases 
• Develop recommendations and architecture plans for intentional, carefully crafted uses of NLP tooling, appropriately selecting generative or non-generative AI systems and related guardrails and monitoring based on the context and requirements of the use case 
• Contribute to the development and implementation of AI-based solutions when appropriate, collaborating with various departments to ensure successful design, deployment, and continuous evaluation of such systems 
• Contribute to the establishment of AI governance practices and standards in collaboration with colleagues across the organization 
• Contribute to the development of context-specific, high-quality benchmarks for language modelling systems tailored for civil rights and public interest organizations 
• Contribute to various other projects supporting the ACLU’s litigation and policy work by applying natural language processing methods to policy or regulatory text data  
• When relevant, collaborate with academic and civil society researchers to turn your learnings and insights into resources to benefit other public interest organizations 
• Brief departmental leadership on relevant AI research and developments and prepare materials for senior leaders’ speaking engagements on AI issues 
• Communicate to non-technical audiences—including ACLU lawyers, policy advocates, and other staff—details of how large language models (LLMs) and small language models (SLMs) are designed and deployed, including their civil rights implications 
• Implement tooling to estimate the environmental impact of deployed AI systems 
• Stay abreast of important developments in the generative AI research and development space 

FUTURE ACLU'ERS WILL 

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Substantial research or professional experience on issues related to fairness, accountability, and transparency of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, especially generative AI systems 
• Substantial expertise and training in the field of natural language processing, including experience conducting statistical analyses with text data, evaluating and implementing machine learning methods for text data, and strong understanding of text representation techniques 
• Strong familiarity with language modeling and natural language techniques, including strong understanding of the core concept underlying the design of small language models (SLMs) and large language models (LLMs)  
• Substantial experience writing code in Python and working with open-source NLP libraries such as transformers and NLTK 
• Substantial experience working with text data from legal, policy, and social science contexts, such as legal filings, statutes, and regulations 
• Familiarity with the core concepts underlying multi-modal (e.g., text-to-speech, text-to-video, etc.) generative AI systems and experience working with multi-modal datasets 
• Familiarity with popular approaches and frameworks for monitoring and evaluating AI-enabled systems, especially generative AI systems 
• Professional or research experience developing software and strong familiarity with common software engineering practices such as version control, testing, and code reviews 
• Experience developing documentation of technical products and systems tailored to both technical and non-technical audiences 
• Experience working with cloud services (e.g. Amazon Web Services, Azure) a nice to have 
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technologists without NLP expertise and non-technical stakeholders 
• Excellent project management and collaboration skills, with a track record of partnering with cross-functional teams to translate organizational needs into technical solutions 

COMPENSATION

WHY THE ACLU

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

We know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and know that what we offer is essential not just their work, but to their overall well-being. 

At the ACLU, we offer a broad range of benefits, which include:

• Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid time-off policy
• Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)
• Plan for your retirement with 401k plan and employer match
• We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCESSIBILITY, EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change.  We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression, anti-ableism, and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.    

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email benefits.hrdept@aclu.org. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

The Department of Education has determined that employment in this position at the ACLU does not qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. 

Your Impact

We are seeking highly skilled and innovative Machine Learning Scientists to join our AI team, focusing on AI applications (LLM and Computer Vision) in Cloud, Devices and Robotics. As a key member of our research and development efforts, you will play a crucial role in advancing the state-of-the-art in Large Language Models (LLMs), Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs), Computer Vision and GenAI technologies for law enforcement and beyond. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and deploy cutting-edge LLM, MLLM, CV models and algorithms and solutions that enable intelligent reasoning, perception and understanding of multimodal data.

