Job Description – Machine Learning Scientist

Job Type: Full-time

Location: Cambridge, UK

Department: JD.com Artificial Intelligence Department

Your application will be available until September 3rd, 2018.

JD AI focuses on the continuous innovation and optimization of algorithms to meet our developing business needs. Significant areas of research include natural language processing, machine learning, including deep learning and reinforcement learning, and computer vision. We maintain AI labs in Beijing and Silicon Valley.

We are looking for machine learning research scientists to join JD AI . Candidates with both theoretical and applied interests are encouraged to apply. We are interested in a wide range of machine learning, knowledge representation, and reasoning problems, with a focus on reinforced intelligent agents that can make “clever” actions by naturally interacting with the physical world. They could work alone in single-agent learning systems or jointly in multi-agent, distributed learning systems. The subject areas include, but are not limited to:

• Reinforcement learning
• Deep learning and adversarial machine learning
• Knowledge representation and (symbolic) reasoning
• Control theory
• Operational research
• Optimisation
• Robotics
• Multiagent systems
• Algorithmic game theory and mechanism design
• Dialogue systems

We encourage both theoretical and applied research work, and JD.com offers endless practical scenarios, including e-commence, supply-chain, logistics, big data, cloud computing, IoT, marketing, finance and robotics, to inspire research. We have an open publication policy, and researchers at JD AI  have strong record of publication in top AI research venues including ICML, NIPS, AAAI, IJCAI, KDD, ICDM, WSDM, SIGIR, CIKM, WWW, ACL, EMNLP, CVPR, and ICCV. 

Responsibilities:

• Conduct cutting-edge research on machine learning, challenge the state of the art, actively participate in the research community, and publish research work in top research platforms such as ICML, NIPS, AAAI, IJCAI;
• Work with business, engineering and product teams to form an understanding of the emerging technical requirements, and identify/establish/participate in novel research programs to address identified technical challenges;
• Define and drive a technical vision and strategies to integrate novel machine learning algorithms into the existing production systems and business decision making processes.

Basic Qualifications:

• PhD in machine learning or related field, with research published in to platforms, such as ICML, NIPS, AAAI, IJCAI or their equivalent;
• Solid background in statistical approaches or other latest approaches and methodologies in AI;  
• Strong programming skills in at least one object-oriented programming language (Python, C++, Java, Scala, etc.);
• Experience in machine learning algorithm implementation, as well as the ability to make use of open source tools to further develop models; 
• Experience with a deep learning framework, such as TensorFlow or PyTorch;
• Ability to develop prototypes by manipulating and analysing complex, high-volume, high-dimensional data from varying sources;
• Eager to learn new algorithms, new application areas and new tools;
• Ability to communicate and collaborate with other researchers and engineers, including our team members in China (ability to speak Chinese is required), excellent written and oral communication skill.
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Preferred Qualifications

• Deep academic or industry expertise (post PhD 5+ years) in one or more related areas;
• An active contributor to the relevant international research communities, and able to create and act as a champion of a specific sub-topic and particular technology or application; 
• Hands-on experience in applying machine learning techniques to solve real-world problems;
• Previous experience in managing a dedicated research team; 
• Knowledge of, or experience in, building and deploying production-quality large-scale applications related to machine learning.
• Ability to communicate and collaborate with other researchers and engineers, including our team members in China (ability to speak Chinese is required), excellent written and oral communication skill.