Job – Machine Learning Developer

How can machine learning help us have better relationships?

Strong relationships are a crucial part of a happy life, yet it’s not always easy to know how to improve our relationships or who is most worth spending time with. Technology hasn’t really got any better at helping us with that challenge since the invention of the telephone in 1876.

At Makuma, we’re interested in exploring how the latest machine learning technology can help people find the best people to connect with, and guide their interactions towards a deeper connection.

We’re looking to hire a developer to focus mainly on machine learning, as part of our small and fast-moving startup team.

The immediate challenge

First, we want to review the latest ML literature and available technologies. Initially, you will focus on reviewing the state of the art in interactive recommender systems.

The one year goal

Building on this understanding, we are going to design and prototype a mobile game that teaches healthy relationship skills through fun social activities.

You’ll need to work with the psychologists in our team to define what makes a ‘successful’ interaction, so that we can collect the right input from users for the ML algorithm to be able match the right players and give them the right challenge.

You’ll collaborate with our UX, web and graphic designers to create and test a series of prototypes that will integrate with your ML-driven backend to deliver a great experience for players.

The long term vision

Looking to the longer term, we would like to design and prototype an “interaction assistant”, that gives helpful feedback and advice on how a user handled an interaction. In order to know what’s feasible, you’ll need to build an understanding of trends in audio and video processing, sentiment analysis, etc. – so that we will know what will be feasible in a few years and make sure we’re collecting the right training data now.

Essential:

  • a passion for learning about Machine Learning (both technology and applications)
  • ability to understand abstract concepts and read program code
  • good knowledge of statistics, and of mathematics in general
  • interest in developing solutions to customer needs, not just ‘cool tech’
  • happy to be Agile and work with constantly changing requirements
  • self-organised, self-directed, self-motivated and collaborative
  • good spoken and written English
  • available at least 20 hours per week, working remotely

Desirable:

  • back-end programming experience (ideally Ruby or Python) and familiarity with web application frameworks (e.g. Rails or Django)
  • broad understanding of computer science, Internet protocols and Linux
  • knowledge of common ML terminology and key concepts
  • an interest in UX, psychology and healthy relationships
  • willingness to regularly get involved with user testing what we have built
  • good Romanian
  • based in Cluj Napoca

Why you should apply

We’re a friendly and informal team, passionate about helping thousands of people have happy, healthy relationships. You’ll work closely with Jonathan, who studied Artificial Intelligence and has experience of ecommerce development and Linux sysadmin, but spent the last decade learning about UX design and running startups. We are a supportive team who believes in everyone having the freedom (and responsibility!) to decide when, where, how and with whom they work.

If the above sounds like challenges you’re excited to take on and a team you’d like to be a part of, please complete the application form below!