Senior Researcher – AI Data Systems

Huawei Canada; Markham; On-site; CAD 127,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Huawei Technologies Canada Co., Ltd. is seeking a Researcher for a 12-month period to contribute to the Distributed Scheduling and Data Engine Lab. The role involves designing next-generation data systems for AI applications.

Ideal candidates will have strong programming skills in languages like C++, Rust, and Go, with an understanding of cloud-native technologies. The position offers competitive compensation ranging from $127,000 to $225,000 based on expertise and experience.

Qualifications

• Strong programming skills in C++, Rust, Go, or related languages.
• Understanding of modern AI applications such as LLMs, RAG pipelines.
• Familiar with cloud-native technologies and distributed systems.
• Strong research mindset, able to prototype innovative ideas.
• Experience with database internals and AI data infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Research, design, and prototype next-generation data systems.
• Design scalable architectures for agent memory and semantic retrieval.
• Investigate and evaluate state-of-the-art technologies.
• Develop proof-of-concept systems using database technologies.
• Collaborate with engineers to turn ideas into technologies.

Skills

Programming skills in C++, Rust, Go

Understanding of AI applications

Familiarity with cloud-native technologies

Strong research mindset

Experience with PostgreSQL

Experience developing database extensions

Experience leveraging hardware accelerators

Education

Master’s or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics

Tools

PostgreSQL

Apache Arrow

Spark

DuckDB

Milvus

Weaviate

LanceDB

Job description

Huawei Canada Researcher (12 months)

Huawei Canada has an immediate 12 month opening for a Researcher.

About the team

Established in 2014, the Distributed Scheduling and Data Engine Lab is Huawei Cloud's technical innovation center in Canada. The lab focuses on researching and developing advanced cloud technologies, supporting the productization and iterative optimization of its technical achievements. Current research areas include cloud native databases, intelligent SQL engine, LLM/Agent infrastructure and LLM/Agent Evaluation Technology. The lab fosters a robust technical environment, allowing collaboration with industry experts to create a highly competitive cloud platform.

Responsibilities

• Research, design, and prototype next-generation data systems that support AI applications, including LLMs, AI agents, RAG systems, and multimodal workloads.
• Design scalable architectures for agent memory, semantic retrieval, vector search, knowledge management, and AI data lifecycle management.
• Investigate and evaluate state-of-the-art technologies in vector databases, graph databases, data lake houses, retrieval systems, distributed storage, and cloud-native infrastructure.
• Develop proof‑of‑concept systems and production‑quality components using modern database technologies and distributed systems principles.
• Explore advanced capabilities including vector search and similarity retrieval, agent memory systems, knowledge graph integration, semantic indexing and retrieval, hybrid transactional and analytical processing for AI workloads, AI‑driven query optimization, and autonomous database capabilities.
• Review and summarize recent research from top conferences such as SIGMOD, VLDB, CIDR, ICDE, OSDI, SOSP, NeurIPS, ICML, and ICLR.
• Collaborate with engineers and researchers to translate innovative ideas into product‑ready technologies.
• Contribute to invention disclosures, patent applications, technical reports, and publications in leading academic and industrial venues.

The targeted annual total compensation (based on 2,080 hours per year) ranges from $127,000 to $225,000 depending on education, experience, and demonstrated expertise.

Qualifications

• Strong programming skills in C++, Rust, Go, or related systems programming languages; experience with systems‑level software development, performance optimization, debugging, and distributed systems.
• Understanding of modern AI applications such as LLMs, RAG pipelines, AI agents, semantic search, or vector retrieval systems.
• Familiarity with cloud‑native technologies, distributed storage, parallel computing, consistency protocols, and large‑scale system architecture; experience with database internals such as storage engines, query processing, indexing, transaction management, concurrency control, and distributed databases.
• Strong research mindset with the ability to quickly learn new technologies, analyze academic literature, and prototype innovative ideas; past publications, patents, or open‑source contributions in databases, distributed systems, AI infrastructure, or related areas is an asset.
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL or other open‑source database systems and their internal architecture; experience with vector databases, graph databases, knowledge graphs, or AI data infrastructure technologies.
• Experience developing database extensions or AI‑related data system components (e.g., pgvector, Apache Arrow, Spark, DuckDB, Milvus, Weaviate, LanceDB, or similar technologies).
• Experience leveraging modern hardware accelerators such as GPUs, NPUs, TPUs, or other heterogeneous computing platforms.
• Master’s or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, or a related discipline.

Additional Information

Huawei Canada is committed to a fair, inclusive, and accessible recruitment process. If you require accommodation during any stage of the hiring process, please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.

All applications for this position are reviewed directly by our hiring team; we do not use artificial intelligence tools to screen or select candidates.