# Staff Research Engineer, Voice

**Company:** [Decagon](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/decagon)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA, New York, NY
**Role:** AI Research
**Salary:** $350k – $475k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** Python, LLMs, Machine Learning, Speech Recognition, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Transformers, Data Pipelines, Model Training, Model Evaluation
**Posted:** 2026-01-27

> Leads development of models and algorithms for real-time voice AI agents, focusing on speech understanding, naturalness, and production deployment. Requires 8+ years in AI/ML engineering, Python fluency, and experience deploying LLMs.

## Job Description

## In this role, you will
- Lead research and engineering efforts to improve core conversational capabilities in production, including instruction following, retrieval, memory, and long-horizon task completion
- Build and iterate on end-to-end models and pipelines that optimize for quality, efficiency, and user experience
- Partner with platform and product engineers to integrate new models into production systems
- Break down ambiguous research ideas into clear, iterative milestones and roadmaps
- Mentor other researchers/engineers, set technical direction, and establish best practices for applied research and engineering

## Your background looks something like this
- 8+ years of experience in AI/ML engineering or research
- Prior experience post-training and deploying LLMs in production environments
- Fluency in Python and modern ML tooling (training, evaluation, data pipelines)
- Track record of taking research ideas from prototype → reliable, measurable production impact
- Ability to define a roadmap, break ambiguity into milestones, and lead cross-functional execution

## Compensation
$350K – $475K + Offers Equity

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