Senior Research Scientist
DeepL
Location
Munich, Berlin, Cologne, London
Employment Type
Full time
Department
Research
Meet DeepL
DeepL is a global communications platform powered by Language AI. Since 2017, we’ve been on a mission to break down language barriers. Our human-sounding translations and intelligent writing suggestions are designed with enterprise security in mind. Today, they enable over 100,000 businesses to transform communications, reach new markets, and improve productivity. And, empower millions of individuals worldwide to make sense of the world and express their ideas.
Our goal is to become the global leader in Language AI, building products that drive better communication, foster connections, and make a real-life impact. To achieve this, we need talented individuals like you to join our exciting journey. If you're ready to work with a dynamic team and build your career in the fast-moving AI space, DeepL is your next destination.
What sets us apart
What sets us apart is our blend of modern technology, competitive benefits, and an open, welcoming work culture that enables our people to thrive. When we share what it's like to work at DeepL, the reactions are overwhelmingly positive. This may be because of our products that have helped countless people worldwide or our shared mission to improve communication for individuals and businesses, bringing cultures closer together. What we know for sure is this: being part of DeepL means joining a team dedicated to innovation and employee well-being. Discover what our teams have to say about life at DeepL on LinkedIn, Instagram and our Blog.
Meet the team behind this journey
DeepL is a global communications platform powered by Language AI, dedicated to breaking down language barriers since 2017. Our human-sounding translations and intelligent writing suggestions are designed with enterprise security in mind, enabling over 100,000 businesses to transform communications and improve productivity.
What sets us apart is our blend of modern technology, massive proprietary datasets, and one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers. At DeepL, research isn’t just an academic exercise; it’s a mission to see your work deployed into products loved by millions worldwide.
The Opportunity: Define the Future of Communication
We are looking for passionate Research Scientists to join our core AI pillars. This unified role covers three of our most critical research areas. Depending on your expertise and interest, you will join one of the following teams:
Language AI: Building the world's leading translation and text-improvement systems, taking responsibility for the entire model lifecycle from data to deployment.
Foundation Model Task Adaptation (FMTA): Shaping how our models learn beyond pre-training. You will focus on RLHF, alignment, and post-training to enable new reasoning and controllability capabilities.
Voice AI: Solving the "art of the possible" for real-time voice communication, including transcription, speech-to-speech translation, and low-latency audio generation.
Your responsibilities
Innovate & Build: Design and deploy state-of-the-art AI models—whether for translation, large-scale model alignment (RLHF/RLAIF), or multi-modal voice processing.
Scale at Speed: Train neural networks at scale on DeepL’s dedicated GPU clusters, pushing the boundaries of performance while aggressively optimizing for low-latency production environments.
End-to-End Ownership: Manage the entire lifecycle of research: from theoretical modeling and prototyping to ablation studies and production deployment.
Collaborate Globally: Work alongside ML Platform, HPC, and DevOps teams to integrate your research into a robust infrastructure that serves millions of users.
Advance the Field: Lead research initiatives that improve our mathematical understanding of neural networks, ensuring reproducibility and high scientific standards.
Operational Excellence: Participate in shared on-call rotations (specific to Voice/Production teams) to ensure the reliability of our global AI services.
Qualities we look for
We seek researchers with a strong practical background and a passion for solving hard problems with real-world impact.
Technical Foundation: A solid mathematical background with a PhD, Master’s, or equivalent industry experience in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a related field.
Engineering Proficiency: Deep practical experience in Python and at least one modern framework (PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow) evidenced through significant research projects or internships.
Research Track Record: A history of leading self-directed research projects that deliver tangible results including academic publications.
-
Domain Expertise: Specialized experience in at least one of the following would be beneficial:
Large-scale LLM post-training and alignment (RLHF, RLAIF, RLVR).
Neural Machine Translation (NMT) and text modeling.
Voice/Audio modalities (ASR, TTS, or Speech-to-Speech).
Production Mindset: Proven experience scaling and shipping large-scale deep learning models to production is a significant plus.
Communication: High proficiency in English; additional languages are a plus.
Execution & Autonomy: A history of taking ownership over technical tasks - from initial experimentation to stable code - with the ability to work independently.
What we offer
Diverse and internationally distributed team: joining our team means becoming part of a large, global community with people of more than 90 nationalities. We're more than just colleagues; we're a group of professionals with a shared mission to connect diverse cultures. Our global presence is growing–we've doubled in size nearly every year, with our employees based in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, the US, and Japan, and we continue to expand our network.
Open communication, regular feedback: as a language-focused company, we value the importance of clear, honest communication. We value smooth collaboration, direct and actionable feedback, and believe that leading with empathy and growth mindset makes us better together.
Hybrid work, flexible hours: we offer a hybrid work schedule, with team members coming into the office twice a week. This allows you to engage directly with your team and experience the unique energy of our workspace, while still enjoying the flexibility and comfort of working from home. With flexible working hours and trust in your productivity, we are in sync with your team’s general locations and time zones to foster effective and seamless collaboration.
Virtual Shares - An ownership mindset in every role. We believe everyone should share in our success, and that’s why every employee receives Virtual Shares, linking your contribution directly to DeepL’s growth and rewarding you with a stake in our future.
Regular in-person team events: we bond over vibrant events that are as unique as our team, from local team and business unit gatherings, to new-joiner onboardings, to company-wide events that bring us all together–literally.
Monthly full-day hacking sessions: every month, we have Hack Fridays, where you can spend your time diving into a project you're passionate about and get the opportunity to work with other teams–we value your initiatives, impact, and creativity.
30 days of annual leave: we value your peace of mind. With 30 days off (excluding public holidays) and access to mental health resources, we make sure you're as strong mentally as you are professionally.
Competitive benefits: just as our team spans the globe, so does our benefits package. We've crafted it to reflect the diversity of our team and tailored it to align with your unique location, to ensure you feel supported every step of the way.
We are an equal opportunity employer
You are welcome at DeepL for who you are—we appreciate authenticity here. Our product is for everyone, and so is our workplace. The more voices we have represented and amplified in our business, the more we will all succeed, contribute, and think forward! So bring us your personal experience, your perspectives, and your background. It’s in our diversity that we will find the power to break down language barriers in the world.