Jobs

Description

Onsite: Redmond, Washington

12 months - likely to be extended to 30 months

Must-Have Skills

• Experience with statistical analysis of behavioral data (e.g., mixed-effects models, signal detection theory, psychometric methods).
• Work experience in perceptual or psychophysical research with a track record of successful project completion.
• Experience with scientific programming languages such as Python, MATLAB, R, or C++.

Nice-to-have Skills

• Advanced Education: PhD degree or equivalent experience.
• AI Experience: Experience with AI generative speech.
• Audio Modeling

Job Description

• Research Scientist IV (CW) Location: Onsite, Building X, Redmond Duration: 12 months Client Labs Research at Client is a leading research organization of world-class researchers, developers, and engineers, who collaborate to actively create a future where virtual and Augmented Client  has become as indispensable as today's smartphones and personal computers.
• The mission of the Client Labs Research Audio team is to engineer virtual sounds that are indistinguishable from Client  and to redefine human hearing capabilities.
• Together, these two initiatives will allow us to connect people by creating a sense of shared presence and facilitating conversation in even the most challenging auditory environments.
• We are seeking a contract applied research scientist specializing in quantitative audio perception and psychometric assessment.
• This role is an integral part of our team, contributing to research and development efforts in speech intelligibility, audio quality evaluation, and hearing care technologies.

Requisition Details

The ideal candidate will help us design, execute, and analyze perceptual studies that evaluate audio processing algorithms, enabling us to tailor our technologies to meet unique user needs.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and drive perceptual evaluation studies, analyze data using statistical methods, and report findings
• Design and conduct listening tests using established psychometric paradigms (e.g., adaptive tracking, forced-choice preference, MUSHRA) in both lab and crowdsourced settings
• Perform statistical analyses including mixed-effects models, power analysis, effect size estimation, and psychometric function fitting
• Monitor problems, facilitate resolution, and proactively keep projects on track
• Regularly report on project progress, dependencies, and risks to stakeholders
• Support research scientists and engineers within the team with perceptual data collection and analysis

Minimum Qualifications

• Work experience in perceptual or psychophysical research with a track record of successful project completion
• Experience with statistical analysis of behavioral data (e.g., mixed-effects models, signal detection theory, psychometric methods)
• Interpersonal and communication skills, with strong attention to detail
• Proactive with ability to execute on multiple projects simultaneously

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with auditory perception, speech intelligibility testing, or hearing science
• Experience with crowdsourced perceptual evaluation platforms (e.g., Prolific, MTurk)
• Experience with audio calibration and acoustic measurement equipment
• PhD degree or equivalent experience
• Experience with independently implementing ML training pipelines, models, and evaluation frameworks.

I am looking for someone with extensive academic experience:

• the ideal candidate is a card-carrying perception scientist (typically: cognitive science, neuroscience, neural engineering) who has personally designed and ran lots of perception studies and who has at least dabbled in computational models of perception. Someone who is currently a postdoc, a professor or a senior PhD student.