Member of Engineering (Multimodality - Research Lead)

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Member of Engineering (Multimodality - Research Lead) based in South Africa.

This role offers the opportunity to lead the development of multimodal capabilities for next-generation AI systems.
You will build and shape a new research area, defining how advanced models understand and interact with visual information.
The position combines hands-on research, engineering excellence, and strategic ownership of a critical AI capability.
You will work with cutting-edge infrastructure, large-scale model training environments, and a highly collaborative research team.
Your work will directly influence the evolution of intelligent systems designed to transform software development and complex problem-solving.
This is a unique opportunity to make a significant impact in a fast-moving, ambitious AI research environment.

The successful candidate will own the direction and execution of multimodality research initiatives, bringing advanced visual understanding capabilities into frontier AI models. This role requires both strategic thinking and hands-on technical contribution, from defining research priorities to implementing and scaling experiments.

• Own the multimodality roadmap and drive adoption of multimodal capabilities across AI models.
• Build and launch initial image-input capabilities for advanced coding and agentic systems.
• Define the evolution path from adapter-based approaches toward native multimodal architectures.
• Design and execute experiments across the full research lifecycle, including hypothesis formation, implementation, large-scale training, and analysis.
• Collaborate with research and engineering teams focused on evaluations, architecture, data, and post-training.
• Develop custom datasets and evaluation strategies to measure multimodal software engineering capabilities.
• Contribute to building a new research function from the ground up, balancing innovation with practical delivery.

Requirements:

The ideal candidate combines strong machine learning expertise with a research-driven mindset and the ability to independently solve complex technical challenges. You should have experience building large-scale AI systems and a passion for advancing multimodal intelligence.

• Proven experience with end-to-end training of production-grade vision-language models (VLMs).
• Strong understanding of large language model fundamentals, including transformers and distributed training at scale.
• Advanced Python programming skills and experience implementing machine learning systems.
• Ability to take ownership in ambiguous, fast-paced environments and identify practical solutions.
• Strong research capabilities with experience designing, running, and analyzing experiments.
• Experience collaborating across multidisciplinary teams to deliver complex AI projects.
• Leadership experience or 0-to-1 building experience, with a track record of broad ownership and hands-on technical contributions.
• Background in VLMs, multimodal models, native multimodality challenges, or agentic computer-use systems is highly valued.

Benefits:

• Fully remote work environment with flexible working hours.
• 37 days per year of vacation and holidays.
• Health insurance allowance covering employees and dependents.
• 16 weeks of flexible, fully paid parental leave.
• Well-being, continuous learning, and home office allowances.
• Company-provided equipment.
• Regular team gatherings and opportunities for in-person collaboration.
• Inclusive, people-first culture focused on collaboration and innovation.