ML Engineer

About Us

For over 25 years, Native Instruments has been at the forefront of sonic innovation. Guided by our mission to inspire and enable creators to express themselves, we develop integrated audio hardware and software solutions for musicians, producers, engineers, and DJs of all genres and levels of experience.

Native Instruments embraces diversity and a respect for all people. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we believe the foundation of our dynamic and pioneering spirit starts with a fair and inclusive culture. At Native Instruments we value teamwork and passion, deliver inspiring experiences, continuously innovate and empower our communities, while also serving our planet.

Help us reach our goal in making the future of music diverse, inclusive and exciting! We encourage you to submit your application without the requirement for a photograph, identifying factors or personal status information.

About The Team

You will join the Research team, a cross‑functional group of machine‑learning and DSP specialists that fuels innovation across the group of Native Instruments brands. Our researchers invent novel audio‑ML technology; your role bridges the gap between those prototypes and shipping products. Based in our brand‑new Madrid hub, the team collaborates daily with colleagues in Boston, Berlin, and London, enabling AI‑powered features in flagship instruments, synths, mixing, mastering, and other creative audio production and music creation tools. 

Your Contribution

• Own the “last‑mile” of ML development: optimise, quantise, and compress models for efficient real‑time inference using ONNX Runtime and C++ architectures.
• Integrate ML features into desktop products, collaborating closely with product‑engineering teams at Native Instruments and iZotope.
• Establish best‑practice ML workflows (data versioning, CI/CD, performance profiling) and champion their adoption across multiple product teams.
• Mentor researchers and junior engineers on practical deployment topics, raising the organisation’s overall ML engineering maturity.
• Act as a floating enabler and collaborator – quickly ramp up on new projects, transfer technology between teams, and unblock delivery timelines.
• Contribute to performance tuning and profiling, ensuring ML‑enabled features meet strict CPU/latency budgets for real‑time audio.

Our Ideal Candidate

• Strong software‑engineering foundation with significant experience delivering ML‑powered features for desktop applications (audio domain highly desirable).
• Proficiency in Python for prototype collaboration and C++ for production integration; solid knowledge of ONNX Runtime or equivalent inference frameworks.
• Hands‑on skills in model‑size reduction techniques (quantization, pruning, knowledge distillation) and runtime performance optimisation.
• Familiarity with audio DSP concepts and real‑time constraints, or a demonstrable eagerness to learn them.
• Experience setting up or improving ML workflows – version‑controlled datasets, automated testing, CI pipelines, and performance monitoring.
• Comfortable working within a cross‑functional, multicultural environment; excellent communication skills in English.

Our Benefits

• Flexible work model from one of our entity locations
• Trust-based working hours 
• Holidays: 25 days paid holiday per year 
• Global Travel Insurance coverage
• Public Health, Pension & Disability Insurance coverage
• Free software downloads and reduced prices on hardware