Senior Data Scientist, Data Science COE

Overview  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. 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 one year contract opportunity
Role Summary  Within Sun Life, the Data and Analytics COE comprised of savvy and intellectually curious professionals who are on a mission to transform how we apply data and analytics to support Sun Life becoming client centric. An integral part of the Data and Analytics COE organization, the Data Science COE supports Canadian business units in their journey to leverage data and analytics as a foundational pillar in delivering business value.
Reporting to the  Director, Data Science,  as a  Senior Data Scientist  you will focus on supporting Canadian business units in accelerating the growth and application of advanced analytics in driving value. The senior data scientist will leverage practical 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 and leveraging new 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 data and 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;
Identify optimal algorithms, statistical techniques and/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-breed data 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 (Lang Chain, Lang Graph, CrewAI etc.)
Implement AI bots/agents with advanced reasoning capabilities and tool use 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 and maintain technical 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,…