Senior ML Engineer (d/f/m)
We offer a great vision and exciting challenges
We are a well-coordinated, interdisciplinary team of around 14 experienced colleagues who have successfully mastered one of the most complex challenges of our time: the development of a robot figure that looks like a living being, whose sympathetic presence touches people emotionally – and which is already having a successful impact in social work today. Our product is never finished: It is constantly being developed, regularly receives new functions and continues to grow in close cooperation with partners in the field. In this way, we are creating a product that provides relief and enhances the quality of social work – today in the care sector, tomorrow in many other areas of social work.
With over 60 robots sold and a broad response in media such as ARD, ZDF, ZEIT and Süddeutsche Zeitung, we are bringing social robotics into everyday reality. Studies prove the positive effect and evidence of our solution. This is reflected not only in public interest, but also in the growing sales funnel.
And that’s exactly why we’re looking for you!
Developments in the field of machine learning are so rapid and the potential for our social robot Navel is great. However, due to the diversity and complexity, it is not easy to always find the best sustainable solution for Navel and achieve its efficient implementation. That’s why we are looking for you to join our strong interdisciplinary team as an experienced ML expert.
These are your tasks
- Stay on top of AI trends and architectures, especially in LLMs, speech, and multimodal systems
- Contribute to the full ML lifecycle from research to deployment
- Evaluate and apply solutions from NVIDIA, OpenAI, Azure, and other providers
- Integrate Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) into production systems
- Build and adapt ML models (transformers, RNN, CNN, LSTM)
- Develop models for NLU (intent, entities, sentiment), STT, and TTS
- Explore and implement computer vision models
- Train, fine-tune, and optimize models for production use
- Estimate development effort and expected model performance
- Deploy and optimize models on NVIDIA Jetson hardware (CUDA, TensorRT)
- Define short- and long-term AI strategies in alignment with company goals
- Choose the right architectures and frameworks for given problems
- Collaborate closely with UX, robotics, and software engineering teams
- Ensure proper data anonymization and compliance with privacy requirements
What you should bring with you
- Proven track record in ML/AI engineering
- Deep knowledge in LLMs, speech & language technologies, computer vision
- Hands-on experience training, fine-tuning, and deploying models into production
- Familiarity with modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face)
- Strong Python programming skills
- Experience with CUDA and deploying ML models on NVIDIA Jetson or similar hardware
- Ability to balance trade-offs between cloud vs. local deployments, commercial vs. open-source models
- Strong analytical mindset, systematic approach, and curiosity for innovation
- Interest in social robotics and the positive impact of technology on care & social work
What we offer
- One of the most exciting startup journeys imaginable – sell the most modern social robot system and create a high-potential company with real impact with us
- Great product with social impact and with state-of-the-art technologies robotics & AI
- Varied tasks & challenges
- On your travels you will be able to get to know different cities nationally, as well as internationally different cities
- Broad professional work spectrum
- Diverse learning & development opportunities (growing organization with potential for advancement)
- Modern building with 80 startups + kicker, canteen, food trucks, cafeteria
- Good accessibility: Bicycle, subway, streetcar, parking lot for rent
- Hybrid working & flexible working hours
- Growing team for increasing responsibility
Want to find out more about the position?
Please contact us at job@navelrobotics.com
Our team is characterized by:
Attention to detail
Often it’s the details you have to see and understand first to find the right solution.
Brave courage
We often work on things we’ve never done before, and don’t hesitate even when things are supposed to be difficult.
Pragmatic solutions
Even though we value academic background knowledge, what counts in the end is the finished solution that works.
Persistence
Even if we work in an agile way, we get through thirsty phases and think long-term.
Flexibility & Universality
In our small team, we work on diverse topics. A deep basic understanding gets us further in this than a very pointed expertise.
Speed
We master our tools and not the other way around. Our overview and focus ensure our efficiency.
Clarity
Complexity comes naturally. Clear structures and clean code let us control complexity efficiently.
Cleverness
The faster we understand where the problem is, the faster we find the smart solution.
Knowledge
Because we know the basics in our sleep, we can focus on the exciting challenges.
Communication
In an interdisciplinary team, successful communication is sometimes challenging and at the same time essential.