Machine Learning Scientist (L4/L5) - Audio & Speech for Games

Location: USA - Remote, Los Angeles,California,United States of America, Los Gatos,California,United States of America

Department: Data & Insights

At Netflix, our mission is to entertain the world. Together, we are writing the next episode - pushing the boundaries of storytelling, global fandom and making the unimaginable a reality. We are a dream team obsessed with the uncomfortable excitement of discovering what happens when you merge creativity, intuition and cutting-edge technology. Come be a part of what’s next.

The Team

The Studio Media Algorithms team is at the forefront of algorithmic innovation to enhance and support the creation of Netflix’s entertainment content, including games. In this role, you will be embedded within this team while collaborating very closely with a specialized Games Studio R&D team. This incubation-style team is chartered to lead our investments in building new kinds of games leveraging emerging technologies to support our creators and reach player audiences in new ways.

The Role

We are seeking a Machine Learning Scientist to redefine the auditory experience in Netflix games. This role requires an impact-oriented mindset, where you strategically balance the use of existing state-of-the-art tools with bespoke internal research to deliver high-quality, interactive audio at scale.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Model Integration: Evaluation and integration of open-source and commercial models (e.g., for ASR, TTS, diarization, VAD), balancing quality, latency, and cost to accelerate game development.

• Model R&D & Adaptation: Lead the fine-tuning and adaptation of speech models (TTS, Voice Cloning, ASR) using parameter-efficient techniques (e.g., LoRA/PEFT) to address production gaps and creative constraints that external/commercial solutions cannot satisfy.

• Data & Alignment: Lead audio and multimodal data curation, including cleaning, segmentation, labeling, and synthetic data generation to support speech model training and adaptation.

• Scalable Training: Scale speech model training using distributed data pipelines and training strategies for large datasets.

About You

• Speech & Audio Research Expertise: Deep foundation in deep learning and modern sequence modeling, with a proven track record of building and training speech/audio pipelines (ASR, TTS, diarization, VAD) at scale using PyTorch.

• Data-Centric Mindset: Skilled in data cleaning, curation, and the creation of synthetic data for complex evaluation and training pipelines.

• Pragmatic Innovator: Proven ability to navigate "build vs. buy" decisions, prioritizing production impact and "Netflix-quality" bars.

• Programming: Expert proficiency in Python; experience with C++ or Java.

• Creative Mindset: Passionate about using technology to solve creative challenges in game design, such as procedural storytelling or immersive soundscapes.

Bonus Experience

• Experience with multi-modal audio-visual models.

• Familiarity with digital signal processing (DSP) as it relates to real-time game audio engines.

 

Generally, our compensation structure consists solely of an annual salary; we do not have bonuses. You choose each year how much of your compensation you want in salary versus stock options. To determine your personal top of market compensation, we rely on market indicators and consider your specific job family, background, skills, and experience to determine your compensation in the market range. The range for this role is $466,000.00 - $750,000.00. This compensation range will vary based on location.

Netflix provides comprehensive benefits including Health Plans, Mental Health support, a 401(k) Retirement Plan with employer match, Stock Option Program, Disability Programs, Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts, Family-forming benefits, and Life and Serious Injury Benefits. We also offer paid leave of absence programs. Full-time hourly employees accrue 35 days annually for paid time off to be used for vacation, holidays, and sick paid time off. Full-time salaried employees are immediately entitled to flexible time off. See more details about our Benefits here.

Netflix is a unique culture and environment. Learn more here.

Inclusion is a Netflix value and we strive to host a meaningful interview experience for all candidates. If you want an accommodation/adjustment for a disability or any other reason during the hiring process, please send a request to your recruiting partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity builds stronger teams. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Job is open for no less than 7 days and will be removed when the position is filled.