Senior Applied Scientist, Search & Information Retrieval in Canada Creek, Nova Scotia at Jobgether
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Job Description
This position is posted by Jobgether on behalf of a partner company. We are currently looking for a Senior Applied Scientist, Search & Information Retrieval in Canada.
This role sits at the intersection of machine learning research and large-scale production engineering, where you will design and deploy advanced search and information retrieval systems that power critical legal and professional intelligence platforms. You will work on real-world NLP and IR challenges with direct impact on how professionals access and interpret complex information globally. The position requires ownership across the full lifecycle of model development, from research and experimentation to production deployment and monitoring. You will collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to translate ambiguous business problems into scalable, high-performance solutions. The environment is highly technical and impact-driven, with a strong focus on measurable improvements in relevance, latency, and system quality. You will also contribute to scientific publications and innovation through research and patentable ideas, while mentoring junior scientists in a collaborative, fast-paced setting.
- Design, build, and deploy large-scale information retrieval systems with a focus on search relevance, ranking quality, and low-latency performance at scale.
- Own end-to-end development of NLP and IR models, including research, data preparation, training, evaluation, and production deployment.
- Develop robust evaluation frameworks covering offline and online metrics such as precision@K, recall@K, relevance scoring, and latency benchmarks.
- Translate complex business and customer needs into clear technical requirements, scoped solutions, and delivery milestones.
- Collaborate with engineering teams on MLOps pipelines, model monitoring, retraining workflows, and production reliability.
- Operate in an agile, iterative environment, using feedback loops to continuously refine models and system performance.
- Contribute to research outputs including publications and patentable innovations while supporting knowledge sharing across teams.
- Mentor junior scientists and contribute to technical leadership within applied research initiatives.
- PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, NLP, Information Retrieval, or related field, or Master’s with equivalent industry experience.
- 5+ years of post-degree experience building and deploying production-grade IR and NLP systems (not purely academic/research experience).
- Strong publication record in top-tier venues (e.g., ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS, ICLR, SIGIR, KDD).
- Strong programming skills in Python with hands-on experience in PyTorch and Hugging Face Transformers.
- Proven experience designing and operating large-scale search systems, including indexing, query optimization, and latency-sensitive retrieval.
- Deep understanding of evaluation methodologies for search/NLP systems, including offline and online experimentation frameworks.
- Ability to translate ambiguous, complex business problems into scalable machine learning solutions.
- Strong collaboration skills working with product, engineering, and cross-functional stakeholders in agile environments.
- Nice to have: experience with Elasticsearch or OpenSearch, cloud ML platforms (AWS SageMaker or AzureML), or legal-domain search/NLP.
- Competitive compensation package with base salary ranging from $100,000 CAD – $145,000 CAD (Ontario), plus potential annual bonus based on performance.
- Flexible work arrangements, including “work from anywhere” options for up to 8 weeks per year.
- Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
- Strong retirement savings programs and employee stock purchase plan.
- Paid time off, company-wide mental health days, parental leave, and sabbatical opportunities.
- Continuous learning and career development programs focused on AI and future-ready skills.
- Employee wellness support including fitness reimbursement, mental health resources, and assistance programs.
- Inclusive, globally recognized workplace culture focused on flexibility, belonging, and professional growth.
- Social impact initiatives, including paid volunteer days and ESG-related engagement opportunities.