What You’ll Do
Location: any cities with Axon Engineering Hub in US, Vietnam, EU (see https://www.axon.com/company)

• US: Seattle, Boston, Scottsdale

Responsibilities

• Own one or more key technical areas across LLM, MLLM, CV product portfolio.
• Provide technical leadership to junior scientists, guiding the transition of R&D concepts into impactful Axon product feature.
• Research and develop cutting-edge techniques in LLM, MLLMs, GenAI, and Computer Vision across cloud, devices and sensors based data sources.
• Design and implement efficient and scalable MLLM models for inference and analysis of multimodal data.
• Explore novel approaches to address challenges in NLP, NLU, Object Detection, Object Recognition, Object Tracking, Segmentation, and Scene Understanding.
• Optimize AI models, algorithms for performance, memory footprint, and energy efficiency to meet the requirements of resource-constrained devices.
• Join force with MLEs or firmware or hardware engineers to leverage hardware accelerators and optimize algorithms for specific hardware architectures.
• Evaluate the performance of LLM, MLLM, CV models using real-world datasets and design experiments to validate their effectiveness.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest research trends and advancements in computer vision, machine learning, and deep learning, MLLMs, GenAI and integrate relevant findings into our projects.
• Contribute to patent disclosures, academic publications, and technical documentation to share insights and findings with the broader community.
• Experience coach and mentor junior scientists.

What You Bring

• PhD and with +5 years for ML Scientist, +8 years for Sr. ML Scientist, +10 years for Principal ML Scientist experience in Computer Science or a related field with a focus on LLM, MLLMs, Computer Vision, GenAI.
• Proven track record of research excellence in LLM, MLLM, Computer Vision, Robotics Perception, GenAI, demonstrated through publications in top-tier conferences or journals.
• Strong proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C/C++, experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Keras and experience with ROS or robotic operational system.
• Drive one or more phases of the ML development lifecycle: shape datasets, investigate modeling approaches and architectures, train/evaluate/tune models and implement the end-to-end training pipeline.
• Leverage state-of-the-art research to deliver high quality models enabling multiple AI projects at scale.
• Contribute back to the research community via academic publications, tech blogs, open-source code and contributing to internal/external AI challenges
• Experience in developing computer vision algorithms for resource-constrained devices such as mobile phones, IoT devices, or embedded systems is highly desirable.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to effectively present complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work

Location: This role is based out of our Boston, MA office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in-person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesday through Friday, with flexibility to work remotely on Mondays. We believe connection fuels innovation, and our in-office culture is designed to support meaningful teamwork and mentorship.

Your Impact

We are seeking highly skilled and innovative Machine Learning Scientists to join our AI team, focusing on AI applications (LLM and Computer Vision) in Cloud, Devices and Robotics. As a key member of our research and development efforts, you will play a crucial role in advancing the state-of-the-art in Large Language Models (LLMs), Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs), Computer Vision and GenAI technologies for law enforcement and beyond. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and deploy cutting-edge LLM, MLLM, CV models and algorithms and solutions that enable intelligent reasoning, perception and understanding of multimodal data.

What You’ll Do
Location: any cities with Axon Engineering Hub in US, Vietnam, EU (see https://www.axon.com/company)

• US: Seattle, Boston, Scottsdale

Responsibilities

• Own one or more key technical areas across LLM, MLLM, CV product portfolio.
• Provide technical leadership to junior scientists, guiding the transition of R&D concepts into impactful Axon product feature.
• Research and develop cutting-edge techniques in LLM, MLLMs, GenAI, and Computer Vision across cloud, devices and sensors based data sources.
• Design and implement efficient and scalable MLLM models for inference and analysis of multimodal data.
• Explore novel approaches to address challenges in NLP, NLU, Object Detection, Object Recognition, Object Tracking, Segmentation, and Scene Understanding.
• Optimize AI models, algorithms for performance, memory footprint, and energy efficiency to meet the requirements of resource-constrained devices.
• Join force with MLEs or firmware or hardware engineers to leverage hardware accelerators and optimize algorithms for specific hardware architectures.
• Evaluate the performance of LLM, MLLM, CV models using real-world datasets and design experiments to validate their effectiveness.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest research trends and advancements in computer vision, machine learning, and deep learning, MLLMs, GenAI and integrate relevant findings into our projects.
• Contribute to patent disclosures, academic publications, and technical documentation to share insights and findings with the broader community.
• Experience coach and mentor junior scientists.

