Data Scientist

Priority may be given to the following designated employment equity groups: women, Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), persons with disabilities, and racialized persons. Candidates are asked to self-declare when applying to this hiring process.

Organizational Unit: Digital Technologies

Classification: RCO

Duration: 2 years

Language Requirements: English or French

Work arrangements: Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements, this position may be eligible for a limited hybrid work arrangement (combination of working onsite and telework). At the NRC, we recognize that Indigenous candidates may have important connections to their communities and you may be eligible for an exception to this work arrangement. Alternative work arrangements may also be considered to accommodate candidates as required.

The role Key Responsibilities:

• Client Engagement and Project Scoping: Meet with Canadian SMEs to understand their business context, operational challenges, data assets, and decision-making needs. Help clients clarify and refine business problems into feasible data science, analytics, or AI projects. Contribute to project scoping, including technical approaches, work plans, timelines, assumptions, risks, and deliverables. Communicate clearly with clients throughout the project lifecycle, including managing expectations and explaining analytical findings.
• Applied Data Science and Statistical Modelling: Acquire, clean, process, explore, and analyze structured and unstructured data. Develop statistical, machine learning, and analytical models to address client problems. Apply appropriate methods such as regression, classification, clustering, forecasting, optimization, natural language processing, simulation, or other relevant techniques. Evaluate model performance, uncertainty, limitations, and practical usefulness. Translate analytical results into actionable recommendations for clients.
• Coding, Reproducibility and Delivery: Write clear, efficient, maintainable code in Python, R, or similar languages. Develop reproducible analytical workflows using notebooks, scripts, version control, and good documentation practices. Build prototypes, dashboards, data pipelines, reports, and reusable analytical tools. Deliver client-ready code, models, documentation, and analytical outputs. Balance rigour with practical delivery timelines in a project-based environment.
• Visualization and Communication: Create clear visualizations, dashboards, and reports that communicate insights effectively. Present technical findings to both technical and non-technical audiences. Prepare concise written deliverables, including summaries, reports, presentations, and recommendations in plain language.
• Teamwork and Continuous Learning: Work collaboratively in small teams of data scientists, software developers, data engineers, researchers, and business development staff. Manage multiple priorities and deadlines across client-facing projects. Stay current with emerging data science, machine learning, and AI practices. Contribute to NRC practices for responsible, transparent, and reproducible AI.

Screening criteria:

Applicants must demonstrate within the content of their application that they meet the following screening criteria in order to be given further consideration as candidates:

• Education: A master’s degree in data science, statistics, computer science, mathematics, engineering, operations research, economics, or another relevant field; or a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field combined with significant experience in applied data science, statistics, analytics, machine learning, or related work may be considered.
• Assets: Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP. Experience in modern visualization frameworks and interactive dashboards. Experience with MLOps, containerization, CI/CD, model deployment, or production analytics workflows. Experience with natural language processing, generative AI, computer vision, optimization, forecasting, or simulation. Applying data science, statistical analysis, machine learning, or advanced analytics to solve real-world problems. Working with clients, stakeholders, or end users to understand needs, gather requirements, and define analytical approaches. Cleaning, processing, exploring, and analyzing data from diverse sources. Developing analytical models, prototypes, dashboards, reports, or decision-support tools. Coding in Python, R, or a similar language for data analysis, modelling, or automation. Communicating technical findings to non-technical audiences through presentations, reports, visualisations, or client briefings. Working in teams to deliver projects within defined timelines.

Condition of employment: Reliability Status. For a Reliability Status, verification of background information over a period of 5 years is required. Candidates will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria: Strong knowledge of statistical, mathematical, and machine learning methods and their application to practical problems. Ability to interpret client requirements and translate them into feasible analytical approaches. Ability to write clean, reproducible, and maintainable production-ready code.

The intent of this hiring action is to staff this position at the RCO-3 or 4 level, with a salary range of $119,688 to $168,192. NOTE: Please note that the full RO/RCO salary scale has five levels. Salary determination will be based on a review of the candidate’s expertise, outcomes, and impacts of their previous work experience relative to the requirements of the level. As such, the initial salary could be within another level of the RO/RCO salary scale (i.e. above or below the intended level for this position).

NRC employees enjoy a wide range of competitive benefits including a robust pension plan, comprehensive health and dental coverage, disability and life insurance, office closure at the end of December, and additional supports to enhance your well-being throughout your career and beyond.

Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. Please include citizenship information in your application. The incumbent must adhere to safe workplace practices at all times. We thank all those who apply; however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.