Data Scientist

TekStaff IT Solutions; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

TekStaff IT Solutions is seeking a Senior Data Scientist for a 12-month contract in Toronto, ON, with a hybrid work arrangement (3 days on-site; Thursday is team collaboration day). The role focuses on applying advanced analytics to accelerate growth across Canadian business units and guide design, development and deployment of analytics use cases.

Reporting to the Director of Data Science, the candidate will translate business goals into analytical problems, build ML/GenAI products, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 2 years’ experience in developing and implementing data science techniques
• Proficient in Python for data science and GenAI application development
• Experience with writing complex SQL and PySpark queries to extract and integrate data from multiple database sources
• Proficiency in machine learning including supervised and unsupervised models
• Data transformation, data manipulation, and working with structured vs. unstructured data
• APIs, microservices architecture, and cloud-native development understanding
• GenAI frameworks and LLM APIs with experience developing AI bots/agents with reasoning and tool-use capabilities
• RAG techniques, prompt engineering, and embedding models familiarity
• Chatbot development concepts and conversational AI design
• Strong communication to articulate complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong storytelling and insights communication skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects with changing deadlines
• Mentoring and guiding junior data scientists and data engineers
• Strong problem-solving abilities and analytical skills with attention to detail

Responsibilities

• Translate business goals into analytical problems; identify optimal algorithms, statistical techniques and/or GenAI architecture for the business problem
• Work in cross-functional teams to develop ML/data science products, including GenAI applications
• Apply descriptive, predictive, and ML methods from design to implementation
• Focus on feature engineering, model training, evaluation, and prompt engineering for LLMs
• Design, develop, and deploy GenAI solutions including AI agents, chatbots, and autonomous systems
• Research and pilot GenAI technologies, RAG techniques, and agentic frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI)
• Implement AI bots/agents with advanced reasoning capabilities and tool-use patterns
• Work with vector databases and embedding models to build intelligent information retrieval systems
• Break down milestones into actionable goals, activities, and work plans
• Create and maintain technical design artifacts describing functionalities, data models, interfaces, and integrations
• Engage with stakeholders and present findings at multiple levels of stakeholders
• Champion continuous improvement and innovation within analytics communities

Skills

Python

SQL

ML/GenAI

Data analysis

API design

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related

Tools

PySpark

LangChain

LLM APIs

Job description

TekStaff's Client has a current vacancy for \" Data Scientist”

This is a 12 month contract located in Toronto, ONT Hybrid (3 days on-site with Thursday being the team collaboration day)

Please note - This is a 7.5 hour work day.

*All successful candidates will be subject to a mandatory background check as per the client.

*Please note that all contractors are subject to a possible Holiday Leave program schedule, set by the client.

Role Summary

Reporting to the Director, Data Science, as a Senior Data Scientist a successful candidate will focus on supporting Canadian business units in accelerating the growth and application of advanced analytics in driving value. The senior data scientist will leverage practical experience in applying varied data science techniques & offering advice/inputs to help with the design, development and implementation of analytics use cases.

Key attributes:

Fierce curiosity. A successful candidate is drawn to discovering and leveraging new data and taking on challenging business puzzles. An inquisitive mind. Driven to ask questions to help lead projects to commercial value and not being afraid that the innovation attempts can and will lead to failing. A passion for solving problems. The most successful data scientists’ solution for what the right data to use, they solve using the most suitable (not most advanced) algorithms for the problem at hand and figure out how to execute and deliver with highest efficiency. Technical skills in both data and computer science. The 3 core technical skills would be: in-depth coding knowledge of an analytical tool(s) (i.e., Python); data science techniques and concepts; working with structured data and unstructured data. Thirst for learning. A successful candidate is a data scientist who is constantly updating their knowledge of data science state-of-the-art.

Key Responsibilities:

Data Science and Machine Learning

· Translate business goals into analytical problems; Identify optimal algorithms, statistical techniques and/or GenAI architecture suitable for the business problem at hand

· Work in cross-functional teams to develop ML/data science products, including GenAI applications

· Apply best-in-breed data science techniques including descriptive, predictive, and machine learning methods from design to implementation

· Focus on feature engineering, model training, model evaluation, and prompt engineering for LLMs

GenAI & Agentic AI Development

· Design, develop, and deploy GenAI solutions including AI agents, chatbots, and autonomous systems that solve complex business problems

· Research and pilot the latest GenAI technologies, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) techniques, and agentic frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI etc.)

· Implement AI bots/agents with advanced reasoning capabilities and tool use patterns

· Work with vector databases and embedding models to build intelligent information retrieval systems

Technical Leadership & Collaboration

· Break down broader data science development milestones into actionable goals, activities, and work plans

Create and maintain technical design artifacts describing application functionality, data models, interfaces, and integrations

Engage and negotiate with stakeholders, make business recommendations with effective presentations of findings at multiple levels of stakeholders

Champion continuous improvement and foster innovation within the analytics communi

Required Qualifications:

· Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Statistics, Mathematics, or related field, or equivalent experience

· 2 years’ experience in developing and implementing data science techniques

· Proficient in Python for data science and GenAI application development

· Experience with writing complex SQL and PySpark queries to extract and integrate data from multiple database sources

· Proficiency in machine learning including supervised and unsupervised models

· Demonstrated experience in data transformation, data manipulation, and working with structured vs. unstructured data

· Strong understanding of APIs, microservices architecture, and cloud-native development

· Hands-on expertise with GenAI frameworks and LLM APIs with experience developing AI bots/agents with reasoning and tool-use capabilities

· Strong understanding of RAG techniques, prompt engineering, and fine-tuning methodologies and familiarity with vector databases and embedding models

· Experience with chatbot development concepts and conversational AI design

· Exceptional communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

· Effective and concise oral and written storytelling and insights communication skills

· Ability to work on multiple projects in parallel while managing constantly changing deadlines and priorities

· Proven ability to mentor and guide junior data scientists and data engineers

· Strong problem-solving abilities and analytical skills with keen attention to detail

Nice to Have:

· Experience with AWS services including SageMaker, Lambda, Bedrock, and other AI/ML services

· Experience with data warehousing, pipelines, and big data technologies such as AWS Glue for ETL, Glue Catalog, Glue Data Quality, and AWS Step Functions.

• TekStaff may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools as part of the applicant screening process. However, applications will also be reviewed by a member of our Recruitment team to ensure a fair and thorough assessment.