What You Bring

• PhD and with +5 years for ML Scientist, +8 years for Sr. ML Scientist, +10 years for Principal ML Scientist experience in Computer Science or a related field with a focus on LLM, MLLMs, Computer Vision, GenAI.
• Proven track record of research excellence in LLM, MLLM, Computer Vision, Robotics Perception, GenAI, demonstrated through publications in top-tier conferences or journals.
• Strong proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C/C++, experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Keras and experience with ROS or robotic operational system.
• Drive one or more phases of the ML development lifecycle: shape datasets, investigate modeling approaches and architectures, train/evaluate/tune models and implement the end-to-end training pipeline.
• Leverage state-of-the-art research to deliver high quality models enabling multiple AI projects at scale.
• Contribute back to the research community via academic publications, tech blogs, open-source code and contributing to internal/external AI challenges
• Experience in developing computer vision algorithms for resource-constrained devices such as mobile phones, IoT devices, or embedded systems is highly desirable.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to effectively present complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work

Location: This role is based out of our Seattle, WA office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in-person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesday through Friday, with flexibility to work remotely on Mondays. We believe connection fuels innovation, and our in-office culture is designed to support meaningful teamwork and mentorship.

Your Impact

We are seeking a skilled and innovative Senior AI Research Scientist to join a new team focusing on agentic video and multimodal reasoning systems. As a research scientist at Axon you will play a crucial role in developing AI solutions that transform both the enterprise and public safety domains and support our company’s mission: accelerate justice, protect truth, and save lives. You will advance the state-of-the-art in machine learning and multimodal technology and apply your research findings to create new responsible AI capabilities for Axon products. You will collaborate with product managers, engineers and cross-functional teams to train models and develop cutting-edge algorithms and solutions that enable intelligent perception and understanding of visual and multimodal data.

At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

What You’ll Do

Reports to: Director of AI Research
Location: This role is based out of our Seattle, WA office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in-person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesdays through Fridays, with the flexibility to work remotely on Mondays, unless there is an approved workplace accommodation. We believe that connection fuels innovation, and our in-office culture is designed to foster meaningful teamwork, mentorship, and shared success.

• Collaborate with other scientists, engineers and product managers to build proof-of-concepts to shape the Axon of tomorrow.
• Lead end-to-end research efforts in AI-assisted universal search of and reasoning over large multimodal data with an emphasis on video understanding.
• Advance related computer vision, machine learning and gen-AI techniques for cloud and devices from multimodal data sources, including scene understanding, action recognition and anomaly detection.
• Design and implement responsible, privacy-preserving, efficient and scalable models for inference and analysis of visual data.
• Develop performance and quality metrics for agentic multimodal reasoning models and systems, and validate their effectiveness in real-world settings.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest research and advances in agentic AI, machine learning and computer vision and translate relevant findings into shipping Axon products.
• Contribute to academic publications, technical documentation, and patent disclosures to share insights and findings with the broader community.
• Coach and mentor junior scientists.

What You Bring

• PhD and 3+ years of experience in Computer Science or a related field with a focus on multimodal machine learning, large language models, video understanding, information retrieval, agentic reasoning or related technical fields.
• Proven track record of applied research and/or production impact in multimodal learning, video-language modeling, retrieval systems, foundation models, agentic systems, or RAG architectures.
• Experience owning and driving the ML development lifecycle from problem definition and data strategy through model development, evaluation, deployment, and iteration in production environments.
• Experience contributing to large-scale ML and multimodal RAG systems including embeddings, indexing and vector search at scale, distributed training or inference workflows, evaluation and ranking optimization, agentic tool use, and grounding LLMs with external knowledge.
• Strong understanding of video analysis and temporal modeling as well as computer vision fundamentals and trade-offs.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.
• Proficiency in Python and frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow or Keras.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to effectively present complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

The Pay: Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The starting base pay for this role is between USD 159,750 in the lowest geographic market and USD 234,300 in the highest geographic market. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit www.axon.com/careers/benefits.

