Available to hire
I am Youcef Benkhedda, a senior ML/NLP researcher and engineer based in Manchester, UK. I specialize in Generative AI, Foundation Models, and Graph Representation Learning, focusing on turning cutting-edge research into scalable, privacy-preserving production systems.
My work spans healthcare AI, knowledge graphs, and large-scale NLP pipelines. I enjoy building agentic workflows, evaluating model safety and fidelity, and delivering reproducible ML pipelines from prototyping to deployment.
Skills
Experience Level
Language
English
Fluent
Work Experience
Lead Data Scientist / Research Engineer at University of Manchester
September 1, 2023 - PresentSpearheaded research and development of Generative AI and Foundation Model solutions for healthcare applications. Designed privacy-preserving synthetic data pipelines for NHS, enabling research within strict data compliance. Implemented training strategies and fine-tuned foundation models (Llama, Gemma, Qwen) using PEFT/LoRA and 4-bit quantization (AWQ) to optimize inference on resource-constrained hardware. Architected Agentic Workflows with LangGraph and integrated RLHF to align outputs with expert guidelines. Built a validation framework for generative outputs including Membership Inference Attacks (MIA) and semantic checks using ClinicalBERT embeddings. Established reproducible ML pipelines with MLflow.
Senior ML Engineer / NLP Architect at University of Manchester
January 1, 2023 - September 1, 2024Led technical architecture for the £3.6M 'Our Heritage, Our Stories' project, transforming unstructured archival data into structured Knowledge Graphs using Representation Learning and large-scale extraction. Designed a zero-shot Relation Extraction pipeline via Natural Language Inference (NLI). Developed and deployed Neural Machine Translation pipelines (AraT5v2, mBART) with Joint Regional training. Built scalable data processing workflows handling 1M+ records to populate high-dimensional Knowledge Graphs (Neo4j). Authored and contributed to peer-reviewed work on Representation Learning and Hate Speech Detection (benchmarks like AraTar).
Data Scientist (Machine Learning) at University of Edinburgh
May 1, 2021 - November 1, 2022Developed high-throughput inference systems and stance detection models for real-time global sentiment analysis. Implemented a Network-Based classification approach (graph topology) to model user stance, achieving F1-score of 0.95. Deployed GPU-accelerated NLP pipelines (Stanford Stanza) for processing 5.5M tweets daily. Built a full-stack analytics platform using Dash/Plotly to visualize high-dimensional ML insights for stakeholders.
Business Intelligence Engineer at ABMM College
May 1, 2015 - February 1, 2021Led technical strategy and data engineering initiatives, designing scalable ERP integrations and analytics frameworks to support executive decision-making. Managed Oracle PeopleSoft ERP integration with modular, scalable data systems; optimized SQL schema design and data retrieval. Advised executives on analytical strategy and modeling to drive institutional efficiency.
System Engineer at Huawei
January 1, 2013 - February 1, 2015Led deployment of large-scale network solutions, troubleshooting and optimizing systems to ensure high availability for critical telecom services.
Education
PhD in Computer Science (NLP & Information Retrieval) at École Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2020MSc in Computer Science (ML & Social Computing) at École Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2016Qualifications
Industry Experience
Healthcare, Education, Software & Internet, Professional Services, Media & Entertainment
Skills
Experience Level
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