Engagement: Independent contractor (SOW-based). Long-term contract & equity potential
Location: Remote (global candidates considered)
Stage: Early-stage / stealth
Status: Open for hire Q2 2026
About Ubu English
Ubu English LLC is building an AI-assisted ESL learning platform for intermediate-to-advanced learners. The product combines structured learning content with AI services for tutoring, feedback, and language analysis.
The Role
Ubu English is seeking an independent contractor as a ML/NLP Engineering Lead to own the design, fine-tuning, evaluation, and deployment of language-model capabilities for the MVP. You’ll help translate a proprietary grammar/analysis framework into practical AI behavior (tutoring, explanations, and language feedback) while operating under strict confidentiality and IP constraints. This is a hands-on build role, not a research advisor role.
Key Responsibilities
- Build and deploy LLM-powered tutoring and language-feedback services for the platform MVP
- Design training and fine-tuning pipelines (instruction tuning and related methods)
- Define the minimum viable eval harness (correctness, consistency, refusal behavior, tutoring quality) and run it on every iteration.
- Integrate AI services with the web platform (APIs, tracing/telemetry, latency and cost awareness)
- Explore hybrid approaches that combine structured rule logic with neural models (details under NDA)
- Work under strict IP and confidentiality protocols
Must-Have Profile
- Deep experience with transformer-based NLP models (PyTorch, JAX, or similar)
- Strong background in NLP / computational linguistics and comfort with syntax/semantics concepts
- Proven experience fine-tuning and shipping ML models to production
- Experience building evaluation harnesses and using metrics to drive iteration
- Ability to work independently in an early-stage environment with evolving requirements
- High discretion and strong operational security instincts
Nice-to-Have
- Experience with grammar-based, rule-based, or hybrid symbolic–neural NLP systems
- EdTech / language-learning domain experience
- Experience with retrieval/grounding patterns, structured datasets, or model behavior constraints
- Prior startup or research lab leadership experience
Contract Terms
This is an independent contractor engagement and will be structured under a written Statement of Work (SOW) with defined deliverables.
- Time & Materials (hourly) or monthly retainer (SOW-based)
- Equity participation may be available for exceptional fit (discussed under NDA)
- Potential path to an expanded role over time, including full-time, if there’s mutual fit
Next Steps
If you are interested and qualified for this position please complete the form below. We will contact you if it feels like a good fit. Candidates will undergo a confidential screening and sign an NDA before detailed technical discussions.