Twilio's Emerging Technology & Innovation organization needs to lead horizon 3 research projects to understand and predict the future based on technological advances in AI/ML, AGI, quantum computing, blockchain, and more, to solve complex business challenges and discover new opportunities in customer engagement.
Requirements
- 5+ years of hands-on experience in applied machine learning, deep learning, or artificial intelligence research
- Strong publication record or evidence of thought leadership in AI/ML (conferences, journals, patents, open-source contributions)
- Proven experience with major ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn) and programming languages such as Python, Java, or C++
- Deep understanding of AI/ML theory, model evaluation, RAG, and best practices for scalable implementations
- Exceptional conceptual and analytical problem solving skills
- Expertise in one or more specialization areas: natural language processing, computer vision, reinforcement learning, generative AI, scalable distributed systems, or related fields.
- Familiarity with cloud-based ML infrastructure (e.g., AWS SageMaker, Google Cloud AI, Azure ML).
Responsibilities
- Help define what the future looks like based on technological trends, draw implications for opportunities and challenges for Twilio based on that future
- Analyze the latest AI/ML trends, techniques, and literature; summarize and translate findings into actionable recommendations for stakeholders across engineering, product, and business teams
- Where relevant, evaluate, design, and prototype novel algorithms, models, and architectures for real-world applications (e.g., NLP, computer vision, recommender systems, generative models, etc.)
- Where relevant, deconstruct existing software/ tools, to better understand source of distinction from a technical standpoint
- Benchmark solutions against state-of-the-art approaches, leveraging appropriate datasets, metrics, and evaluation methodologies
- Author and present clear, comprehensive technical reports, publications, and presentations for both technical and business audiences.
- Mentor and guide junior researchers and data scientists; foster a culture of technical excellence, curiosity, and rapid learning
Other
- Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related technical field.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to synthesize complex findings for diverse stakeholders
- Demonstrated leadership on cross-functional research projects across product, engineering, design
- Strong business acumen; ability to align research initiatives with larger business goals and identify the business case behind technology investments
- We prioritize connection and opportunities to build relationships with our customers and each other. For this role, you may be required to travel occasionally to participate in project or team in-person meetings.