#LI-Hybrid

Your Impact

We are seeking a skilled and innovative Senior Research Scientist to join one of our AI teams focusing on computer vision and machine learning (CVML). As a research scientist at Axon you will play a crucial role in developing AI solutions that transform both the enterprise and public safety domains and support our company’s mission: accelerate justice, protect truth, and save lives. You will advance the state-of-the-art in CVML and multimodal technology and apply your research findings to create new responsible AI capabilities for Axon products. You will collaborate with product managers, engineers and cross-functional teams to train models and develop cutting-edge algorithms and solutions that enable intelligent perception and understanding of visual data.

At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

What You’ll Do

Reports to: Director of AI Research
Location: This role is based out of our Seattle, WA office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in-person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesdays through Fridays, with the flexibility to work remotely on Mondays, unless there is an approved workplace accommodation. We believe that connection fuels innovation, and our in-office culture is designed to foster meaningful teamwork, mentorship, and shared success.

• Collaborate with other scientists, engineers and product managers to build proof-of-concepts to shape the Axon of tomorrow.
• Lead end-to-end research efforts in advanced computer vision, machine learning and gen-AI techniques for cloud and devices from multimodal data sources, including scene understanding, action recognition and anomaly detection.
• Design and implement responsible, privacy-preserving, efficient and scalable models for inference and analysis of visual data.
• Develop performance and quality metrics for CVML models and systems, and validate their effectiveness in real-world settings.
• Optimize algorithms for performance, memory footprint, and energy efficiency to meet the requirements of resource-constrained devices.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest research and advances in CVML and translate relevant findings into shipping Axon products.
• Contribute to academic publications, technical documentation, and patent disclosures to share insights and findings with the broader community.
• Coach and mentor junior scientists.

What You Bring

• PhD and 3+ years experience in Computer Science or a related field with a focus on computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence or related technical fields.
• Proven track record of research in machine learning, computer vision or related fields.
• Experience driving the ML development lifecycle and leveraging state-of-the-art research to deliver high quality models at scale.
• Strong computer vision fundamentals such as image processing, feature extractions, object detection, semantic segmentation, video analysis or action recognition.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.
• Proficiency in Python and frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow or Keras.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to effectively present complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience in developing computer vision algorithms for resource-constrained edge devices or embedded systems preferred but optional.

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work

The Pay: Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The starting base pay for this role is between USD 159,750 in the lowest geographic market and USD 234,300 in the highest geographic market. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit www.axon.com/careers/benefits.

#LI-Hybrid

Your Impact

We are seeking highly skilled and innovative Machine Learning Scientists to join our AI team, focusing on AI applications (LLM and Computer Vision) in Cloud, Devices and Robotics. As a key member of our research and development efforts, you will play a crucial role in advancing the state-of-the-art in Large Language Models (LLMs), Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs), Computer Vision and GenAI technologies for law enforcement and beyond. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and deploy cutting-edge LLM, MLLM, CV models and algorithms and solutions that enable intelligent reasoning, perception and understanding of multimodal data.

What You’ll Do
Location: any cities with Axon Engineering Hub in US, Vietnam, EU (see https://www.axon.com/company)

