Job description
Data Scientist - AI/ML
Company Overview
Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets.
Job Summary
Scotiabank is seeking a highly specialized and innovative Data Scientist to join our Global Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning team. This role is central to building and deploying next-generation AI/ML products across the bank’s business lines, focusing specifically on leveraging advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) to transform how we process, understand, and extract value from complex, unstructured documents. The ideal candidate will be an integral part of the organization’s AI/ML strategy, using cutting-edge Gemini prompting techniques and robust Python coding to solve high-impact business challenges.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Delivery and Development:
- Develop, test, and implement highly effective models optimized for specific document understanding tasks (e.g., data extraction, classification).
- Write and maintain high-quality Python code to preprocess, process, and analyze large volumes of structured and unstructured documents, building robust data pipelines.
- Design, build, and rigorously evaluate specialized machine learning models for document understanding, ensuring accuracy, fairness, and scalability.
- Collaborate with Data Engineers and software developers to develop and deploy document understanding solutions efficiently and reliably into production environments.
- Stay up-to-date on the latest advances in generative AI, Python coding libraries, machine learning best practices, and the field of Document AI.
- Support Research & Development focused on the effective application of design thinking and advanced techniques.
Collaboration and Strategy:
- Support high-impact analytical use cases focused on supporting a wide variety of business lines, delivering AI/ML products that simultaneously provide value to customers and the organization.
- Collaborate with key stakeholders and partners to define and enforce machine learning and artificial intelligence best-practices across the organization.
- Understand how the Bank’s risk appetite and risk culture should be considered in decision making related to model development and deployment.
- Collaborate seamlessly with data scientists, data engineers, software engineers, and ML product owners to implement scalable ML/AI products throughout the bank.
Requirements / Qualifications
- Expert-level proficiency in Python for data manipulation, statistical modeling, and pipeline development.
- Proven, hands-on experience designing and optimizing prompts for advanced large language models (specifically Gemini, or comparable LLMs) tailored for structured document analysis.
- Direct experience with document understanding tasks, including working with unstructured text, OCR output, and information extraction from complex forms or contracts.
- Practical experience with ML/AI techniques, including supervised, unsupervised, and specifically deep learning and NLP methods.
- Experience with big data tools such as SQL, Hadoop, and Spark.
- Proven ability to ingest, clean, and work effectively with large volumes of structured and unstructured non-traditional data.
- Experience with DevOps principles and/or software engineering best practices (e.g., Git, continuous integration/delivery, Jira).
- University/Post graduate degree in a relevant STEM discipline (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
- Effective communication skills with the ability to prepare clear project documentation and compelling presentations.
- Ability to translate technical knowledge into tangible business value and collaborate effectively across technical and non-technical teams.
- Working knowledge of visualization tools such as Power BI.
Salary & Benefits
- A competitive compensation and benefits package.
- The opportunity to join a forward-thinking company surrounded by a collaborative team of innovative thinkers at the forefront of AI implementation in finance.
- A rewarding career path with diverse opportunities for professional development and internal support to enhance your skills.
- An inclusive and collaborative working environment that encourages creativity, curiosity, and celebrates success!
- An organization committed to making a difference in our communities—for you and our customers.
Location
Canada : Ontario : Toronto
Equal Opportunity Statement
At Scotiabank, we value the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the Bank, and are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone. If you require accommodation (including, but not limited to, an accessible interview site, alternate format documents, ASL Interpreter, or Assistive Technology) during the recruitment and selection process, please let our Recruitment team know.
Application Process
Candidates must apply directly online to be considered for this role. We thank all applicants for their interest in a career at Scotiabank; however, only those candidates who are selected for an interview will be contacted.
