Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Content Engineering
Paramount · New York City · $233,600–$350,400 (stated in the posting)
Storytelling is, and will always be, the heart of what we do at Skydance.
Our vision is to build a thriving entertainment ecosystem where stories and worlds are imagined, brought to life and experienced. We create for every age and audience, anchored by the strength of our content and experiences and the depth of our connection with fans. We are creator-first, audience-focused, tech-forward, globally scaled.
Here, you’ll work with talented teams that move fast, think boldly and collaborate with purpose to deliver results. We aim high, champion the best ideas and win together, earning the trust of our employees, creators, partners and audiences every day.
If you’re energized by the opportunity to help build the next-generation global media and entertainment company powered by creativity and technology, we’d be thrilled to welcome you aboard. LET’S GO!
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Content Engineering (45445)
Overview:
We are seeking a Senior Lead / Principal Machine Learning Engineer to lead our ShortForm & Video Intelligence pod. This team is in charge of a critical mission: the automated transformation of our massive long-form content library into "ShortForm" assets—high-impact clips, "gists," and social-ready highlights. You will lead the development of the models that "watch" our content to identify narrative hooks, emotional climaxes, and key characters to create compelling bite-sized experiences.
This is a deeply technical leadership role requiring mastery of multi-modal machine learning. You will oversee the creation of intelligence layers that perform video safety analysis (nudity/profanity detection), spoiler detection, and sophisticated narrative comprehension. Your work ensures that our ShortForm content is not only engaging but also safe, contextually precise, and optimized for discovery across the Paramount ecosystem.
The ShortForm pod unlocks the value of our entire catalog. In this role, you will directly shape:
- The "Gist" Ecosystem: Building the engine that generates short-form previews, allowing users to "snack" on content before committing to a full watch.
- Platform Safety & Integrity: Owning the "Video Intelligence" filters that protect our brand and users through automated detection of sensitive or restricted content.
- Narrative AI: Transitioning beyond simple metadata to a world where AI understands story arcs, character importance, and "viral" moments within a film or episode.
Responsibilities:
- Lead the ShortForm Pod: Define the technical roadmap for automated clip generation and video insight, managing a high-performing pod of ML engineers.
- Architect Multi-Modal Models: Design and deploy models that synthesize signals across video (pixels), audio (speech/music), and text (transcripts/scripts) to understand content context.
- Own Video Intelligence: Develop and scale robust computer vision and audio classifiers for nudity, profanity, and sensitive content detection.
- Advance Narrative Understanding: Build models that can identify "hooks," "climax points," and "narrative summaries" to automate the creation of trailers and highlights.
- Spoiler & Context Detection: Create intelligence layers that identify plot-critical "spoilers" to ensure ShortForm assets don't ruin the viewing experience for new users.
- Scalable Content Pipelines: Partner with Content Engineering to integrate these models into petabyte-scale video processing workflows.
Basic Qualifications:
- 6-8+ years of experience in machine learning, with a heavy focus on Computer Vision (CV) and Multi-Modal architectures.
- Deep Learning Expertise: Mastery of PyTorch or TensorFlow, specifically for video-based tasks (e.g., Video Transformers, 3D CNNs). Video Intelligence: Proven experience building safety/moderation models (Nudity, Profanity, Hate Speech) or content-tagging systems.
- Leadership: Experience leading senior technical teams and translating complex "creative" goals into engineering requirements.
- Video Tech Stack: Knowledge of video processing frameworks (FFmpeg) and handling various codecs/resolutions at scale.
Additional Qualifications:
- Experience with Generative AI for Video (automated editing or style transfer).
- Background in NLP/Speech for sync-ing transcripts with video frames.
- Knowledge of Narrative Theory or experience in the media/entertainment industry.
- Experience deploying large-scale models in Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP/Azure) with high GPU utilization efficiency.
#LI-RJ1
Paramount Streaming, a division within Paramount Global, is the home to the company's direct-to-consumer services spanning free and paid in the form of Pluto TV and Paramount+. Pluto TV is the global leader in free ad-supported TV, delivering more than 1,400 global channels and an extensive library of streaming content, including live and original channels. Paramount+, digital subscription video-on-demand and live streaming service, combines live sports, breaking news, and A Mountain of Entertainment™. Paramount+ features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME®.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Hiring Salary Range: $233,600.00 - 350,400.00.
The hiring salary range for this position applies to New York, California, Colorado, Washington state, and most other geographies. Starting pay for the successful applicant depends on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, market demands, experience, training, and education. The benefits available for this position include medical, dental, vision, 401(k) plan, life insurance coverage, disability benefits, tuition assistance program and PTO or, if applicable, as otherwise dictated by the appropriate Collective Bargaining Agreement. This position is bonus eligible.
- Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here.
- Generous paid time off.
- Complimentary subscriptions to HBO Max, Paramount+, and other Skydance streaming services and digital news products.
- Robust employee engagement opportunities, including access to exclusive screenings and events, speaker series, volunteer activities and more.
Skydance is an equal opportunity employer (EOE)
We embrace the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit. In line with the laws of the country or region in which the role is based, this includes consideration without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, religion or belief, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, physical or mental disability, genetic information, military or protected veteran status, union status or any other category protected by applicable law.
If you are a qualified individual with a disability, you may request a reasonable accommodation during the job application and/or recruitment process. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 212.846.5500 or by sending an email to paramountaccommodations@paramount.com. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned.