Part-Time Arabic Linguist – AI & TTS

As an Arabic Linguist, you will support our Text-to-Speech (TTS) team with linguistic analysis, Arabic dialect expertise, pronunciation and speech-quality evaluation, and voice-related projects. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in Saudi Arabic dialects, with native or near-native proficiency in the Najdi dialect highly preferred. This is a great opportunity to work closely with an AI and TTS team, contribute linguistic expertise to real production projects, and help improve the quality, accuracy, and naturalness of Arabic speech technology. Help us shape the future of communications by: • Conducting research on the phonological, morphological, and syntactic structures of Arabic — with a focus on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Saudi/Gulf dialects, particularly the Najdi dialect — and providing linguistic guidance for their integration into Sestek products. • Acting as a linguistic point of contact for the R&D / AI team and translating linguistic requirements into clear, actionable input for engineers. • Analyzing and review pronunciation data, including grapheme-to-phoneme mappings, diacritization/tashkeel, and lexicons, for Arabic TTS and speech recognition systems. • Evaluating TTS output quality in terms of pronunciation accuracy, prosody, dialect authenticity, and naturalness, with a particular focus on Saudi Arabic. • Providing linguistic guidance and support for Arabic voice data collection and speech synthesis projects, including identifying and onboarding suitable voice talents when needed. • Supporting the coordination and review of voice recording and editing processes to ensure linguistic accuracy and consistency. • Supporting the onboarding and coordination of external Arabic language consultants when needed and providing guidance on linguistic requirements. • Reviewing and providing linguistic feedback on data annotation activities and guidelines, ensuring appropriate quality standards for Arabic and Saudi dialect data. • Collaborating closely with the Sestek TTS and AI Research teams and providing ongoing linguistic expertise throughout the project. What you will bring: • Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, Arabic Language and Literature, Translation and Interpreting, or a related field. • Native proficiency in Arabic, with strong command of MSA and Saudi Arabic dialects. Native or near-native proficiency in the Najdi dialect is strongly preferred. • Familiarity with Arabic dialects beyond Saudi Arabic is also preferred. • Strong knowledge of Arabic phonology and morphology, and familiarity with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). • Good command of English, as it will be the working language with the R&D / AI team. • Strong communication skills and comfort working with technical, non-linguist colleagues. • Familiarity with speech technologies (TTS/ASR), voice data collection, or NLP is a plus. • Experience working with Saudi Arabic dialects, particularly the Najdi dialect, is highly preferred. • Ability to work on a part-time basis and collaborate remotely with teams based in Türkiye and Saudi Arabia Craft and Toolkit: • Arabic Linguistics: MSA, Saudi/Najdi dialects, phonology, morphology, syntax • Phonetics & IPA • TTS / ASR / Speech Technology • NLP / Computational Linguistics • G2P, diacritization (Tashkeel), Arabic lexicons • Pronunciation, prosody & speech-quality evaluation • Voice data collection & annotation • Speech synthesis & voice recording workflows • Linguistic QA / AI & R&D collaboration • Arabic + strong professional English

Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, Arabic Language and Literature, Translation and Interpreting, or a related field. Native proficiency in Arabic, with strong command of MSA and Saudi Arabic dialects. Native or near-native proficiency in the Najdi dialect is strongly preferred. Familiarity with Arabic dialects beyond Saudi Arabic is also preferred. Strong knowledge of Arabic phonology and morphology, and familiarity with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Good command of English. Strong communication skills. Familiarity with speech technologies (TTS/ASR), voice data collection, or NLP is a plus. Experience working with Saudi Arabic dialects, particularly the Najdi dialect, is highly preferred. Ability to work on a part-time basis and collaborate remotely with teams based in Türkiye and Saudi Arabia.

Conduct research on the phonological, morphological, and syntactic structures of Arabic with a focus on Modern Standard Arabic and Saudi/Gulf dialects, particularly Najdi; provide linguistic guidance for integration into products; act as linguistic point of contact for R&D/AI team; translate linguistic requirements into actionable input for engineers; analyze and review pronunciation data including G2P mappings, diacritization, and lexicons for Arabic TTS and ASR; evaluate TTS output quality focusing on pronunciation accuracy, prosody, dialect authenticity, and naturalness; provide linguistic guidance and support for Arabic voice data collection and speech synthesis projects; identify and onboard suitable voice talents; coordinate and review voice recording and editing processes; onboard and coordinate external Arabic language consultants; review and provide linguistic feedback on data annotation activities; collaborate with Sestek TTS and AI Research teams and provide ongoing linguistic expertise.