12 October: fyi -- Speech, Germany
Index of October 2000 | Index of year: 2000 | Full index
Sympalog was founded to be the pre-eminent player for natural
language interaction in call centres, voice portals, and other
cutting edge applications. Since spring 2000, Sympalog aims at
delivering a radically improved generation of fully interactive
voice access to information.
Sympalog's technology - winner of this year's Information Tech
nology Prize awarded by the European Commission - allows busi
nesses to build information systems that interact with people
fluently & conversationally using natural voice communication and
cutting edge speech recognition. In systems built using Sympa
log's technology, users can converse naturally with the computer
based system, making requests, asking questions and providing in
formation in whatever way is most comfortable and natural for
them. The system supports a fully flexible user driven conversa
tion and can handle complex user structured requests such as "I
would like a reservation for two people in first class on the
first train tomorrow from Hamburg to Berlin please", as easily as
it handles simple requests. This means that callers can get the
information and services they want considerably faster than was
possible previously, and that the process of getting it is sig
nificantly more comfortable.
The core team of speech system developers bring unique and exten
sive experience in voice systems and were responsible for earlier
world leading speech systems development. The international team
has grown quickly to incorporate experienced marketing, develop
ment and operations staff. We are continuing to expand, and look
to aggressively hire experienced high quality people in the com
ing year.
Sympalog is situated in Erlangen, Germany. Erlangen is a thriv
ing academic city located in the north of Bavaria (15 min. from
the international airport of Nuremberg) which includes an excel
lent university, a range of high-tech companies, and a broad
spectrum of cultural and recreational activities. It is a good
place to live.
We offer:
- A stimulating and dynamic working environment
- The opportunity to make a significant and recognized contribu
tion to the companies success
- Participation in the companies stock option program.
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Position: Speech Systems Engineer
Responsibilities:
- Developing and deploying leading edge spoken dialogue systems
in major corporate call centers and voice portals
- Improving Sympalog's core technology, adding features and
functionality to the technology, and developing new technolo-
gies for next generation products.
Required Skills:
- Programming skills in C or C++
- Familiarity with scripting languages (e.g. Perl)
- Desire and ability to work in a dynamic, highly innovative and
rapidly growing company
- Knowledge of English and one or more other languages
Desired Skills:
- Knowledge of speech recognition and statistics
- Knowledge of language modeling and natural language processing
- Fluency in Unix/Linux or NT (ideally both)
- Project Management
- Knowledge of German is helpful, but not required.
Education:
- M.S./Diploma (or higher) or equivalent experience in Electri
cal Engineering or Computer Science
- M.A. (or higher) or equivalent experience in Computational
Linguistics.
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Position: Dialogue Designer
Responsibilities:
- Planning and designing spoken dialogues for applications in
call-centres and voice portals
- Identifying customer requirements and needs
- Implementation of application-specific dialogues by means of
Sympalog's unique dialogue configuration tools
Required Skills:
- Native speaker of one of the following languages: English,
German, French, Italian, Spanish
- Fluent English
- Strong background in one or more of the following areas:
NLP, speech processing, linguistics, spoken dialogue systems,
dialogue design
- Desire and ability to work in an international and interdisci-
plinary team
- Good interpersonal communication skills
Desired Skills:
- Knowledge of C or C++ would be an advantage
- Knowledge of German is helpful, but not required.
Education:
- University degree in Computational Linguistics or Linguistics
or equivalent experience
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Position: Project Manager
Responsibilities:
- Planning and implementation of complex projects in the area of
speech recognition and spoken dialogue systems
- Team management in all phases from system design to customer
acceptance
- You are the primary contact for our client
- Some of your responsibilities are:
- Development of the project plan
- Project controlling
- Budget management
- Controlling of the project documentation
- Coordination with external partners
Required Skills:
- At least 3 years of experience in project management
- Fluent English
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills
- Leadership ability
- Dedication to the team
- Willing to work in start-up environment (long stressful hours
but excellent rewards based on firm performance)
Desired Skills:
- Experience in the area of speech recognition or call centers
Education:
- Graduated in business administration, management information
systems or a comparable study
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Position: Software Engineer
Responsibilities:
- Specification, implementation, testing, and support of large
parts of a suite of leading edge voice communications applica
tions.
Required Skills:
- You will be expected to be vigerously involved in developing
ideas, programming, troubleshooting, and growing the company.
- Excellent problem solving skills
- Proactive and able to work independly when needed
- Excellent programming skills in a high level language (ideally
C or C++)
- Programming experience in building applications for Unix/Linux
and Windows NT
- Good interpersonal communication skills
- Willing to work in start-up environment (sometimes long
stressful hours but excellent rewards based on firm perfor-
mance)
- Knowledge of English
- Experience with commercial software development (ideally more
than one year)
- Experience building large systems as part of a team.
Desired Skills:
- Understanding of low level machine issues (device drivers, as
sembler).
- Experience in the design and implementation of graphical user
interfaces
- Knowledge of German is helpful, but not required.
Education:
- M.S./Diploma or equivalent experience in Computer Science.
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Position: Business Developer
Responsibilities:
- Based on identified target markets you will develop a market
oriented product definition and the related market entry
strategy.
- You will work closely with our pilot customers and support
sales and marketing activities.
Requirements:
- At least 3 years of experience in business development, mana-
gement consulting, or sales of complex high tech products
- Analytic and strategic mindset
- You prefer a creative and pragmatic approach to turn require-
ments into concepts and solutions for our clients
- You are a good communicator and team worker and enjoy presen-
ting the company to external parties
- Dedication to the team
- Excellent negotiating skills
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Fluent English and German
Desired Skills:
- Experience in the area of speech recognition and call centers
Education:
- Graduated in Business Administration or equivalent experience
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If you are interested in one of these job opportunities and you
believe to fulfill the required profile, please send your appli
cation letter and detailed resume either by mail, email or fax
to:
Sympalog Speech Technologies
Wetterkreuz 17
91058 Erlangen
Germany
Mailto:jobs@sympalog.de
Fax: +49 9131 61661-20
To learn more about Sympalog, please visit our homepage:
http://www.sympalog.com
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