Lead Research Engineer

Kadence is seeking a Lead Research Engineer to help build and scale next-generation AI systems that transform how professionals work with complex information. This high-impact role involves leading engineering standards, developing scalable ML systems, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to drive innovation and ensure robust solutions are delivered.

Responsibilities:

• Lead technically: Define engineering standards, shape architecture, and mentor engineers across ML initiatives
• Build end-to-end ML systems: From data pipelines → model development → deployment → monitoring
• Develop scalable infrastructure: Design high-performance systems for training and serving ML models in production
• Collaborate cross-functionally: Work closely with research scientists, product teams, and distributed engineering teams
• Drive innovation: Prototype new approaches and bring them into production environments
• Own delivery: Take responsibility for shipping robust, scalable solutions

Requirements:

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, with strong exposure to machine learning systems
• Deep expertise in Python and the ML ecosystem (NumPy, Pandas, PyTorch, scikit-learn, etc.)
• Proven experience building and deploying ML systems at scale
• Strong understanding of MLOps / ModelOps, including monitoring, automation, and lifecycle management
• Experience designing data pipelines and working with large-scale data processing frameworks
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or similar) and distributed systems
• Background in Natural Language Processing (NLP), including areas like Information Extraction, Named Entity Recognition (NER), Information Retrieval
• Ability to translate research into production systems
• Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical workstreams
• Experience with knowledge graphs, LLMs, or advanced NLP systems
• Exposure to additional languages (Java, TypeScript, etc.)
• Strong grounding in probabilistic models and ML theory