Data Scientist

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.

At Sun Life, we're driven by our Purpose: helping our Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Our values shape how we work: caring, authentic, bold, inspiring, and impactful.

When you join Sun Life, you'll work with passionate colleagues and empowering leaders who support your growth and celebrate your contributions, so you can make a meaningful difference in our Clients' lives.

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 role.

Role Summary

Within Sun Life, the Data Science Chapter comprises 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 organization, the Data Science Chapter supports Canadian business units in their journey to leverage data and analytics as a foundational pillar in delivering business value.

Reporting to the Data Science Manager as a Data Scientist you will focus on supporting Canadian business units in accelerating the growth and application of advanced analytics in driving value. The 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 data and taking on challenging business problems. An inquisitive mind. Driven to ask questions to help lead projects to business value and not being afraid that the innovation attempts can and will lead to failing. A passion for solving problems. 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.

Key Responsibilities:

Data Science and Machine Learning

• Translate business goals into analytical problems; Identify optimal algorithms, statistical techniques, traditional ML suitable for the business problem at hand.
• Work in cross-functional teams to develop ML/data science products
• Apply best-in-breed data science techniques including descriptive, predictive, and machine learning methods from design to implementation
• Focus on feature engineering, model training and model evaluation
• Use AWS services including SageMaker, Lambda and other AI/ML services
• Work with data warehousing, pipelines, and big data technologies such as AWS Glue for ETL, Glue Catalog, Glue Data Quality, and AWS Step Functions.

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

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 1-2 years of experience developing and implementing data science solutions

Technical Skills

• Programming: Proficient in Python for data science and application development
• Data Engineering: Experience writing complex SQL and PySpark queries to extract and integrate data from multiple sources
• Statistical Knowledge: Solid understanding of hypothesis testing, causal inference, and model evaluation metrics
• Cloud Platform: Experience with AWS, particularly SageMaker for training and deploying ML models
• Machine Learning: Proficiency in supervised and unsupervised models
• Data Handling: Demonstrated experience in data transformation, manipulation, and working with structured vs. unstructured data
• Architecture: Strong understanding of APIs, microservices architecture, and cloud-native development

Core Competencies

• Exceptional communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Effective oral and written storytelling and insights communication abilities
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously with changing deadlines and priorities
• Strong problem-solving abilities and analytical skills with keen attention to detail

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with GenAI frameworks and LLM APIs, including developing AI bots/agents with reasoning and tool-use capabilities
• Deep understanding of RAG techniques, prompt engineering, and fine-tuning methodologies
• Familiarity with vector databases and embedding models
• Experience with containerization (Docker) and CI/CD concepts

What’s in it for you:

• We’re honoured to be recognized as a 2026 Best Workplaces in Canada by Great Place to Work® Canada.
• We are thrilled to be recognized by Excellence Canada with their top-level certification, the Canada Order of Excellence for Mental Health at Work®, for prioritizing employee well-being, fostering a positive work culture, and achieving excellence in mental health.
• Wellness programs that support the three pillars of your health – mental, physical, and financial
• The opportunity to move along a variety of career paths with amazing networking potential.
• As a hybrid organization, you and your leader use business and Client need to choose where you work, at home or in the office

Unique Requirements:

• This role requires Reliability Status Clearance. In addition to a law enforcement inquiry and a credit check, as part of your application, the Government of Canada will ask if you lived or travelled outside of Canada for 6-consecutive months during the last 5 years, and you must account for all activities during this time. Important: Obtaining Reliability Status Clearance within a reasonable amount of time is a condition required to start employment for this role at Sun Life.
• Must be able to satisfactorily complete applicable background checks prior to the start date and during employment, in accordance with Sun Life’s policies and practices.

The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.

Diversity and inclusion have always been at the core of our values at Sun Life. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our Clients, the communities where we operate and all of us as colleagues. We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.

Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in the application process, or those needing job postings in an alternative format, may e-mail a request to thebrightside@sunlife.com.

We are proud to be a hybrid organization that offers our employees the choice and flexibility to work from both the office and virtually based on the needs of the business, our Clients and you.

We may use artificial intelligence to support candidate sourcing, screening, interview scheduling.

We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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