Research Engineer, Machine Learning Systems

Company Overview

Deepgram is the leading platform underpinning the emerging trillion-dollar Voice AI economy, providing real-time APIs for speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), and building production-grade voice agents at scale. More than 200,000 developers and 1,300+ organizations build voice offerings that are 'Powered by Deepgram', including Twilio, Cloudflare, Sierra, Decagon, Vapi, Daily, Cresta, Granola, and Jack in the Box. Deepgram's voice-native foundation models are accessed through cloud APIs or as self-hosted and on-premises software, with unmatched accuracy, low latency, and cost efficiency. Backed by a recent Series C led by leading global investors and strategic partners, Deepgram has processed over 50,000 years of audio and transcribed more than 1 trillion words. There is no organization in the world that understands voice better than Deepgram.

Company Operating Rhythm

At Deepgram, we expect an AI-first mindset-AI use and comfort aren't optional, they're core to how we operate, innovate, and measure performance.

Every team member who works at Deepgram is expected to actively use and experiment with advanced AI tools, and even build your own into your everyday work. We measure how effectively AI is applied to deliver results, and consistent, creative use of the latest AI capabilities is key to success here. Candidates should be comfortable adopting new models and modes quickly, integrating AI into their workflows, and continuously pushing the boundaries of what these technologies can do.

Additionally, we move at the pace of AI. Change is rapid, and you can expect your day-to-day work to evolve just as quickly. This may not be the right role if you're not excited to experiment, adapt, think on your feet, and learn constantly, or if you're seeking something highly prescriptive with a traditional 9-to-5.

The Opportunity

Voice is the most natural modality for human interaction with machines. However, current sequence modeling paradigms based on jointly scaling model and data cannot deliver voice AI capable of universal human interaction. The challenges are rooted in fundamental data problems posed by audio: real-world audio data is scarce and enormously diverse, spanning a vast space of voices, speaking styles, and acoustic conditions. Even if billions of hours of audio were accessible, its inherent high dimensionality creates computational and storage costs that make training and deployment prohibitively expensive at world scale. We believe that entirely new paradigms for audio AI are needed to overcome these challenges and make voice interaction accessible to everyone.

The Role

Deepgram is seeking a highly skilled and versatile Machine Learning Engineer to join our Research team. As a Member of the Research Staff, you will partner with research scientists to prototype and validate novel modeling ideas, then scale them through robust training systems for speech technologies, internal tooling, and innovative data strategies. You'll work at the intersection of machine learning, data infrastructure, and internal tooling to support our mission of building world-class speech recognition and synthesis systems. On the Research team, you will experiment with new technologies and techniques, while also working on product-focused deliverables, learning from colleagues with a wide range of expertise in AI and machine learning as you go.

Key Responsibilities

• Scalable Model Training: Architect and manage horizontally scalable systems that dramatically accelerate the end-to-end training lifecycle for Speech-to-Text (STT) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) models. This includes far more than automated training: the role focuses on making model development significantly faster and more efficient through optimized data preparation and management, high-throughput training pipelines, distributed infrastructure, and automated evaluation tooling.
• Tooling & Accessibility : Design and implement internal UIs and tools that make ML systems and workflows accessible to non-technical stakeholders across the company. These UIs should be designed to provide transparency and flexibility to internally built tooling.
• Infrastructure & Tools : Oversee and manage training tooling, job orchestration, experiment tracking, and data storage.

The Challenge

We are seeking Members of the Research Staff who:

• See "unsolved" problems as opportunities to pioneer entirely new approaches
• Can identify the one critical experiment that will validate or kill an idea in days, not months
• Have the vision to scale successful proofs-of-concept 100x
• Are obsessed with using AI to automate and amplify your own impact

If you find yourself energized rather than daunted by these expectations-if you're already thinking about five ideas to try while reading this-you might be the researcher we need. This role demands obsession with the problems, creativity in approach, and relentless drive toward elegant, scalable solutions. The technical challenges are immense, but the potential impact is transformative.

It's Important to Us That You Have

• Strong experience with the machine learning research pipeline, particularly in STT or related speech domains. This includes experimenting with and evaluating new architectures and modeling approaches, and implementing large-scale training systems.
• Proficiency with orchestration and infrastructure tools like Kubernetes, Docker, and Prefect.
• Familiarity with ML lifecycle tools such as MLflow.
• Experience building internal tools or dashboards for non-technical users.
• Hands-on experience with data engineering practices for unstructured audio and text data.
• Comfortable working in cross-functional teams that include researchers, engineers, and product stakeholders.

Why Join Deepgram?

At Deepgram, you'll help shape the future of human-machine communication. Our research culture prioritizes ownership, experimentation, and real-world impact. As a Member of the Research Staff, you'll be empowered to build tools and systems that accelerate ML research and product deployment at scale.

Benefits & Perks*

Holistic health

• Medical, dental, vision benefits
• Annual wellness stipend
• Mental health support
• Life, STD, LTD Income Insurance Plans

Work/life blend

• Unlimited PTO
• Parental leave
• Flexible schedule
• 12 Paid US company holidays
• Quarterly personal productivity stipend
• One-time stipend for home office upgrades
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Tax Savings Programs

Continuous learning

• Learning / Education stipend
• Participation in talks and conferences
• Employee Resource Groups
• AI enablement workshops / sessions

*For candidates outside of the US, we use an Employer of Record model in many countries, which means benefits are administered locally and governed by country-specific regulations. Because of this, benefits will differ by region - in some cases international employees receive benefits US employees do not, and vice versa. As we scale, we will continue to evaluate where we can create more alignment, but a 1:1 global benefits structure is not always legally or operationally possible.

Backed by prominent investors including Y Combinator, Madrona, Tiger Global, Wing VC and NVIDIA, Deepgram has raised over $215M in total funding. If you're looking to work on cutting-edge technology and make a significant impact in the AI industry, we'd love to hear from you!

Deepgram is an equal opportunity employer. We want all voices and perspectives represented in our workforce. We are a curious bunch focused on collaboration and doing the right thing. We put our customers first, grow together and move quickly. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information, political affiliation, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

We are happy to provide accommodations for applicants who need them.