Engineering Research Scientist

Clearance Requirements: Active SECRET/TOP SECRET – Authorized to Work in the US – Must be able to obtain a Active Clearance

At Aquila Technology, you will see our team’s passion every day, whether we are building a robust, policy-compliant IT system or stress-testing a system to identify gaps and security vulnerabilities. To own the advantage, we ensure our team owns results and gets the work done right the first time by deploying smart, purposeful solutions that work. Aquila is the right people with the right skills driving the right outcomes. We call this the Aquila Advantage.

About the Role:

Aquila is seeking a Software Developer to join our team in supporting one of the country’s premier defense research organizations. The Software Developer will specialization in Multilingual Research Data Development to:

Collect and analyze text, audio and physiological data;
Design and create multilingual databases;
Author study protocols and successfully apply to Human Subject Review (HSR) boards for approval;
Design and implement audio QA/QC tools, procedures, and best practices
Maintain and manage an audio facility including computer systems maintenance; hardware support; interaction with vendors
Create and maintain Data Security Plans (DSP) and Loan agreements;
Implement Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) tools and techniques for HLT evaluation and applications;

There are a few requirements for the position:

Must be a U.S Citizen- Authorized to Work in the US – Must have a Active Clearance (Green Cards / Visas do not qualify)
Willingness to undergo a comprehensive background investigation and maintain a personal security clearance. (Aquila would sponsor you for the security clearance.)
Must be within commutable distance of Lexington, Massachusetts.

Position Scope and Job Functions:

HLT Data Collection: Implement Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) tools and techniques to create and enhance data for Human Language Technology (HLT) evaluation and applications. Use DOMINO Lincoln workflow system for creating interactive foreign language training and testing materials.
Human Language Technology Evaluation: Ability to identify and apply benchmarks to evaluate AI model performance. Ability to create custom multi-lingual datasets for the evaluation of machine translation (MT) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems
Generative AI: Expertise in Large Language Models (LLMs), generative AI to operational systems. Skills include programming abilities: llama-cpp, mistral, GPT4All, Chat-GPT, Orca, and transformer-based capabilities generally.
For Audio/Speech QA/QC: define, create and implement audio applications for measurement and enhancement of audio and speech recording quality; assessing speech corpora integrity; coordinating with and providing guidance to subcontractors providing speech corpora.
Advanced audio data analysis: Ability to design, implement and confirm the performance of an audio data collection method for the speech intelligibility evaluation of wearable acoustic sensors.
Human Subjects Protocols: Design, author and implement study protocols for the collection of multilingual speech and multi-modal databases. Submit to and maintain protocols with HSR boards and US DoD Human Research Protection agencies.
Manage Data Collection Equipment and Facility: Maintain and Manage the Groups sound room facility; specifying equipment needs, coordinating efforts across multiple Groups, creating calibrated
acoustic noise simulations, Implementing Study Protocols for collecting multi-modal data from human
subjects; author and implement the procedures necessary to provide and preserve the capability to perform in-field speech and acoustic noise data collections and speech communication.
Facilities: Ability to work closely with the Facilities division team to design and specify new organizational spaces. Ability to interface with the technical team, understand how the organizational spaces will need to be designed to address technical needs, and communicate the design to address technical needs, and communicate the design specifications to the Facilities division.

Required Skills:

