Principal Machine Learning Engineer - Model Efficiency Optimization

Join ABBYY and be part of a team that celebrates your unique work style. With flexible work options, a supportive team, and rewards that reflect your value, you can focus on what matters most – driving your growth, while fueling ours. Our commitment to respect, transparency, and simplicity means you can trust us to always choose to do the right thing. As a trusted partner for purpose-built AI and intelligent automation, we solve highly complex problems for our enterprise customers and put their information to work to transform the way they do business.  Over 10,000 customers trust ABBYY, including many Fortune 500 ones. You will work on further developing a portfolio already containing client names such as DHL, Johnson & Johnson, FDA, DMV, PwC, KeyBank, Spotify, and H&R BLOCK. About the Role   We are seeking a  Principal Machine Learning Engineer – Model Efficiency & Optimization  to serve as the technical anchor for ABBYY’s model optimization strategy.   This is a  senior individual contributor role  for a deep domain expert who will define how ABBYY builds  efficient, high-performing, production-ready models  for document AI at scale. You will set technical direction from  research exploration through production deployment , combining strong theoretical expertise with hands-on implementation.   Key Responsibilities   Research Direction & Technical Strategy   Own the end-to-end technical direction for  model efficiency and optimization , from research agenda to production deployment   Define approaches for building  efficient, production-ready models  optimized for document AI use cases   Establish frameworks for evaluating  quality vs. efficiency trade-offs  (accuracy, latency, memory footprint)   Set standards for what constitutes a successful optimized model across document understanding benchmarks   Evaluate and adopt emerging techniques in  model optimization and compression   Influence modeling strategy across teams by integrating  efficiency-first thinking  into model development     Hands-on Implementation & Experimentation   Lead design and implementation of  optimization pipelines, training objectives, and compression techniques   Run large-scale experiments and analyze  training dynamics, instabilities, and capability gaps   Develop novel optimization approaches tailored to  document understanding tasks , including layout and multimodal challenges   Diagnose and resolve failure modes such as  quality degradation and generalization gaps   Prototype and validate new techniques before scaling to production training runs     Cross-Functional Collaboration   Partner with the  Document AI Data team  to define training data requirements for optimized models   Collaborate with Platform teams on  distributed training infrastructure, experiment tracking, and compute strategy   Work closely with Modeling teams to ensure optimized models meet  quality and performance standards   Communicate technical trade-offs, findings, and recommendations clearly to  engineering, product, and leadership stakeholders   Qualifications Education & Experience   MS or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field ( PhD preferred )   10+ years of experience in  Machine Learning / AI , with focus on:    Model optimization   Efficient deep learning   Large-scale model deployment   Demonstrated track record of contributions to model efficiency (e.g., publications, patents, or industry impact)   Proven experience optimizing  large-scale language and/or vision models  for production   Deep understanding of trade-offs between  model quality, size, and inference performance     Technical Expertise   Deep expertise in  model optimization and compression techniques  (e.g., quantization, pruning)   Strong knowledge of  efficient deep learning methodologies   Expertise in  Vision-Language Models (VLMs)  and multimodal optimization challenges   Strong programming skills in  Python  and deep proficiency with  PyTorch or similar frameworks   Experience with  distributed training systems and large-scale experimentation workflows   Strong evaluation methodology for optimized models, including  benchmarking, efficiency profiling, and regression analysis     Leadership & Communication   Recognized technical authority in  model optimization or efficient AI systems   Proven ability to influence technical direction without formal authority   Strong track record of driving  applied research → production impact   Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex trade-offs   Collaborative mindset with the ability to align cross-functional teams   Here are some of our local benefits:   Comprehensive medical, accidental, and life insurance   Weekly wellness sessions to support your physical and mental well-being   A generous paid time off policy         Join ABBYY, and you will: Love how you work We provide remote and hybrid working options to fit all lifestyles. We use flexible hours across most of our teams to allow you to find your own definition of balance. Encouraging a culture of giving, we provide two paid volunteering days off every year so you can take time to contribute to the causes you care about. To ensure your family is cared for, we offer paid parental leave in all our locations. Love whom you work with We are a global team of 600+ colleagues, spread across 15 countries on four continents. With colleagues representing 30+ nationalities, our workforce reflects the world. Innovation and excellence run through our veins. Our teams gather the expertise which has garnered ABBYY more than 140 technology patents. We are guided by the values of respect, transparency, and simplicity. "Team Environment" is in the top three highest-scoring drivers of engagement across all of our departments. Love what you work on We are a company with more than 35 years of experience in the technology market; Over 10,000 customers trust ABBYY, including many Fortune 500 ones, with names such as DHL, Johnson & Johnson, FDA, DMV, PwC, KeyBank, Spotify, and H&R BLOCK; We have modernized the capture market by creating the first low-code/no-code IDP platform. Our Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision Technologies, and a marketplace built with AI, can transform any document in any process; Top Analyst firms recognize ABBYY's market leadership, including Gartner, Everest PEAK Matrix ® Assessment, ISG Intelligent Automation Lens, and NelsonHall, amongst others. ABBYY is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that values the strength that diversity brings to the workplace. To learn more about our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion, check out the careers section on our website.