Senior Research Scientist (AI/ML)

TL;DR

Senior Research Scientist (AI/ML): Researching and applying state-of-the-art AI/ML techniques to large-scale problems in recommender systems and NLP with an accent on semantic search and agentic research. Focus on designing scalable ML solutions, optimizing Information Retrieval, and driving innovation in Generative AI.

Location: Spain-based (Hybrid, with occasional team meetings at the Madrid office)

Salary: €55,300 – €65,000 per year

Company

hirify.global is the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, providing comprehensive insights into consumer buying behavior across 100+ markets.

What you will do

• Research, evaluate, and adapt state-of-the-art techniques to solve large-scale AI problems.
• Lead the development of ML innovations in Information Retrieval, Product Matching, and Generative AI.
• Design advanced experiments and feasibility studies to guide technical strategy.
• Develop scalable, reproducible, and maintainable ML solutions and research frameworks.
• Collaborate with Applied AI and Engineering teams to enable the adoption of research outcomes.
• Mentor other scientists and contribute to scientific publications, patents, and conference submissions.

Requirements

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, AI, ML, Mathematics, Physics, or a related quantitative discipline.
• 7+ years of experience in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, or AI research.
• Expertise in training transformer-based models for Information Retrieval, Recommendation Systems, or NLP.
• Experience training custom SLMs and/or small reasoning models.
• Advanced proficiency with Python, PyTorch, Hugging Face, Pandas, Scikit-learn, and Git.
• Must be based in Spain.

Nice to have

• PhD and publications in leading conferences (e.g., ACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICML).
• Experience with RAG architectures, LLMs, and agent-based frameworks.
• Experience with Knowledge Graphs.
• Background in retail, consumer intelligence, ecommerce, or FMCG domains.
• Experience with Databricks, SQL, or Elasticsearch.

Culture & Benefits

• Flexible working environment using a Home Office model.
• Professional development opportunities via LinkedIn Learning.
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP).
• Volunteer time off.