Senior Computational Linguist

Roku • Austin, TX

9d • Hybrid

About The Position

Roku is changing how the world watches TV
Roku is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and we've set our sights on powering every television in the world. Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. Our mission is to be the TV streaming platform that connects the entire TV ecosystem. We connect consumers to the content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers unique capabilities to engage consumers.
From your first day at Roku, you'll make a valuable - and valued - contribution. We're a fast-growing public company where no one is a bystander. We offer you the opportunity to delight millions of TV streamers around the world while gaining meaningful experience across a variety of disciplines.
About the Team
Roku’s Voice Team aims to develop the best voice system for TV. We enable users to launch channels, search for movies, TV shows, sports, and music, discover new content, and control their TVs and Smart Home devices with natural spoken requests, including hands-free, in multiple languages. Our goal is to help people find what they want and make it easier for people to stream. We accomplish this using state-of-the-art technology and engineering to make it happen, with consideration for the customer as the center of all that we do.
About the Role
We are looking for a top-notch Sr. Computational Linguist who is passionate about using language data and modeling to help our users connect effortlessly to Roku content and functionality. In this role, you will have the opportunity to analyze data from our users around the world and incorporate your insights into our products.
You will be joining a talented, high-performance team with a history of delivery. We are looking for someone who can help us maintain this accelerated pace and continue delivering high quality as we grow.

Requirements

• Master’s or Ph.D. degree in Linguistics, Computer Science, or related field
• Proficiency in at least one non-English language, ideally at the native or near non-native competence level, with Spanish or Portuguese preferred
• At least two years of experience with spoken natural language applications
• Solid knowledge of core linguistics: semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, discourse, and dialogue
• Experience with rule-based grammars and machine learning for NLP, including LLM and generative AI
• Practical experience with cleaning, manipulating, and analyzing large natural language data sets
• Experience with scripting languages, preferably Python
• Experience creating and adapting database queries in SQL
• Experience with version control and collaborative software development

Responsibilities

• You will develop models to extend voice support to new Roku features and across languages internationally
• You will collect and analyze spoken and written language data to improve our models, capturing a wide variety of expressions in rule-based or machine-learned systems
• You will maintain our existing systems, recognize issues and apply the right tools to debug and solve problems

Benefits

• Roku is committed to offering a diverse range of benefits as part of our compensation package to support our employees and their families.
• Our comprehensive benefits include global access to mental health and financial wellness support and resources.
• Local benefits include statutory and voluntary benefits which may include healthcare (medical, dental, and vision), life, accident, disability, commuter, and retirement options (401(k)/pension).
• Our employees can take time off work for vacation and other personal reasons to balance their evolving work and life needs.
• It's important to note that not every benefit is available in all locations or for every role. For details specific to your location, please consult with your recruiter.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level