• US: Seattle, Boston, Scottsdale

Responsibilities

• Own one or more key technical areas across LLM, MLLM, CV product portfolio.
• Provide technical leadership to junior scientists, guiding the transition of R&D concepts into impactful Axon product feature.
• Research and develop cutting-edge techniques in LLM, MLLMs, GenAI, and Computer Vision across cloud, devices and sensors based data sources.
• Design and implement efficient and scalable MLLM models for inference and analysis of multimodal data.
• Explore novel approaches to address challenges in NLP, NLU, Object Detection, Object Recognition, Object Tracking, Segmentation, and Scene Understanding.
• Optimize AI models, algorithms for performance, memory footprint, and energy efficiency to meet the requirements of resource-constrained devices.
• Join force with MLEs or firmware or hardware engineers to leverage hardware accelerators and optimize algorithms for specific hardware architectures.
• Evaluate the performance of LLM, MLLM, CV models using real-world datasets and design experiments to validate their effectiveness.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest research trends and advancements in computer vision, machine learning, and deep learning, MLLMs, GenAI and integrate relevant findings into our projects.
• Contribute to patent disclosures, academic publications, and technical documentation to share insights and findings with the broader community.
• Experience coach and mentor junior scientists.

What You Bring

• PhD and with +5 years for ML Scientist, +8 years for Sr. ML Scientist, +10 years for Principal ML Scientist experience in Computer Science or a related field with a focus on LLM, MLLMs, Computer Vision, GenAI.
• Proven track record of research excellence in LLM, MLLM, Computer Vision, Robotics Perception, GenAI, demonstrated through publications in top-tier conferences or journals.
• Strong proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C/C++, experience with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Keras and experience with ROS or robotic operational system.
• Drive one or more phases of the ML development lifecycle: shape datasets, investigate modeling approaches and architectures, train/evaluate/tune models and implement the end-to-end training pipeline.
• Leverage state-of-the-art research to deliver high quality models enabling multiple AI projects at scale.
• Contribute back to the research community via academic publications, tech blogs, open-source code and contributing to internal/external AI challenges
• Experience in developing computer vision algorithms for resource-constrained devices such as mobile phones, IoT devices, or embedded systems is highly desirable.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to effectively present complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work

Location: This role is based out of our Scottsdale, AZ office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in-person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesday through Friday, with flexibility to work remotely on Mondays. We believe connection fuels innovation, and our in-office culture is designed to support meaningful teamwork and mentorship.

ESA seeks a highly motivated Wetland Scientist and Permitting Specialist to join our Pacific Northwest Biological Resources and Land Management team.  Our ideal candidate has 8+ years of experience in wetland science and permitting in Washington and Oregon, but candidates with 5+ years of experience who meet the qualifications will also be considered. This is a salaried, full-time exempt role. Qualified candidates must be able and willing to work hybrid (1-2 days a week) from one of our Northwest Office Locations including: Seattle, Portland, & Bend.  Some travel required for in-person team collaboration, project visits, and field work as needed.  

We are interested in proactive candidates who have strong experience in one or more of the following: wetland and aquatic resource delineations, mitigation planning, preparing reports and applications for local, state, and federal permits coupled with experience and field work in botany, soil science, fisheries biology, wildlife ecology, and habitat restoration ecology. Technical writing skills are strongly preferred.  This is a mid-level opportunity focused on collaboration with senior technical staff and helping to grow early-career staff, quality, outstanding internal and external client service, and being part of a team with a passion to do great work and have fun together.    

Who You Are 

• A Scientist and Permitting Specialist with at least 5 years of experience in the Northwest collecting, analyzing, and presenting in writing ecological data and environmental documentation to support projects and obtain regulatory permits and approvals.
• You have experience developing and leading wetland and aquatic resources studies, with some experience in one or more of the biological disciplines ESA projects require, including botany, fisheries biology, wildlife ecology, and habitat restoration ecology. Certifications and training in one or more of these disciplines are a plus.
• You have served as the primary or contributing author on a variety of environmental documents such as Wetland and Stream Reports, critical area reports, Biological Assessments for Endangered Species Act consultations, habitat mitigation plans, strategic plans for watershed management, fish passage barrier assessments, and permit applications such as Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Applications and Joint Permit Applications.
• You have excellent writing and communication skills. You are known for preparing documents that are clear, concise, well-written and supported. 
• You have led field survey efforts and data collection for environmental projects and possess the ability to work with multiple teams and complex schedules.
• You have experience drafting scopes of work for Senior level review on small to complex projects, including identifying necessary tasks, preparing task descriptions, and estimating the associated level of effort.
• You hold a bachelor's and/or master's degree in biology or a related environmental or ecological field.
• You can safely operate, load, and transport equipment and gear, and cross fences, creeks, and other obstacles. Experience with digital field data collection tools such as GPS, ArcGIS Collector/Field Maps, Fulcrum, Survey 123 is desired, but not required.
• You work collaboratively with clients and interdisciplinary teams to deliver high quality work products according to scopes, schedules, and budgets. You are an effective team member and communicator who contributes constructively and cooperatively to solve project and team challenges.
• You are able to work hybrid primarily in one of our NW offices in Seattle, Portland, or Bend with some days working remotely if you choose. 

