Senior AI Scientist, Conservation
Senior AI Scientist, Conservation
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Job Description
The Colossal Foundation is seeking aSr. AI Scientist for Conservation to lead the development of innovative AI systems for the conservation and preservation of endangered species via ecological monitoring using acoustic and visual data. This role blends scientific research with applied AI/ML development and involves collaborating with conservationists engineers and fellow researchers.
Youll work on a mix of bioacoustics and video analytics problems from maintaining and improving animal call classifiers to developing next-gen tracking systems using pose estimation and behavior modeling.
This position is based in Dallas TX or could be remote. If based in Dallas travel up to 10% is expected. If based remotely travel to Dallas once per month is expected (up to 25% travel).
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide support and improvement for existing classifiers and related tools used in the field.
- Build scalable pipelines for passive acoustic monitoring and computer vision inference using field-collected audio and visual data to:
- Classify wolf vocalizations and individual identity
- Cluster call types and detect pack chorus howls
- Triangulate acoustic source locations using array data
- Explore speculative work on decoding wolf language
- Improve or replace existing object detectors and trackers particularly for aerial and IR wildlife videos (e.g. elephants).
- Lead development of pose estimation tracking systems including:
- Designing datasets and using semi-automated labeling techniques
- Training deep learning models with extensive hyperparameter tuning
- Build new detection systems for oblique-angle video and IR footage
- Lead code reviews model evaluations and experimentation protocols in alignment with Colossals AI strategy.
- Contribute to research on collective animal behavior and movement analysis
- Integrate multi-modal datasets (e.g. soundscapes video GPS) for advanced detection.
- Mentor and oversee junior engineers and research assistants ensuring high engineering standards and skill development.
- Work closely with domain experts to translate field needs into technical solutions
- Help prioritize new requests based on feasibility and conservation value
- Support public communication (e.g. press releases) with digestible insights
Required Skills and Abilities:
- Strong Python skills and experience with frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Experience with audio and/or video data pipelines including labeling training and evaluation
- Familiarity with clustering signal processing object detection and tracking
- Ability to work independently in ambiguous or open-ended problem spaces
- Excellent communication skills especially translating technical results for non-technical audiences
- Represent Colossals AI for Conservation efforts at scientific conferences nonprofit consortiums and industry events.
- Participate in media outreach panel discussions and public presentations to share the impact of AI on ecological restoration.
- Serve as a thought leader and advocate for ethical responsible and inclusive conservation technology.
Preferred Skills and Abilities:
- Experience working with wildlife monitoring or conservation data
- Knowledge of bioacoustics methods (e.g. spectrogram analysis array localization)
- Experience with pose estimation libraries (e.g. DeepLabCut OpenPose or SLEAP)
- Familiarity with image processing techniques for low-light or infrared imagery
- Comfort with Git cloud computing and collaborative research tools
- Familiarity with acoustic databases (e.g. Xeno-canto Arbimon) and image datasets from camera traps or drones.
- Experience with field deployments sensor integration or working in remote environmental conditions.
- Prior experience presenting at conferences engaging with media or participating in science communication.
Education and Experience:
- Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Computer Science Data Science Machine Learning Bioacoustics or related fields
- 5 years of experience in AI/ML engineering with substantial work in bioacoustics and/or computer vision.
What Colossal Offers You:
- Medical dental and vision coverage
- Unlimited PTO and company holidays so you can rest and recharge
- Flexible spending accounts (FSA)
- Company matched 401k retirement plan
- Paid parental leave up to 12 weeks
- Education reimbursement
- An opportunity to help us return the Earth to a healthier state
The team at Colossal is committed colorful passionate intelligent collaborative creative experienced scientific and world-class. That sounds like a lot to fit into one building. Thats why we are spread out in several locations that include laboratories test facilities academic institutions libraries and offices.
Through it all however we maintain a culture of positivity hope happiness and belief that were doing something big. Something Colossal.
Colossal is proud to be an equal employment opportunity workplace. We welcome people from all backgrounds as well as celebrate and support diversity. We are committed to providing an inclusive environment of mutual respect that is free from discrimination and harassment so everyone can thrive.
Search Firm Representatives: Colossal does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms. No fees will be paid for a hired candidate where no pre-existing agreement is in place. We handle most recruitment in-house.
Colossal is proud to be named a Best Place to Work by BuiltIn for 3 years in a row across multiple categories inand 2025:
- #1 on the 50 Best Startups to Work For in Dallas in 2023!
- 100 Best Midsize Places to Work in Dallas in 2024 & 2025
- 100 Best Places to Work in Dallas TX (All Size Employers) in 2024 & 2025
Great Place to Work Certification Page
Required Experience:
Senior IC
Employment Type
Full Time
