Senior Principal AI Data Platform Research Leader

Huawei Canada; Markham; On-site; CAD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Huawei Canadais seeking a Senior Principal Researcher to lead long-term AI-native data platform research at the Toronto Research Centre. You will guide architectures for vector-native data lakes, intelligent caching, and high-performance retrieval for LLMs and RAG, while mentoring PhD interns.

You will publish in top venues, secure patents, and collaborate with product and engineering teams to translate research into production-ready systems with real-world impact.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Information Retrieval, Data Management, or a related field.
• 3+ years of research experience in data systems, information retrieval, or AI/ML infrastructure.
• Proven track record of publishing at top-tier venues such as VLDB, SIGIR, NeurIPS, SIGMOD, or ICDE.
• Strong understanding of AI Data Platform challenges: hybrid search tuning, index freshness, multi-tenancy in vector spaces, and cost/latency trade-offs.
• Hands-on experience with unstructured data processing, metadata enrichment, vector databases (e.g., Milvus, Pinecone), or Data Lakes (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake).
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate complex research concepts to both academic and industry audiences.
• Proven ability to influence the field through publications, patents, and cross-functional collaboration across research, product, and engineering.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term research agenda for AI-native data platforms, focusing on vector-native data lakes, intelligent caching, and high-performance retrieval infrastructures for LLMs and RAG.
• Pioneer research in Agent memory systems, Knowledge Bases, and RAG-optimized data intelligence, advancing the field of Data-Centric AI.
• Lead research in dynamic data indexing, hybrid search (semantic + keyword), intelligent chunking/parsing strategies, and real-time context freshness.
• Design and prototype next-generation architectures that unify file storage, data lakes, and low-latency vector indexes into a cohesive, AI-ready data stack.
• Publish groundbreaking research at top-tier venues (e.g., VLDB, SIGIR, NeurIPS, SIGMOD) and secure patents for novel approaches.
• Represent the organization as a thought leader through speaking engagements and active participation in the academic and industry community.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to translate research into production-ready systems with tangible real-world impact.
• Mentor junior researchers and PhD interns, fostering a collaborative, high-impact research environment.

Skills

Research experience

Academic writing

Communication skills

Education

PhD in Computer Science/IR/Data Management

Tools

Milvus

Pinecone

Databricks

Snowflake

Job description

Huawei Canadais seeking a Senior Principal Researcher to lead long-term AI-native data platform research at the Toronto Research Centre. You will guide architectures for vector-native data lakes, intelligent caching, and high-performance retrieval for LLMs and RAG, while mentoring PhD interns.

You will publish in top venues, secure patents, and collaborate with product and engineering teams to translate research into production-ready systems with real-world impact.