Senior Data Scientist, LLM

Your career is an investment that grows over time!
Wealthsimple is on a mission to help everyone achieve financial freedom by reimagining what it means to manage your money. Using smart technology, we take financial services that are often confusing, opaque and expensive and make them transparent and low-cost for everyone. We’re the largest fintech company in Canada, with over 4 million users who trust us with more than $50 billion in assets.
Our teams ship often and make an impact with groundbreaking ideas. We’re looking for talented people who keep it simple and value collaboration and humility as we continue to create inclusive and high-performing teams where people can be inspired to do their best work.
About the team
The Data Products Team, is a dynamic group of Data Scientists and ML experts working to build and productionalize machine learning models. We identify opportunities where the insertion of ML models could serve as high points of leverage for the company or our clients. We have several ML models that we’ve put into production and are successfully providing predictions – critical to the business – including projects that leverage LLMs.  The data products team leverages our in-house ML platform, built using a wide array of open-source tools to enable fast experimentation and shipping with confidence. We are excited about the potential for AI to fundamentally reshape how we work and engage and support our clients, while maintaining security and trust. 
About the role
As a Data Scientist on the Data Products Team, you will be at the forefront of using large language models to re-shape how we approach and execute on our ambitions across product, customer experience and internal operations. There are several projects already in progress with a healthy roadmap, which will add a lot of value when executed. In addition, there are several parts of the business where green field opportunities exist to make a large impact leveraging LLMs. Your role is integral in our ability to realize the potential of LLMs within Wealthsimple and our broader mission of making financial services simple, transparent, and accessible to all Canadians.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Utilize large language models (LLMs) to transform various aspects of our business, including our product offering, customer service, and internal operations, making a tangible impact on our company and our customers.
• Guide and shape the future direction for the rapid adoption and application of LLMs within the organization, ensuring their use is both safe and effective.
• Take end-to-end ownership of the model building lifecycle, from the initial idea to production deployment, ensuring that our solutions are not only innovative but also reliable and sustainable.
• Continuously learn and stay updated with the latest trends in data science and fintech, especially in the world of LLMs, prompt engineering and productionalization of models. 
• Collaborate with domain experts and cross-functional teams to understand intricate problems specific to our industry, and identify opportunities where machine learning can drive significant innovation and efficiency.
• Leverage our state-of-the-art ML platform to monitor model performance post-production, with built-in triggers to identify model drift and opportunities for re-training, ensuring our solutions remain effective and relevant.
• Apply software engineering best practices, such as version control and continuous integration, to the code base; ensure that our models are not only effective but also well-tested, documented, and maintained.
• Embrace simplicity and effectiveness in your approach to challenges, adhering to the principle of Occam’s razor to find the most straightforward solutions to complex problems.
• Teach and learn from your teammates. We believe in the power of collective knowledge and the importance of fostering a culture of continuous learning and mutual success

Skills we are looking for:

• Proven experience as an experienced data scientist or machine learning engineer, with a focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP), Reinforcement Learning (RL), or Large Language Models (LLMs).
• Proficiency in Python, with a strong familiarity with key data science & machine learning libraries and tools.
• Demonstrated experience in productionalizing ML models, with a track record of owning the full lifecycle of ML model development, from ideation to deployment and maintenance.
• Understanding of large language models such as GPT-4, Gemini, and others, with a deep understanding of their potential applications and limitations.
• Familiarity with key LLM concepts such as fine-tuning models, and libraries such as Langchain.
• Solid knowledge of data engineering and preprocessing, including handling large datasets, ensuring data quality, and managing data pipelines.
• Comfortable with software engineering best practices, including version control and using Git for collaborative development.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to think critically and creatively to find effective solutions to complex challenges.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex ideas in a simple, clear, and engaging manner for a variety of audiences.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, demonstrated through the ability to thrive in highly collaborative settings and contribute positively to team-oriented environments.
• Familiarity with AI ethics and responsible AI practices, with a commitment to ensuring that our solutions are not only effective but also ethical and fair.

Why Wealthsimple? Competitive salary with top-tier health benefits and life insurance Retirement savings matching plan using Wealthsimple Work 20 vacation days per year and unlimited sick and mental health days Up to $1,500 per year towards wellness and professional development budgets respectively  90 days away program: Employees can work internationally in eligible countries for up to 90 days per calendar year  A wide variety of peer and company-led Employee Resource Groups (ie. Rainbow, Women of Wealthsimple, Black @ WS) Company-wide wellness days off scheduled throughout the year
We’re a remote-first team, with over 1,000 employees coast to coast in North America. Be a part of our Canadian success story and help shape the financial future of millions — join us!
Read our Culture Manual and learn more about how we work.
DEI StatementAt Wealthsimple, we are building products for a diverse world and we need a diverse team to do that successfully. We strongly encourage applications from everyone regardless of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status. 
Accessibility StatementWealthsimple provides an accessible candidate experience. If you need any accommodations or adjustments throughout the interview process and beyond, please let us know, and we will work with you to provide the necessary support and make reasonable accommodations to facilitate your participation. We are continuously working to improve our accessibility practices and welcome any feedback or suggestions on how we can better accommodate candidates with accessibility needs.