Data Science Manager – VoiceAI

VoiceAI builds the real-time voice layer behind Trusting Social's AI agents, for both outbound and inbound calls. We own the cascade pipeline that connects the caller to the agent (ASR → LLM → TTS): real-time speech understanding (ASR), real-time speech generation (TTS), the real-time orchestration between speech and the LLM script, and the interaction behaviour on top, including turn-taking, latency, and answering machine detection. Our platform powers Kompato (AI collections for US fintech lenders) and Sophia (financial services sales in Vietnam and the Philippines), working closely with the Collin and Sophia DS and product teams, who own the LLM dialogue scripts, and the engineering team, who owns telephony and inbound routing and connects to our layer through the same interface for inbound and outbound calls.

About the role

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You will set the technical direction for the VoiceAI platform, lead a team of data scientists and engineers, and personally drive the development of the models and evaluation systems that define our voice quality. We are looking for someone who can go deep on the technical details and also lead people, roadmap, and stakeholders.

What you'll do

• Own the technical roadmap for the VoiceAI platform: cascade pipeline orchestration (ASR → LLM → TTS), real-time speech understanding, real-time speech generation, turn-taking, latency, and answering machine detection, for outbound and inbound
• Lead architecture and build-vs-buy decisions, such as cascade vs. speech-to-speech, vendor vs. self-hosted speech models, and quality/cost/latency trade-offs
• Stay on top of the state of the art in speech understanding, speech generation, and speech-to-speech models (research, open-source releases, and commercial vendors), quickly benchmark what is new, and turn it into roadmap decisions
• Drive model development hands-on: TTS post-training and fine-tuning, AMD, end-of-turn detection, and speech model adaptation for Vietnamese, Tagalog, and US English
• Define the team's evaluation standard: offline benchmarks, TTS arenas, audio-based judges, human rating programs, and online A/B testing
• Lead, hire, and mentor data scientists and VoiceAI engineers; set clear goals, review work, and raise the technical bar
• Run delivery: planning, prioritization, OKRs, and execution against production reliability and quality targets
• Partner with the Collin and Sophia DS and product teams, engineering, and senior leadership; present evidence-first recommendations to the CTO and business stakeholders

What we're looking for

• Hands-on with a full-stack mindset: you own the whole lifecycle, from modelling and engineering to deployment and production monitoring
• AI-native way of working: you use AI tools (coding agents, LLM assistants) every day to build, analyze, and ship faster
• Real-time mindset, especially for voice and speech: you design for streaming and low latency by default, think in milliseconds, and care about how every delay and glitch sounds to the caller
• 6+ years in data science or applied ML, including 2+ years leading a team or acting as technical lead
• Deep expertise in speech or audio ML (ASR, TTS, VAD, speaker modeling) with models shipped to production
• Keeps up with SOTA in speech and LLM research and the vendor market, with a sharp sense of what is production-ready versus hype
• Proven track record of taking models from research to production and measuring their business impact
• Strong statistics and evaluation fundamentals: experiment design, calibration, error analysis, FPR/FNR trade-offs
• Fluent in Python and SQL, and comfortable reviewing production code and ML pipelines
• Ability to make and defend technical decisions with data, and to communicate clearly with both engineers and executives

Nice to have

• Experience post-training or fine-tuning large speech or LLM models (SFT, preference optimization, distillation)
• Hands-on experience with real-time voice stacks (LiveKit, Pipecat) and GPU model serving
• Experience building a team from early stage or through an organizational transition

What We Offer

Join our vibrant team and enjoy:

• Opportunity to work and learn from one of the best and brightest technology teams in Vietnam
• Be part of a winning team with exponential growth regionally, experience recruiting world-class talents
• Competitive compensation package, including 13th-month salary and performance bonuses
• Comprehensive health care coverage for you and your dependents
• Generous leave policies, including annual leave, sick leave, and flexible work hours
• Convenient central district 1 office location, next to a future metro station
• On-site lunch with multiple options, including vegetarian
• Grab for work allowance and fully equipped workstations
• Fun and engaging team building activities, sponsored sports clubs, and happy hour every Thursday
• Unlimited free coffee, tea, snacks, and fruit to keep you energized
• An opportunity to make a social impact by helping to democratize credit access in emerging markets

At Trusting Social, we live by ownership, integrity, and agility in execution. We believe in doing what's right, what's best, and what's innovative. If you're smart, driven, and want to make a difference in the world with the most advanced and fascinating technology, come join our team. We offer the runway to truly make an impact.

Learn more about us: https://trustingsocial.com | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inAEDGvOcL8&t=29s