HLT Research Experience: Experience with Java, Python, MATLAB, git, Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) such as Adobe Audition, Audacity, SoX, Sound Exchange, etc.; must include experience using machine learning techniques and natural language processing tools to create HLT data sets. Familiarity with foreign language corpus development is required for this work. Requires experience designing crowdsourcing jobs for text annotation; experience with JSON and SQL Databases. Experience directing subject matter experts to create interactive foreign language training and testing materials.
Human Subjects Experience: Authoring Study Protocols and successfully submitting them for approval to MIT and DoD Human Subject Review Boards for the purpose of multi-sensor data collections and language-learning systems performance. Demonstrated ability to train new personnel in implementing human subjects data collection protocols is required.
Sound Room Management: Specify and Maintain equipment. Data Collection Hardware: MacOS and MS Windows platforms, professional audio interfaces, loudspeaker playback systems, audio microphone and multi-modal sensors (heart rate, skin conductance, etc.) data collection systems. National Instruments data collection systems; Portable audio recording systems and Sound Pressure Level (SPL) meters. Demonstrated ability to author and maintain Data Security Plans and Loan Agreements for off-site equipment. Solid understanding of audio equipment usage is required.
Independence and Reliability: Demonstrated ability to work independently to complete complex projects on a tight schedule; Requires strong communication skills, interacting with various MIT-LL groups, human subjects, and subcontractors. Demonstrated ability to lead and coordinate teams to produce deliverables on tight deadlines.
HLT/Machine Learning: Demonstrated experience implementing Machine Learning and in Human Language Technology / Natural Language Processing Tools and Services
Software dev-ops: Demonstrated ability to work in agile development cycle including issues, projects, pull request review, UI and unit testing, Jenkins build, Artifactory storage and deployment

Must Have
Data/Reporting Experience:

10 years – Speech research and development (design, management and delivery of rigorously specified data)

Clearance Requirements:

Must have an Active Secret Clearance (OR a higher clearance)
10 years – Publishing Research
10 years – Sound Room Management
10 years – Human Factors
10 years – Human Language Technologies
10 years – Human Subjects Research
10 years
10 years – Machine Learning/AI
10 years – HLT/Machine Learning

Software Experience:

10 years – Software dev-ops

Nice to Have:

Data/Reporting Experience
Data analytical programming methodologies
SQL databases
Signal Processing
Digital Signal Processing
Testing Experience
Digital speech communication test and evaluation

Preferred Skills:
Experience with digital signal processing;
Experience in Digital Speech Communication Test and Evaluation
Experience with JSON and SQL Databases
Experience in digital speech communication test and evaluation
Experience in extracting and analyzing data from social media platforms

Our interview process is designed to let you get to know us as much as for us to get to know you!

You’ll meet with someone from our Recruiting team so we can learn more about you and answer some of your questions.
You’ll meet with the Hiring Manager to learn more about the team, and the role, and get to tell us more about what you’d bring to the team
You’ll meet team members who will be your peers to help you get a feel for a “real day in the life” at Self.

Benefits and Perks:

Aquila team members experience the opportunity to be part of a fast-paced, customer-focused, and technically innovative work environment. Aquila strives to deliver the best of the best in technical services to our customers. Candidates that possess a love for technical challenges, a desire to constantly learn, and the desire to establish themselves as critical players within a team will enjoy calling Aquila Technology home.

Our Perks Include:

PTO – 15 days (vacation/sick) 10 paid holidays – 6 standard (New Year’s, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) – 4 floating holidays prorated based on your day of hire
1.5 paid days, or 12 hours, for approved volunteer work
1 week of paid maternity/paternity LOA after 1 year of Full-time employment
Tuition & Training Reimbursement – 5K annually for pre-approved, job-related tuition, certification, or professional conferences
401K with Fidelity 100% immediate vesting; Plan eligibility begins 90 days following the date of hire. Aquila matches 50 cents on the dollar, up to 6%.
Cell Phone & Internet Reimbursed up to $150 monthly to cover cell phone, data, and home internet expenses.
Buy Your Own Device (BYOD) Allowance Reimbursed up to $1500 for the purchase of a qualified technology device. Eligible after 90 days of employment, and benefit renews every three years.

Clearance:
Candidates should have an active clearance (secret/top secret, etc.) in order to be considered for this position due to the nature of the work being done. Authorized to Work in the US

Work from Home:
This position is HYBRID. The individual will be required to be onsite 2-3 days a week. Candidates are expected to be local at the time of the start of the assignment. Final scheduled TBD by hiring manager.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer

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