Staff ML Engineer (Audio)

Who we are. Reality Defender is an award-winning cybersecurity company helping enterprises and governments detect deepfakes and AI-generated media. Utilizing a patented multi-model approach, Reality Defender is robust against the bleeding edge of generative platforms producing video, audio, imagery, and text media. Reality Defender's API-first deepfake detection platform empowers teams and developers alike to identify fraud, disinformation campaigns, and harmful deepfakes in real time. Backed by world class investors including DCVC, Illuminate Financial, Y Combinator, Booz Allen Hamilton, IBM, Accenture, Rackhouse, and Argon VC, Reality Defender works with leading enterprise clients, financial institutions, and governments in order to ensure AI-generated media is not used for malicious purposes. Youtube: Reality Defender Wins RSA Most Innovative Startup The Senior Staff Scientist (Audio) Role. We are seeking a Senior Staff Scientist (Audio) to build, tune, and deploy state-of-the-art audio deepfake detection models in real-world client environments. This is a highly cross-functional client-facing role requiring close collaboration with Research, Production Engineering, and Customer Success teams. You will be responsible not just for model development, but for ensuring robustness, reliability, and performance under diverse real-world test conditions — including adversarial and edge-case scenarios. This role requires deep hands-on expertise in model building, training, benchmarking, and productionization — along with the ability to translate complex model behavior into actionable insights for both technical and non-technical stakeholders. What you'll do. Design, build, and optimize ML/DL models for production-scale audio deepfake detection. Interface with clients to build a deep understanding of the production environment and scope out model performance criteria. Investigate failure cases in the client environment, build custom evaluation frameworks, and implement mitigation strategies that span across Engineering and AI. Drive model tuning and iteration for performance under a variety of real-world environments, e.g. compression artifacts, noise, telephony, and streaming pipelines. Design and execute structured experimentation roadmaps, centered around client requirements, anticipated future attack vectors, and proactive system resilience. Collaborate with cross-functional partners (Applied Scientists, Deployment Engineers, Product teams) to deploy robust and scalable models. Present technical findings and model performance insights to clients as well as internal stakeholders. Who you are. PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Signal Processing, or related field (or equivalent industry experience). 2+ years of industry experience building and deploying ML/DL models for AI products. Strong programming skills in Python and model ML frameworks (PyTorch, JAX). Solid understanding of audio processing fundamentals, classification and detection metrics (ROC, DET curves, precision/recall trade-offs), model robustness and evaluation. Proven experience with large-scale training and benchmarking pipelines Prior experience in a client-facing or solutions-oriented AI role is a plus. Preference for candidates in the EST time-zone and/or who are willing to work from the NYC office 1-2 days a week. What we offer. Reality Defender offers the following benefits to all our employees, regardless of location: Healthcare plans with 100% premium coverage for employees and partial coverage available for dependents Dental and Vision plans with 100% premium coverage for employees and their dependents Short/Long-term disability and life insurance plans with 100% premium coverage for employees FSA/HSA and 401k programs Equity compensation 20 days of PTO per year 12 weeks of Parental Leave Learning and Development budget Monthly wellness benefits Annual company-sponsored offsite For employees working from Reality Defender’s HQ in NYC, we offer the following benefits: Daily in-office lunch through UberEats Commuter benefits Remote Fridays Happy Hours and other local events