Lead Data Scientist - Canada - Contract to Perm

Very; Toronto; Remote; CAD 164,000 - 174,000; Full time

Job summary

Join an innovative IoT technology firm as a Lead Data Scientist, where you'll collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop cutting-edge solutions. This role emphasizes building robust machine learning systems and algorithms that drive real-world impact. You'll engage with clients, lead projects, and mentor your team, ensuring high-quality delivery and fostering a culture of excellence. With a commitment to innovation and a collaborative work environment, this position offers the chance to shape the future of IoT technology and make a significant difference in various industries. If you're ready to take your career to the next level, this opportunity is for you.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in data science with proven leadership.
• Expert-level Python skills and experience with machine learning.

Responsibilities

• Lead data science projects and mentor junior engineers.
• Deploy ML models and ensure successful project delivery.

Skills

Machine Learning

Data Science

Statistical Analysis

Effective Communication

Leadership

Education

Master’s degree in Data Science

Tools

Python

AWS

Azure

GitHub

Docker

TensorFlow

PyTorch

SciPy Stack

Job description

Lead Data Scientist - Canada - Contract to Perm

About Very
Very is a fully remote IoT technology firm led by expert problem-solvers to create efficient, scalable solutions that move commercial, industrial, and consumer IoT projects from pilot to production in record time.

We’ve built a collaborative, tight-knit team that thrives, whether we’re hanging out in person or coordinating work across time zones. The results show that we’re doing something right — as we’ve won numerous workplace awards over the years. Most recently in 2021 we were certified as a Great Place to Work, and in 2022 we were listed again in Parity.org’s list of Best Companies for Women to Advance.

We believe that everything we build — and the people we build it with — has the potential to change the world. Our client list includes numerous well-known brands determined to leverage the power of IoT to drive material outcomes — such as Vizio, Peloton, Clear, iHeart Radio, and Fellowes. Our goal, for each and every client we partner with, is to create high-value solutions through a collaborative and user-centered process.

About This Role

As a Lead Data Scientist at Very, you will work with our Software, Hardware, and Product Design teams to build full-service solutions for our clients. We focus on building end-to-end hardware and software solutions that meet our client's business needs, and reliable algorithms and machine learning systems are often a part of our offering. An ideal candidate will display technical expertise in algorithms, machine learning, and data science, strong communication skills, and the ability to present ideas and results to audiences ranging in technical depth. Candidates should also have experience translating business problems into analytical solutions, working in interdisciplinary teams, and building models for production systems.

A Lead at Very is an individual who operates with the highest degree of knowledge and accountability for the delivery of services to our customers. They provide excellent technical leadership and delivery skills, as it pertains to complex, multi-faceted projects at Very. They have a strong executive presence, which gives major client stakeholders the confidence that we will deliver, and gives our team the confidence and accountability to do so.

As a client services organization, travel may be required up to 10% of the time.

What You’ll Be Working On

At Very, there is a never-ending supply of variety to the projects we work on. However, it is critical to note that almost all of these projects are production systems. As such, the only consistent research component of this position will revolve around establishing a pattern of delivery that allows the team to implement full-scale applications leveraging data science in a fast, predictable manner.

Lead engineers also regularly serve as a sales solutions engineer and are entrusted by the commercial team to be their main technical partner for closing high-value contracts. They will travel onsite with clients, fine-tune deliverables/staffing plans, and otherwise do what it takes to close these contracts with terms that are conducive to successful delivery.

Responsibilities

• Classical statistical analysis and signal processing
• Prediction, state classification, and anomaly detection on multivariate time series data
• Regression and classification using a variety of classical and deep learning methods
• Machine vision and automated speech recognition
• Application of transformer architectures including composite and agentic AI
• Deployment and monitoring of ML workflows into both the cloud (AWS & Azure) and the edge (Nordic, NXP, NVIDIA & Intel)
• MLOps infrastructure and best practices
• Planning, implementing, and communicating the results of algorithm field testing
• Walking clients through the data science journey and partnering with design to build effective visualizations and metrics for web and mobile applications
• Coaching and mentoring other engineers
• Participating in recruiting candidates and improving the overall interview process
• Supporting sales and pre-sales engineering work to ensure Very client fit

Our data science contracts typically involve building a full greenfield IoT data pipeline and MLOps lifecycle. This extends from the IoT sensors and/or actuators, through local networks, into the cloud, to the user interface, and back again. In the context of data science, we leverage:

• Git, GitHub, GitHub Actions (CI/CD), pytest (TDD)
• The standard SciPy Stack (Numpy, SciPy, Pandas, Scikit-Learn, Matplotlib)
• Standard Python data science tools such as SQL/Postgres, Docker, MLFlow, PySpark, PyTorch, TensorFlow, and LangChain
• Jupyter notebooks for prototyping
• Cloud architecture and resources for production systems
• AWS: Lambda, ECS, RDS, DynamoDB, IoT Core, Greengrass, Sagemaker, Bedrock
• Azure: Functions, Container Registry, SQL Database, Machine Learning, IoT Hub
• 3rd party: Ultralytics, TimescaleDB, Datadog, Peridio
• IaC: Terraform

As an IoT technology company, our data science pipelines include “Things”. This requires building pipelines and deploying analytical models to hardware on the edge, in addition to the cloud. This collaboration involves:

• Yocto, Linux, and macOS development environments
• Elixir, Phoenix, and Nerves
• Embedded C and lower-level languages such as Rust
• CI/CD including hardware and end-to-end testing and verification
• Development on Single-Board Computers such as RPi

We value well-tested, reusable code and expect our engineers to be as good practitioners as they are leaders and teachers.

Required Qualifications

Unfortunately, applicants who do not meet these criteria will not be considered.

• Master’s degree in Data Science or related field
• 7+ years of relevant experience
• Experience deploying statistical, ML, or analytical models to production
• Leading teams with hardware and software engineers
• Performing real-time signal processing and leading teams that do so
• Working directly with clients and partnering with sales and client success teams to secure new work
• Partnering with client success and senior executives to ensure project success
• Strong written and spoken communication skills in English
• Proficient in Agile development and breaking solutions into “thin vertical slices”
• Guiding interdisciplinary teams to estimate and execute these slices successfully
• Experience developing and managing AWS workflows
• Expert-level Python skills related to Data Science
• Automated testing, code coverage, model building & evaluation
• SciPy Stack, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow or PyTorch
• GitHub CI/CD best practices
• Experience developing, compiling, and deploying C, C++, or Embedded C software
• Proficient in Linux development and light administration

Nice-to-Have

• 10+ years of experience, including with connected devices
• Proficient in embedded real-time signal processing
• AWS Professional certification
• Familiarity with Elixir, Phoenix, and Nerves
• Hands-on experience with Single-Board Computers such as RPi

Skills

Critical skills for all technical roles at the Lead level include:

• Effective communication: inform, engage, inspire, negotiate
• Influence and create compelling narratives around ideas
• Expert knowledge and experience to instill confidence
• Calculated risk-taking and commitment to innovation
• Accurate estimation of full-scale engagements
• Leadership through challenging scenarios, providing quick redirection

Compensation

Between CAD $164,000 and $173,500 per year, based on experience.

This role is fully remote, based anywhere in Canada, with potential to move from contract to permanent.