Director of Machine Learning, Speechmatics
2-3 days a week in office
Paving the way with Speech AI
Job no longer available
Paving the way with Speech AI
101-200 employees
Job no longer available
2-3 days a week in office
101-200 employees
Company mission
To combine the latest breakthroughs in AI to understand every voice, language, accent, demographic or dialect.
Role
Who you are
- An inspiring leader with a proven ability to lead diverse teams, align them around a shared vision, and deliver world-class results in an applied research environment
- Expertise in modern machine learning methodologies, including:
- Advanced transformer architectures
- Distributed training systems and GPU optimization
- Self-supervised learning
- A track record of delivering innovative, scalable solutions that have driven measurable results in production environments
- Recognised contributions to the AI community, demonstrated by publications in top-tier conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML), impactful open-source projects or equivalent
- Strong communication and writing skills, with the ability to convey complex ideas clearly to diverse audiences
What the job involves
- We are looking for an exceptional leader to steer our innovation in Conversational AI and guide us on the path to achieving and surpassing the “Speech-first Turing Test.”
- As Director of ML, this is your chance to make an impact on a global scale
- You will lead and inspire world-class teams of researchers and machine learning engineers, driving breakthroughs that will shape the future of AI-driven speech technology
- Shape and articulate a forward-looking vision for Machine Learning at Speechmatics, aligning research priorities with our ambitious product roadmap
- Identify and execute high-impact research opportunities that drive measurable advancements in speech recognition performance and scalability
- Lead, mentor, and inspire the Representations, Enhancements, and Accuracy teams, building a cohesive culture of collaboration, innovation, and operational excellence
- Cultivate an environment where engineers and researchers thrive, developing their skills through coaching, feedback, and exposure to challenging technical problems
- Scale the team’s capabilities by implementing best practices for recruiting, performance management, and career development
- Oversee the development, training, and deployment of large-scale machine learning models, with an emphasis on optimising self-supervised learning techniques and transformer-based architectures
- Drive innovations in distributed training and GPU optimized models
- Ensure research outputs and publications are seamlessly integrated into scalable, production-ready pipelines to deliver tangible business impact
- Serve as a key interface between research, engineering, and business teams to align technical efforts with organisational goals
- Represent Speechmatics on global stages, contributing to leading conferences, open-source initiatives, publications and industry discussions that define the future of applied AI
Salary benchmarks
Our take
Speechmatics is unlocking the business value of human speech. Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, Speechmatics is a provider of speech recognition technology that easily transforms structured and unstructured voice data into text.
Speechmatics doesn't simply transcribe, its API can also summarise, detect topics, gauge sentiments, and translate in real-time or from recorded media. Ultimately the company aims to create a seamless and inclusive relationship between human/computer interactions and crucially, it can adapt to numerous industries and use cases so as to understand every voice, language, accent, demographic or dialect. This enables businesses to grasp the essence of human speech, transcending biases commonly built into LLMs.
Speechmatics' software currently operates in over 48 languages and it counts Veritone, Deloitte, Vonage, 3PlayMedia, and Vail among its customers. Recognised as a Top 10 Trailblazer in AI by Fast Company, Speechmatics moved to focus on intelligence in 2023, capitalising on accuracy but also using the power of LLMs to provide overall business value.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Jun 2022
$62m
SERIES B
Oct 2019
$8.6m
EARLY VC
Total funding: $82.3m
Company benefits
- Incredibly Flexible Working 🤸
- With our 'Focus Fridays' you get an undisturbed day of focus 🧘♀️, offset with Together Tuesdays when we have our team meetings 👫
- Company Lunches, with fully stocked snacks and drinks 🥗
- Private Medical and Dental for you and your family 🏥 Our plan is Medical History Disregarded, and we cover the premiums
- Global Working Opportunities 🌎
- Generous Holiday Allowance ☀️
- Pension/401K matching 🪺
- Home allowance for tech/home office equipment (on top of your choice of laptop, screen and accessories- of course) 🧑💻
- EV Scheme 🚗
- Work from Abroad Scheme 🏝️
- Learning & Development budget 📚
- Enhanced Parental Leave 🫶
- Free On-Site Massages 💆♀️
- Independent Financial Advice 💷
- Friday Lunch Yoga 🧘
- Wellbeing Support 🤲 Health Assured provide: A 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme
- Charity Day 🎗️
- Cycle to Work Scheme 🚲
- Life Insurance 🛟
- Referral Bonus 🧑💻
- Patent Bonus 💡
- Income Protection 🔒
- Reproductive Health Plan 👩⚕️ We are providing access for Speechlings to receive specialist reproductive health services that can include; Hormone & Fertility Tests; Fertility Advisor Calls; Menopause Consultations (Advanced Nurse Prescriber); Nutrition Consultations (Prenatal, Postpartum, Fertility or Menopause); Fertility Counselling; Private Gynaecologist Consultations.
Company values
- Move Fast - We believe in finding the perfect balance between the complex and the simple. When you become part of a collaborative team like ours, you have the freedom to fail fast and move on.
- People First - We believe in putting people first. We don’t just want the best teams; we want the best values fit. When you’re part of our team, we’ll do all we can to help you develop your skills.
- Care Deeply - Our aim is to ‘Understand Every Voice’. This thinking doesn’t just extend to our technology. We care deeply about our customers, especially when it comes to the impact our actions have on the world.
- Be Ambitious - To make positive change within our industry, takes bold and forward-thinking action. Which is why we believe in big goals. Our results show that, while change is never easy, it’s always worthwhile.
Company HQ
Milton, UK
Articles
Leadership
Tony Robinson
(Founder)Tony pioneered recurrent neural networks in speech recognition and has built and scaled multiple speech groups and companies.
Katy Wigdahl
(CEO)Katy is a fantastic CEO and brings with her a wealth of experience in leading finance functions and improving the overall quality of data and decision-making.
People progressing
Seve joined in 2020 as a Head of Partnerships & Alliances, before progressing to Strategic Business Lead, driving growth alongside the CEO and leveraging strong partnerships for success. She was promoted to Principal Strategy Manager in 2025.
Liam Steadman has recently progressed to ML Lead, driving advancements in speech recognition technology to enhance understanding across diverse languages.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Speechmatics
David Field (Senior Director, People & Talent)
- At Speechmatics, our mission is simple: understanding every voice out there. That's not just about our tech – it's the heart and soul of who we are. We welcome different experiences, viewpoints, and identities. For us, it’s not just the right thing to do; it’s our catalyst for sparking innovation and creativity. Our teams thrive in an environment that celebrates and supports everyone – no matter their gender, identity or expression, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, marital status, national origin, veteran status, pregnancy, or maternity status. But we don’t just open the door to diversity – we actively welcome it. Why? Because we believe every unique voice adds something special to our team, leading us to smarter solutions and a better workplace. So, come as you are and join our Speechling community. We’re building a place where every voice not only gets heard but is also respected and valued.
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