Senior Computer Vision / Machine Learning Engineer – Volunteer

About MENASIM

MENASIM is an environmental-engineering nonprofit community connecting engineers, developers, researchers, and technology professionals with real environmental challenges.

We are looking for an experienced Computer Vision / Machine Learning Engineer to join our coral research and monitoring project and contribute to the development of practical AI-based tools for underwater imagery analysis.

The Role

This role is intended for someone with substantial hands-on experience in Computer Vision and Machine Learning, who can work independently, evaluate technical approaches, and help guide model development.

Responsibilities may include:

* Working with real-world underwater image datasets

* Selecting and evaluating pretrained Computer Vision models

* Generating and analyzing image embeddings

* Image similarity, retrieval, classification, and clustering

* Fine-tuning and transfer learning

* Model evaluation, error analysis, and performance improvement

* Supporting technical decisions regarding methodology and model selection

* Collaborating with engineers, researchers, and environmental-domain experts

Time Commitment

Approximately 1–4 hours per week, depending on project needs and the volunteer’s availability.

The role is flexible and can be coordinated around the volunteer’s professional and personal schedule.

Requirements

Must have:

* 3+ years of hands-on experience in Computer Vision / Machine Learning, or equivalent significant practical experience

* Strong Python skills

* Practical experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, or another deep-learning framework

* Proven experience working with pretrained Computer Vision models

* Experience with embeddings, feature extraction, or representation learning

* Strong understanding of Machine Learning fundamentals, including:

* Classification

* Train / validation / test methodology

* Confusion matrices

* Precision, Recall, F1 Score

* Overfitting and generalization

* Ability to independently analyze model performance, debug issues, and propose technical improvements

* Experience working with real-world datasets rather than coursework alone

Nice to Have

* Experience with fine-tuning and transfer learning

* Experience with image similarity, clustering, or image retrieval

* Experience with segmentation or object detection

* Experience with OpenCV, scikit-learn, Hugging Face, CLIP, DINO, ViT, or similar models/tools

* Experience working with noisy, imbalanced, or imperfect datasets

* Background or interest in marine biology, ecology, conservation, or environmental technologies

What You’ll Gain

* A meaningful technical role in a real environmental AI project

* Opportunity to apply advanced Computer Vision methods to real-world imagery

* Collaboration with engineers, researchers, and environmental professionals

* A chance to contribute to tools supporting coral research and monitoring

* Experience working on a multidisciplinary project with practical environmental impact

This is a volunteer position.

Flexible commitment: approximately 1–4 hours per week, depending on project needs and availability.