ML Research Engineer (Defense)

TL;DR

ML Research Engineer (Defense): Developing and optimizing autonomous perception systems for defense applications with an accent on model distillation, quantization, and edge deployment. Focus on compressing large foundation models for target detection and re-identification on constrained embedded hardware.

Location: Must be based in Lausanne, Paris, or Zurich

Company

hirify.global is a defense technology company building autonomous and scalable systems for mission-critical operations.

What you will do

• Compress and distill large foundation models into efficient components for target detection.
• Optimize neural networks for constrained embedded systems using quantization, pruning, and LoRA.
• Build and manage MLOps pipelines to ensure reproducibility and robust logging.
• Collaborate on data curation to improve model accuracy for specific mission tasks.
• Benchmark distilled models to ensure performance and latency meet real-world deployment requirements.
• Stay at the forefront of computer vision research to introduce cutting-edge methodologies.

Requirements

• Degree in a STEM field such as Computer Science, Engineering, or Mathematics.
• Proven experience with vision neural networks and target detection architectures.
• Hands-on expertise in knowledge distillation and deploying networks to edge hardware.
• Proficiency in MLOps, GPU compute, and building training infrastructure.
• Must be based in or able to work from Lausanne, Paris, or Zurich.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to present complex benchmarking data to stakeholders.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to influence the technical direction of a team at an early stage.
• Work on high-impact, mission-critical autonomous defense systems.
• Collaborative environment focused on rigor, ownership, and technical excellence.
• Fast-paced, ambitious growth environment with significant technical challenges.