What You Will Do for ESA

• As an Wetland Scientist and Permitting Specialist, you will serve as field lead or crew member performing field surveys and will be the primary author of environmental documents including technical memoranda, biological assessments/habitat evaluations, scientific discipline reports, habitat mitigation plans, and impact evaluations to support resource-related permit applications, including in support of Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.  
• You will apply your technical skills and permitting knowledge to natural resources projects. You will serve as a technical specialist, participating in environmental analyses and coordinating with key team members, including senior and junior staff, subconsultants, and clients. Lead the preparation and implementation of biological field studies. This includes field studies such as wetland delineations, vegetation classification and habitat mapping, stream habitat assessment, fish passage barrier assessment, nesting bird surveys, endangered species occurrence, and water quality sampling. You will produce technical work and written products that are clear, concise, and well supported.
• You may serve as a Project Manager, Deputy Project Manager, or Task Lead depending on complexity of project. You will demonstrate a clear understanding of project management principles and practices, including managing your work to the scope, budget, and schedule. You will proactively and constructively communicate to successfully navigate project or scope challenges that may arise. You will also take the initiative and resolve issues to assure client needs are met effectively, lead and advise on all aspects of project implementation, including the development of permitting strategies, provide QA/QC of work processes and deliverables, and lead teams completing technical studies that support permitting efforts.  
• You thrive in a fast-paced, exciting, and challenging environment and are able to manage multiple responsibilities and deadlines, while working on a team or independently. 
• You enjoy fieldwork and can walk long distances carrying a backpack; and are able to lift at least 50 pounds. You are confident working outside, in remote and rural settings, as well as in urban environments. Physical outdoor work may include, but may not be limited to, work in all types of weather, traversing uneven ground and sometimes steep terrain in forested environments, fields, arid lands, along stream banks, and in coastal/intertidal areas. You may be exposed to inclement weather and uncomfortable working conditions. Some night and/or weekend work may be required. Field work is expected to be approx. 40% with 60% in at home/office work.
• Driving needs: You possess a valid driver’s license with a clean DMV record. 
• Other ad-hoc tasks as needed

What’s Special About Our Biological Resources & Land Management Team

Our Biological Resources & Land Management Team includes Wetland Biologists, Fisheries Biologists, Wildlife Ecologists, Environmental Scientists, Conservation/Climate Planning Specialists, and Permitting Specialists who provide expertise for many agencies in Washington, Oregon and across the Northwest. Our work matters because it helps communities shape a positive future for their citizens. We value creative thinking, teamwork, and multi-disciplinary and cross disciplinary engagement and integration. 

 What’s Special About ESA

Joining ESA means becoming part of a close-knit team of employee-owners who contribute to outstanding projects, improve environmental stewardship, and advance a more sustainable and resilient future for our communities and wild places.

At ESA, we provide benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance (paid at 70% for you AND your family), annual allocations of company share through our ESOP, a 401(k) plan with company match, and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays, to name a few.

We also provide specific programs whether you want to further your technical expertise, sharpen your business acumen, or help lead the next generation of employee-owners. We want to support you in reaching your career goals through tuition reimbursement, professional development bonuses, and attendance at conferences.