Senior Data Scientist - NLP & LLM

Job Description:

Here at Rakuten Kobo Inc. we offer a casual working start-up environment and a group of friendly and talented individuals. Our employees rank us highly in terms of commitment to work/life balance. We realize that for our people to be innovative, creative and passionate they need to feel valued and supported. We believe in rewarding all our employees with competitive salaries, performance based annual bonuses, stock options and training opportunities. 
 

If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth– join Kobo and come help us make reading lives better. 
 

The Role: 

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Data Scientist with a strong background in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLM) to join our dynamic team. In this role, you will be responsible for developing state-of-the-art NLP solutions and generating actionable insights from extensive unstructured text data. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to enhance our products and services, driving user engagement and satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement advanced NLP and LLM solutions to extract meaningful insights from large datasets of unstructured text.
• Analyze and interpret complex data to identify trends, patterns, and opportunities for product improvement.
• Design and build models and algorithms to enhance user experience through personalized content and recommendations.
• Collaborate with data engineers, software developers, and product managers to integrate NLP solutions into our products.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in NLP, LLMs, and related technologies by studying scientific research papers, attending conferences, and innovating the in the relevant fields to ensure our solutions are at the cutting edge.
• Utilize open-source Python libraries, such as NLTK, Gensim, SpaCy, OpenAI APIs, and Hugging Face APIs to develop, evaluate, and deploy NLP models and LLM-based applications.
• Communicate findings and insights effectively to non-technical stakeholders.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior data scientists and analysts.

The Skillset: 

Must Haves: 

• Masters or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, or a related field.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, with experience in building and deploying predictive models. 
• Proven experience as a Data Scientist with a focus on NLP and LLM solutions.
• Expertise in open-source Python libraries for processing unstructured text.
• Experience working in an Agile environment and familiarity with MLOps practices 
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to convey complex technical concepts to a non-technical audience.

Nice to Have: 

• Hands-on experience on transformers and LLMs
• Experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Familiarity with the ebook, audiobook, or publishing industry. 
•  Knowledge of data governance: legal requirements and best practices (GDPR, CCPA, ...) 

The Perks: 

• Flexible hours and working environment
• 4 extended summer long weekends 
• Full benefits starting from your first day
• Paid Volunteer days, unlimited sick days, and 3% RRSP matching
• Monthly commuting allowance for hybrid employees
• Flexible health spending account
• Training budget + Udemy account
• Free Kobo device + free weekly e-book or audiobook
• Weekly Kobo Tech University sessions
• Maternity/paternity leave top up
• 90 Day Work from Anywhere program
• Daily lunch credit when in-office and in-office snacks
• Dog friendly office 
   

About Rakuten Kobo Inc. 

Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the most advanced global ecommerce companies, with the world’s most innovative eReading services offering more than 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to 30 million + customers in 190 countries. Kobo delivers the best digital reading experience through creative innovation, award-winning eReaders, and top-ranking mobile apps. Kobo is a part of the Rakuten group of companies. 

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Accessibility accommodations for candidates with disabilities participating in the selection process are available on request. Any information received related to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially. 
 

Rakuten Kobo would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this role however only qualified candidates will be shortlisted. 

 #RKIND