Job Description

Priority may be given to the following designated employment equity groups: women, Indigenous peoples* (First Nations, Inuit and M\xc3\xa9tis), persons with disabilities and racialized persons*.

• The Employment Equity Act, which is under review, uses the terminology Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities.

City: Mississauga
Organizational Unit: Energy, Mining and Environment
Classification: RO
Tenure: Term
Duration: Up to March 2027
Language Requirements: English

Note: Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements, this position will require some physical presence at the NRC work location identified in the form of a hybrid work arrangement (a combination of working onsite and offsite).

This posting is to fill two positions.

The NRC Advantage

Great Minds. One Goal. Canada\'s Success.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is the Government of Canada\'s largest research organization supporting industrial innovation, the advancement of knowledge and technology development. We collaborate with over 70 colleges, universities and hospitals annually, work with 800 companies on their projects, and provide advice or funding to over 8000 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) each year.

We bring together the brightest minds to deliver tangible impacts on the lives of Canadians and people around the world. And now, we want to partner with you. Let your expertise and inspirations make an impact by joining the NRC.

At the NRC, we know that diversity enables excellence in research and innovation. We are committed to a diverse and representative workforce, a safe and respectful work environment, and contributing to a more inclusive Canadian innovation system.

NRC welcomes all qualified applicants and encourages candidates to self-declare as members of the following designated employment equity groups: women, visible minorities, aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities.

Please advise of any accommodation measures required to enable you to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner. They are available to all candidates for further assessment. Related information received will be addressed confidentially.

Your Challenge

Help bring research to life and drive your career forward with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Canada\'s largest research and technology organization.

We are looking for a Research Officer (RO) with a focus to support the accelerated discovery and development of clean energy and/or energy storage materials for the Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre\'s new Research Facility in Mississauga. The selected candidate would be someone who shares our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Respect and Creativity.

You will be working in a team environment with researchers and technical experts in world-class facilities. You will be working on projects looking to advance research towards the next paradigm through the development and integration of AI/ML in the theoretical, experimental, and material discovery workflow. In this role, you will work closely with accelerated material discovery leads and subject matter experts to develop and implement machine learning algorithms that can analyze large datasets and predict the properties of new materials based on theoretical and experimental data. You will be responsible for all aspects of the machine learning process, from data cleaning and preprocessing to model training, optimization, and deployment. You will also either be responsible and/or work with software developers to integrate machine learning models into existing orchestrators.

You will also support the advancement of the IT and HPC infrastructure necessary to enable this paradigm shift in materials discovery by participating in pilot programs to test use case studies on proposed corporate solutions.

You will be involved in the development of new research proposals, management of research projects, maintenance of research partnerships with external academic, industrial and government collaborators and supervision of junior staff, students and vendors.

Being in a dynamic position means that the workdays are always evolving, challenging and motivating. You are a self-starter who can excel in an evolving and exciting R&D environment and provide input into the direction and priorities of R&D activities that will be set forth by this new initiative in Mississauga. If you are that person, this may be the perfect role for you!

The employees of the Energy, Mines and Environment research center must be present on site at least 3 days a week.

Screening Criteria

Applicants must demonstrate within the content of their application that they meet the following screening criteria in order to be given further consideration as candidates:

Education

PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, (various) Physics or Engineering (various) or similar domain.

For information on certificates and diplomas issued abroad, please see

Experience

• Recent experience working in multi-disciplinary teams and overseeing the activities of other researchers, students, technicians and vendors.
• Development and implementation of machine learning and deep learning algorithms, in particular as it relates to active learning, reinforcement learning, optimization, generative modeling and approaches towards materials discovery.
• Significant experience in developing metrics and assessing performance and accuracy of the models.
• Experience building and maintaining databases of materials data (experimental, theoretical, or other) and develop tools for data cleaning, preprocessing, and analysis.
• Experience managerial research activities including project management, data production and analysis, and reporting through written documentation, presentations and publishing.
• Up to date on the latest developments in AI and ML research and applies them to materials discovery.

Assets:

• Experience with materials informatics platforms such as the Materials Project, and any experience DFT or molecular dynamics.
• Proficiency working with software development tools (eg. Git).
• Experience working with large language models.

Condition of Employment

Reliability Status

Language Requirements

English

Assessment Criteria

Candidates will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

Technical Competencies

• Knowledge of machine learning / AI methods and experience in implementing them with a focus on materials discovery applications towards energy storage applications (batteries and or related) OR material / chemical processing.
• Proficiency in programming languages commonly used in AI research, such as Python, and experience with relevant libraries (TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn, etc.).
• Proficiency in creating meaningful visualizations of materials data and model outputs to aid in data exploration and communication of research findings.
• Ability to communicate scientific concepts clearly to both expert and lay audiences.
• Ability to lead and manage research projects and lead a technical research team.

Behavioural Competencies

• Research - Communication (Level 2)
• Research - Creative thinking (Level 3)
• Research - Self-knowing and self-development (Level 3)
• Research - Teamwork (Level 2)

Competency Profile(s)

For this position, the NRC will evaluate candidates using the following competency profile:

Relocation

Relocation assistance will be determined in accordance with the NRC\'s directives.

Compensation

This position is classified as a Research Officer (RO), a group that is unique to the NRC. Candidates are remunerated based on their expertise, outcomes and impacts of their previous work experience relative to the requirements of the level. The salary scale for this group is vast, from $57 220 to $161 754 per annum, which permits for employees of all levels from new graduates to world renowned experts to be fairly compensated for their contributions.

NRC employees enjoy a wide-range of including comprehensive health and dental plans, pension and insurance plans, vacation and other leave entitlements.

Notes

• \xe2\x80\x8bA pre-qualified list may be established for similar positions for a one year period.
• The employees of the Energy, Mines and Environment research center must be present on site at least 3 days a week
• This position is being advertised internally and externally simultaneously, however first consideration will be given to internal NRC applicants.
• Preference will be given to Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents of Canada. Please include citizenship information in your application.
• The incumbent must adhere to safe workplace practices at all times.

Please direct your questions, with the requisition number (20139) to:
E-mail:
Telephone: 438-304-7562

Closing Date: 18 September 2023 - 11:59 PM Eastern Time

For more information on career tools and other resources, check out

*If you are currently a term or continuing employee at NRC, please apply through the SuccessFactors Careers module from your NRC computer.

Date modified: This page is updated continuously.

National Research Council Canada