Senior Software Research Engineer

Location: EMEA-Germany-Darmstadt-Tech

Description

Why This Role Matters

We are building the future of digital dentistry. Align Technology has transformed orthodontics and restorative dentistry through Invisalign, the iTero intraoral scanner, and exocad CAD/CAM—products used by clinicians in over 100 countries, backed by data from more than 20 million patients. Our Advanced Technology Development (ATD) team in Switzerland & Germany is where breakthrough ideas become real products.

As a Senior Software Research Engineer, you will work at the intersection of computer vision, generative AI, LLMs and 3D geometry to solve problems that have no textbook solutions. You will invent new ways to analyze, diagnose, simulate and visualize dental diagnostics & outcomes, turning raw 3D and 2D data and clinical imagery into intelligent, patient-specific health information. This is applied research with direct product impact: your prototypes become the features millions of patients and their dentists rely on.

Key Responsibilities

Your work will span the full arc from research to early-stage product development, with 3D mesh processing and LLM integration and computational geometry as the focus:

• Research to Product Execution: Combine Exploratory Research, Requirements Analysis, Rapid Prototyping, Validation and Product Development.
• Train Deep Learning Models: Building Datasets, Working with Labelers, improving Data Quality, Iterating on Models and Analyzing results statistically.
• From Data to Clinical Diagnostics and Treatment Plans: Leveraging your DL models, LLMs and all our health data.
• Work with some of world’s leading clinical practitioners to implement best practices.
• Leverage your knowledge of 3D computational geometry, computer vision and generative AI.

What We Expect From You

• Focus & expertise in 3D & 2D machine learning.
• Excellence in 3D geometry.
• Passion for delivering usable and value adding solutions.
• Love of improving human health – oral health in our case.
• Ability to think for yourself, defend your opinions and execute your research independently – whether experimenting with cutting edge 3D & vision networks or improving your own workflows.
• Willingness to stay up to date on academic literature and keep learning.
• Familiarity with current toolsets such as PyTorch, Python, C++ or similar.
• Great collaborative attitude and communication skills.
• Desire to spend meaningful time with our customers—orthodontists, dentists, and dental lab technicians—to deeply understand their clinical workflows, pain points, and unmet needs.
• You actively leverage AI-assisted development tools—such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar—to accelerate prototyping, code generation, and research workflows. We expect every scientist to treat AI coding assistants as a core part of their toolkit, not an afterthought.

• M.Sc. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Computer Vision, or a closely related field.
• 6+ years of hands-on experience building and shipping ML/DL models in an industry or advanced research setting (post-degree).
• Deep expertise in Deep Learning, 3D geometry processing, computational geometry, mesh algorithms, 2D vision and image processing.
• Proficiency in Python and C++ for geometry processing. Familiarity with libraries such as CGAL, libigl, Open3D, trimesh, or PyTorch3D. Comfortable with GPU-accelerated workflows.
• Some experience in integrating LLM frontier models with practical uses in code.
• Solid grounding in linear algebra, statistics and optimization methods.
• Demonstrated proficiency with AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor) integrated into daily development workflows.
• Professional fluency in English (written and spoken). German is a plus but not required.

• Familiarity with medical device development workflows or regulated software (e.g., IEC 62304, FDA Class II).
• Background in dental, medical imaging, or biomechanics is a differentiator.
• Background in CAD/CAM systems.
• Track record of conference publications.

The Advanced Technology Development team operates as Align’s applied research lab. We are a small, high-impact group of scientists and engineers who work 12–18 months ahead of the product roadmap. You will collaborate daily with clinicians, product managers, and engineering teams across our global offices. We value intellectual honesty, rapid experimentation, and shipping research that changes patient outcomes.

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Equal Opportunity Statement

Align Technology is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities in all our practices, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, marital status, protected veteran status, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other legally protected category. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the country for which they are applying, and employment eligibility will be verified as a condition of hire.