Senior Staff Applied Scientist, AI/ML

About Kinaxis Are you looking to join an innovative, market-leading company where you can truly elevate your career? At Kinaxis we are serious about culture, we are serious about technology, we are serious about customers, and we are serious about not taking ourselves too seriously. If you are looking to be part of an incredible growth story, then we might just be the place for you! In 1984, we started out as a team of three engineers. Today, we have grown to become a global organization with over 2000 employees around the world, 6 global office and a best-in-class HQ in Ottawa, Canada. As winners of several Top Employer awards globally, we are proud to work with our customers and employees towards solving some of the biggest challenges facing supply chains today. Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain orchestration, powering complex global supply chains, and supporting the people who manage them. Our powerful, AI infused platform provides full transparency and visibility across end-to-end supply chains, enabling our customers to make faster, better decisions. We are trusted by renowned global brands to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. With more than 40,000 users in over 100 countries, we are expanding our team as we continue to innovate and revolutionize how we support our customers. Location Ottawa and Toronto, CA - Hybrid Other Canadian locations - Remote About the team The AI team is responsible for delivering machine learning solutions in the supply and demand space for verticals such as Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods, Life Sciences, etc. This includes problems in the space of forecasting, optimization, replenishment, recommendation, explainability, and more. The uniqueness of the team is that it performs at the intersection of technology and real business problems. You will contribute to the product that delights customers worldwide! Kinaxis is seeking a talented and passionate Sr. Staff Applied Scientist to join our Machine Learning team. Your work will directly impact our enterprise-grade AI/ML software solutions, which are used by hundreds of customers worldwide to manage their supply chains. Vacancy Status This is an existing job vacancy What you will do You will operate as a lead scientist, defining the long-term technical strategy and scientific vision for critical business domains. Your primary focus will be on solving the most ambiguous, high-impact, and multi-quarter research challenges, translating them into foundational machine learning solutions that unlock next-generation product capabilities; crucially, this role spans multiple AI/ML domains (e.g., natural language processing, deep learning, forecasting) and you will be a major contributor collaborating closely across several different product and engineering teams. You are responsible for setting up the bar, defining the organization-wide standards for model robustness, reproducibility, and rigorous evaluation methodology, while also ensuring the highest standards of software engineering excellence, leveraging your fluency in Python, object-oriented design, and deep proficiency in modern cloud environments to develop and prototype complex, scalable core ML services that deliver significant business impact. You are expected to maintain deep expertise and familiarity with the end-to-end AI/ML solution development lifecycle and the underlying infrastructure. Success in this role requires leveraging this knowledge to provide critical architectural review and recommendation to Platform Architects, MLOps, and DevOps Engineers. You will proactively identify potential flaws or risks in deployment and design that could compromise the integrity or scalability of ML solutions, thereby influencing the production roadmap based on scientific needs. You act as a primary mentor and technical advisor for junior and senior ML developers and peers, proactively resolving organizational and technical impediments that span across multiple teams (Science, Engineering, and Product) to advance the overall technical direction of the entire ML organization. What we are looking for Advanced AI/ML Expertise: Master's in computer science or a related quantitative field with strong theoretical foundation in advanced machine learning concepts, including statistical methods for ML, Bayesian methods, generative models, stochastic processes, and model explainability. Mathematical and Statistical Acumen: Solid mathematical background in linear algebra, probability, statistics, and optimization. Problem-Solving: Exceptional ability to deconstruct vague or unstructured business goals into well-defined, actionable machine learning problems with clear success metrics. Lead and execute POCs: Generate hypotheses, design and execute experiments, evaluate outcomes to drive go/no-go decisions, and build successful POCs into production-ready software. Generative AI & Deep Learning Expertise: Strong, hands-on expertise with Natural Language Processing (NLP), Deep Learning techniques, and Large Language Models (LLMs). This includes advanced model training, fine-tuning, architecture design, transformer, embedding, regularization, transfer learning, quantization, and knowledge distillation. Cutting-Edge AI Tools: Expertise and hands-on experience with the latest AI libraries, tools, and frameworks, such as AI Agents, RAG, prompt-engineering, and vector databases. End-to-End ML Software Development: Proven 8+ years of experience in developing, debugging, testing, and optimizing complex machine learning solutions using Python, Pandas, Spark, etc. Strong software engineering skills. Cloud & Distributed Systems: Expertise in Linux, cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and distributed computing architectures. Solution Architecture and Delivery: Experience collaborating closely with Platform Architects and MLOps Engineers to design, implement, and optimize the production architecture and deployment pipeline for machine learning solutions. Scientific Leadership & Mentorship: Drive the technical research roadmap across multiple teams or domains, serving as a principal mentor and technical advisor who systematically defines development plans, upskills senior scientists, and sets the long-term scientific standard for the organization. Technical Communication & Influence: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with a proven ability to effectively advocate complex technical solutions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Ability to find opportunities to accelerate the SDLC through innovative application of AI or other tooling, while upholding architecture consistency, secure design, and code-quality standards. Ability to review AI-generated code rigorously for correctness, architectural fit, integration risk, and edge case support with a growth mindset and bias for experimentation. Nice to Have Ph.D. in computer science. Manufacturing & Supply Chain Domain Knowledge: Experience in supply chain, retail, life sciences, planning, or optimization domains. Research & Publication Record: Publications at relevant venues such as ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS, ICLR, SIGIR, or KDD. Work With Impact: Our platform directly helps companies power the world’s supply chains. We see the results of what we do out in the world every day, when we see store shelves stocked, when medications are available for our loved ones, and so much more. Work with Fortune 500 Brands: Companies across industries trust us to help them take control of their integrated business planning and digital supply chain. Some of our customers include Lockheed Martin, Unilever, P&G, ExxonMobil, Cisco and more. Social Responsibility at Kinaxis: Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee weighs in on hiring practices, talent assessment training materials, and mandatory training on unconscious bias and inclusion fundamentals. Sustainability is key to what we do and we’re committed to a long-term net-zero operations strategy. We are involved in our communities and support causes where we can make the most impact. People matter at Kinaxis and here are some of the perks and benefits we offer, which may vary by location and employee: Flexible vacation and Kinaxis Days (company-wide days off) Flexible work options Physical and mental well-being programs Regularly scheduled virtual fitness classes Mentorship programs, training, and career development Recognition programs and referral rewards Hackathons For more information, visit the Kinaxis website at www.kinaxis.com or the company’s blog at http://blog.kinaxis.com. Kinaxis welcomes candidates to apply to our inclusive community. We provide accommodations upon request to ensure fairness and accessibility throughout our recruitment process for all candidates, including those with specific needs or disabilities. If you require an accommodation, please reach out to us at [email protected]. This contact information is for accessibility requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications. Kinaxis is committed to ensuring a fair and transparent recruitment process. We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the initial step of the recruitment process to compare submitted resumes against the job description to identify candidates whose education, experience, and skills most closely match the requirements of the role. After the initial screening, all subsequent decisions regarding your application, including final selection, are made by our human recruitment team. AI does not make any final hiring decisions.