Machine Learning Principal

The team’s mission is to monitor, engage and shape development of technologies that provide trust and safety for citizens online; and structure standards/best practice to promote innovation and influence service design, benefitting both citizens and industry as outputs inform Ofcom’s regulatory approach.  This includes developing capabilities in computer vision and deep learning as Ofcom prepares for and then takes on new duties as the UK’s regulator for Online Safety.

Requirements of the Role

• Knowledge Gathering, Sharing and Technical Distillation activities including:
  1. Horizon scanning: undertaking research and producing written briefings on current state of the art in topics in computer vision/image and video classification, and applicability to content moderation/recommender systems used in online safety; including algorithmic auditing techniques
  2. Creating technical notes, presentations and seminars for both technical and non-technical audiences on specialist knowledge areas with a focus on applications in online safety, including possible auditing techniques.
• Expertise and consultancy for wider Online Safety programme, including:
  1. Using your in depth knowledge to help develop appropriate metrics for measuring the performance of real-world systems and providing input to assess the accuracy and completeness of 3rd party data.
  2. Providing detailed guidance on available technology / realistic capabilities when monitoring platforms and assessing 3rd parties we engage with.
  3. Undertaking research to scope/identify technology that could be transformed into real-world solutions for use in enhancing online safety
• Contributing to the wider Trust and Safety Technology programme, including:
  1. Using knowledge of current state of the art to explore and advocate ways of utilising new ML and DL tools and techniques to tackle business and organisational challenges, drawing on the application of, and innovation in communication services industries, academia, and other sectors.
  2. Acting as knowledge source and mentor to advise less experienced engineers across the wider team during implementation/experimentation phases

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Expertise in one or more of:
  1. computer vision/image and video classification
  2. content moderation systems
  3. recommender systems
  4. ML and DL auditing techniques
• Knowledge/experience of ML/DL frameworks such as Tensorflow, Keras or Pytorch
• Proficiency in Python and related packages such as numpy, scikit-image, opencv, matplotlib
• Experience in computer vision/deep learning for object detection and tracking as well as semantic or instance segmentation; and featurization algorithms such as ORB, SURF, SIFT.
• Demonstrable experience of applying scientific methods through experimental design, exploratory data analysis and hypothesis testing to reach robust conclusions, including reviewing the work of others
• Experience of acting as a thought leader within the Computer Vision and Deep Learning community, including through management and development of junior staff and others’ projects.
• Experience in stakeholder management, with demonstrable ability to build and maintain working relationships with a broad range of people, including industry stakeholders and colleagues across Ofcom.  
• Proven ability to working independently, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability, and supporting a culture of collaboration and trust.

Qualifications

MSc or PhD  in Elec Eng, Comp Sci, Data Science, ML or related fields preferred but candidates with evidence of equivalent demonstrable skills and experience in required specialist knowledge areas will also be considered.