Data Science Research Assistant Jobs in Toronto, ON

You are as unique as your background, experience and point of view. Here, you'll be encouraged, empowered and challenged to be your best self. You'll work with dynamic colleagues - experts in their fields - who are eager to share their knowledge with you. Your leaders will inspire and help you reach your potential and soar to new heights. Every day, you'll have new and exciting opportunities to make life brighter for our Clients - who are at the heart of everything we do.

At Sun Life, we're driven by our Purpose: helping our Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Our values shape how we work: caring, authentic, bold, inspiring, and impactful.

When you join Sun Life, you'll work with passionate colleagues and empowering leaders who support your growth and celebrate your contributions, so you can make a meaningful difference in our Clients' lives.

Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.

Job Description:

Please Note: This is a 16 month contract role

Role Summary

Within Sun Life, theData and Analytics COEcomprisedof savvy and intellectually curious professionals who are on a mission to transform how we apply data and analytics to support Sun Life becoming clientcentric. An integral part of theData and Analytics COEorganization, the Data ScienceCOEsupports Canadian business units in their journey toleveragedata and analytics as a foundational pillar in delivering business value.

Reporting to theDirector, Data Science,as aSenior Data Scientistyou will focus on supporting Canadian business units in accelerating the growth and application ofadvancedanalytics in driving value.The senior data scientist willleveragepractical experience in applying varied data science techniques & offering advice/inputs to help with the design, development and implementation of analytics use cases.

Sun Life views success in this role in demonstration of these key attributes:

Fierce curiosity.You are drawn to discovering andleveragingnew 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.There are 3 core technical skills we look for: in-depth coding knowledge of an analytical tool(s) (i.e., Python); data science techniques and concepts; working with structured dataand unstructured data.Thirst for learning.You are a data scientist who is constantly updating their knowledge of data science state-of-the-art.

What you will do:

Data Science and Machine Learning

• Translate business goals into analytical problems;Identifyoptimalalgorithms, statisticaltechniquesand/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-breeddata 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,CrewAIetc.)
• Implement AI bots/agents with advanced reasoning capabilities and tooluse 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 andmaintaintechnical 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 community

What you need to succeed:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Statistics, Mathematics, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 5+years experiencein developing and implementing data science techniques
• Proficient in Python for data science and GenAI application development
• Experience withwriting complex SQLandPySparkqueries to extract and integrate data from multiple database sources
• Proficiencyin 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-onexpertisewith GenAI frameworks and LLM APIswith experience developing AI bots/agents with reasoning and tool-use capabilities
• Strong understanding of RAG techniques, prompt engineering, and fine-tuning methodologiesand 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 scientistsand data engineers
• Strong problem-solving abilities and analytical skills with keen attention to detail

What would be 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.

Unique Requirements:

• This role requires Reliability Status Clearance. In addition to a law enforcement inquiry and a credit check, as part of your application, the Government of Canada will ask if you lived or travelled outside of Canada for 6-consecutive months during the last 5 years, and you must account for all activities during this time. Important: Obtaining Reliability Status Clearance within a reasonable amount of time is a condition required to start employment for this role at Sun Life.
• Must be able to satisfactorily complete applicable background checks prior to the start date and during employment, in accordance with Sun Life's policies and practices.

What's in it for you:

• We're honoured to be recognized as a 2026 Best Workplaces in Canada by Great Place to Work Canada.
• We are thrilled to be recognized by Excellence Canada with their top-level certification, the Canada Order of Excellence for Mental Health at Work, for prioritizing employee well-being, fostering a positive work culture, and achieving excellence in mental health.
• Wellness programs that support the three pillars of your health - mental, physical, and financial
• The opportunity to move along a variety of career paths with amazing networking potential.
• As a hybrid organization, you and your leader use business and Client needs to choose where you work, at home or in the office

The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.

Diversity and inclusion have always been at the core of our values at Sun Life. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our Clients, the communities where we operate and all of us as colleagues. We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.

Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in the application process, or those needing job postings in an alternative format, may e-mail a request to thebrightside@sunlife.com.

We are proud to be a hybrid organization that offers our employees the choice and flexibility to work from both the office and virtually based on the needs of the business, our Clients and you.

We may use artificial intelligence to support candidate sourcing, screening, interview scheduling.

We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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