[ccdsacc]

Sounds like you are hiring for a really hardcore research role, if the most fitting candidates are CS PhDs with 4+ years of experience.

How would a person with a MSc in CS and 6+ years of work experience rank for you? (Converting ~4 years of PhD to 2 year MSc + ~2 year work exp)

[citation_please]

Probably the wrong fit if the industry experience isn't right, in which case they would be on a fast-track to a senior dev role in the non machine-learning part of our company.

You're right about "research", although I'd hesitate to use the word hardcore hah. We get tons of candidates with ~2 years of slightly relevant work, but rarely do we get candidates with the exactly right relevant work. The "qualified" candidates I spoke of have ~4 years of slightly relevant work, but there are only a couple of them, and they're either out of our hiring budget or currently working for our team.