Senior Applied Scientist, NLP/ML/GenAI

PowerToFly; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 100,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech firm in Toronto is seeking a Senior Applied Scientist to innovate AI solutions for their products. This role involves leveraging machine learning and NLP to enhance services, requiring a PhD or equivalent experience. Candidates should have over 5 years in building commercial AI applications and excellent communication skills. The position offers a hybrid work model, flexible benefits, and a focus on career growth and development.

Benefits

Flexible vacation

Mental health days off

Retirement savings

Tuition reimbursement

Employee incentive programs

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building IR/NLP systems for commercial applications.
• Demonstrated impact-focused mindset.
• Experience building AI applications from complex problems.

Responsibilities

• Innovate and deliver AI solutions as an independent contributor.
• Accountable for research deliverables on projects.
• Communicate research in peer-reviewed publications.

Skills

Machine Learning

Natural Language Processing

Information Retrieval

Communication Skills

Problem-Solving Skills

Agile Methodologies

Education

PhD in a relevant discipline

Master's plus comparable experience

Tools

Production Code Writing

Model Training

Job description

Senior Applied Scientist, AI solutions

Are you excited about working at the forefront of applied research in an industry setting? Thomson Reuters Labs is seeking scientists with a passion for solving problems using state-of-the-art information retrieval, natural language processing, and generative AI.

What does Thomson Reuters Labs do? We experiment, we build, we deliver. We support the organization and our customers through applied research in information retrieval, natural language processing and machine learning. We work closely with product and domain experts to identify compelling solutions at the intersection of user needs and technical feasibility. Our team is responsible for clearing obstacles to innovation. We incubate AI solutions from the ground up, and accelerate their development at any stage. This work requires great breadth of modern machine learning problem solving skills, and great savvy in communicating across functions.

About the Role

Senior Applied Scientists are experts in Machine Learning / NLP, responsible for the design and delivery of AI solutions that enhance Thomson Reuters' products. They leverage information retrieval techniques, prompting workflows, model training and evaluation design to build and optimize solutions. Their work ensures AI technologies are effectively aligned with business objectives, driving product innovation and value.

As a Senior Applied Scientist, you will:

• Innovate and drive solution delivery as an independent contributor
• Operate in an agile way, pushing for quick iterations guided by customers' needs.
• Be accountable for all research deliverables on small to medium-sized projects
• Communicate research in peer-reviewed publications and develop patentable ideas ensuring competitiveness of the company's products and services.
• Work with stakeholders to define scope, determine feasibility, and translate business/customer objectives into technical requirements.
• Partner effectively with Engineering to ensure well-managed software delivery and co-design ML Ops processes related to model monitoring, evaluation, and retraining.

About You

You're a fit for the role of Senior Applied Scientist if your background includes:

• PhD in a relevant discipline or Master's plus a comparable level of experience
• 5+ years of hands‑on experience building IR / NLP systems for commercial applications
• A demonstrated impact-focused and velocity-first mindset.
• Experience writing production code and ensuring well-managed software delivery
• Demonstrable experience translating complex problems into successful AI applications
• Outstanding communication, problem-solving, and analysis skills
• Collaborating with Product, Engineering and Business Stakeholders in an agile manner to demonstrate value and iterate with customer feedback
• Preferred: Publications at relevant venues such as ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS, ICLR, SIGIR, or KDD.

What's in it for You?

• Hybrid Work Model: We've adopted a flexible hybrid working environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.
• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.
• Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow's challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our Grow My Way programming and skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.
• Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
• Culture: Globally recognized, award-winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work-life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.
• Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
• Making a Real-World Impact: We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.

Our use of AI within the recruitment process

Thomson Reuters utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our global recruitment process. Unless you opt‑out, our AI system will assess the information provided by you and compare it to the requirements listed for the role, and present the result to our recruitment personnel for further review. The AI system acts as a supporting tool, but there is always a human making the decision if you will be considered for the role.

In the United States, Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive benefits package to our employees. Our benefit package includes market competitive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance programs, as well as a competitive 401(k) plan with company match. In addition, Thomson Reuters offers market leading work–life benefits with competitive vacation, sick and safe paid time off, paid holidays (including two company mental health days off), parental leave, sabbatical leave. These benefits meet or exceed the requirements of paid time off in accordance with any applicable state or municipal laws. Finally, Thomson Reuters offers the following additional benefits: optional hospital, accident and sickness insurance paid 100% by the employee; optional life and AD&D insurance paid 100% by the employee; Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts; fitness reimbursement; access to Employee Assistance Program; Group Legal Identity Theft Protection benefit paid 100% by employee; access to 529 Plan; commuter benefits; Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance; Tuition Reimbursement; and access to Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Compensation

Thomson Reuters complies with local laws that require upfront disclosure of the expected pay range for a position. The base compensation range varies across locations. Eligible office location(s) for this role include one or more of the following: New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and/or Irvine, CA; McLean, VA; Washington, DC. The base compensation range for the role in any of those locations is $161,300 USD – $299,500 USD. For any eligible US locations, unless otherwise noted, the base compensation range for this role is $140,000 USD – $260,000 USD. For Ontario, Canada, the base compensation range for this role is $100,000 CAD – $145,000 CAD. Base pay is positioned within the range based on several factors including an individual's knowledge, skills and experience with consideration given to internal equity. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive Total Reward program which also includes flexible and supportive benefits and other wellbeing programs. This role may also be eligible for an annual bonus based on a combination of enterprise and individual performance.

About Us

Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

Equal Employment Opportunity

As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug‑free workplace.

Thomson Reuters makes reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law. If you reside in the United States and require an accommodation in the recruiting process, you may contact our Human Resources Department at [e-mail]. Disability accommodations in the recruiting process may include things like a sign language interpreter, making interview rooms accessible, providing assistive technology, or other relevant accommodations. Please note this email is not intended for general recruitment questions and we will promptly respond to inquiries regarding accommodations. More information on requesting an accommodation here.

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More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com