IT Research Analyst (Machine Learning)

Important messages

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the Contact information below to request specialized accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

Assessment accommodation

Duties

• Assess risks and determining best practices related to machine learning, data science, privacy and data protection in AI applications.
• Contribute to the development of an AI investigative framework and other guidance documents.
• Initiate and administer AI projects in our technological laboratory (e.g. for internal training purposes or an AI regulatory sandbox)
• Provide support on AI policy issues, including potential requirements related to explainability, traceability, inferences/predictions, bias, adversarial attacks and membership inference attacks and guidance for compliance with existing privacy principles such as security, accuracy, data minimization, and purpose specification.

Our office is also in the process of relocating the current lab to a space that better meets our current and future needs – a flexible new lab that will allow us to adapt to ever evolving advances in technology. This will allow us to deploy a new lab configuration, based on a diversified multi-zone design. The new design will expand our abilities when conducting analyses of malware, hardware components, mobile applications, IoT devices and digital forensic analyses. Additionally, the new lab configuration will enable us to extend our capabilities when analyzing emerging technologies and when engaging in interdepartmental collaboration within the Government of Canada.

Work environment

Employees of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) are passionate about privacy and work to protect and promote the privacy rights of individuals. The OPC is a small federal organization of approximately 200 employees that reports independently to Parliament. We may be small, but our office influences the lives of all Canadians. We oversee two privacy laws that span the private and public sectors, and our office acts as a public advocate for the privacy rights of Canadians.

Please also note during the current pandemic context, employees of the Technology Analysis Directorate are working remotely most of the time and OPC is ready to virtually onboard new employees.

Because of our size, new employees are able to integrate and gain access to our systems more quickly, and benefit from in-house compensation and IT support. There are also opportunities to expand or gain experience in a variety of areas. The ideal OPC candidate is interested in developing skills in a wide range of activities and enjoys working on a variety of projects. You may be interested in emerging technologies, the online world or human rights. As an employee, you would tackle interesting and important issues, so the work is meaningful and satisfying.

As an employee of the OPC, you would work in a modern LEED-certified building in downtown Gatineau with many amenities, including a locked bike room with lockers and showers and a beautiful kitchen. Bus routes and bike/jogging paths are nearby, as are gyms, shops, restaurants, a food court and cafés. The desks in our Workplace 2.0 environment are adaptable to your style. Like to work standing up or sitting down? You decide! You can also take advantage of our personal and career development offerings, such as training, coaching/mentoring, conferences and well-being activities such as yoga and meditation at work.

Organization-wide, we offer an environment that is intellectually stimulating and supportive. If you believe in making a difference by serving Canadians, an exciting career at the OPC may be for you.

Intent of the process

This is an anticipatory process.

This process will be used to establish a pool of candidates that may be used to staff the above-noted position (and similar positions at an identical or equivalent group and level) with various security profiles (reliability, secret, top secret), various linguistic profiles (Bilingual Imperative CBC/CBC, Bilingual Imperative BBB/BBB, English Essential, French Essential, etc), various tenures (indeterminate, specified period) using various staffing activities (indeterminate, term, deployment, acting, assignment, secondment) for positions with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or the Public Service.

Positions to be filled: Number to be determined

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

EDUCATION
Graduation from a two-year program of study from a recognized post-secondary institution with acceptable specialization in computer science, information technology, information management or another specialty relevant to the position to be staffed.

Note:
1.Indeterminate incumbents in the IT group on December 9, 2021 who do not possess the education prescribed above, are deemed to meet the minimum education standard based on their education, training and/or experience. They must be accepted as having met the minimum education standard whenever this standard is called for when staffing positions in the IT group.
2.Indeterminate incumbents of positions in the CS group on May 10, 1999, who do not possess the education prescribed above, are deemed to meet the minimum education standard based on their education, training and/or experience. They must be accepted as having met the minimum education standard whenever this standard is called for when staffing positions in the IT group.
3.At the manager’s discretion, an acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience may serve as an alternative to the minimum education stated above. Whenever the minimum education is met using this alternative, it is met for the specific position only and must be re-assessed for other positions for which this alternative has been specified by the manager.

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
• Significant* experience in AI (machine learning, deep learning, supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning, algorithmic techniques such as artificial neural networks including convolutional and recurrent, logistic regression, decision trees, K-nearest neighbor, application program interfaces (APIs) or a combination thereof).
• Significant* experience with one or more ML Frameworks (i.e. Caffe, Keras, MXNET, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Theano).
• Significant* experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages (i.e. Java, C/C++, Python, SQL, R, Perl).
• Experience with the cloud computing environment (i.e. AWS, Azure or GCP).
• Experience in providing rigorous research, analysis, evaluation and recommendations to decision makers with the ability to explain and present concepts to a technical and non-technical audience.

*Significant experience will be assessed based on the depth and breadth of the experience associated with having performed a broad range of hands-on related and technical activities over a minimum period of two (2) years. The experience must have been acquired from a workplace or in an academic setting experience (postgraduate) or a combination thereof.

If you possess any of the following, your application must also clearly explain how you meet it (other qualifications)

ASSET QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION
• Master's degree in quantitative field such as Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Data Science or related field of study
• Doctoral degree (in a relevant discipline or field)

CERTIFICATION
• Professional certificate program in AI & ML

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
• Experience in computer vision
• Experience in natural language processing
• Experience in product testing and evaluation
• Experience assessing and mitigating security or privacy vulnerabilities
• Experience in designing, creating, testing, or deploying data protection or IT security
• Experience with Linear Algebra, Probability, and Statistics

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Various language requirements

Information on language requirements

KNOWLEDGE
• Knowledge of software engineering
• Knowledge of systems architecture
• Knowledge of data analytics, ML methods and architectures
• Knowledge of computer science fundamentals

COMPETENCY
• Excellent oral communication skills
• Effective writing
• Information research and synthesizing
• Working effectively with others
• Showing initiative and being action oriented

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is committed to Employment Equity. In order to ensure a diversified workforce, preference may be given to candidates self-identifying as belonging to one or more of the following Employment Equity groups: aboriginal peoples, women, persons with disabilities and members of visible minority groups provided the candidate meets all essential qualifications listed on the Statement of Merit Criteria and any applicable asset qualification(s).

Information on employment equity

Conditions of employment

Various security requirements

All employees of the core public administration are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and attest to their vaccination status unless accommodated based on a medical contraindication, religion, or another prohibited ground for discrimination as defined under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

On October 6, 2021, the Government of Canada announced details of its plans to require vaccination across the federal public service. As per the new Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration Including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, federal public servants in the Core Public Administration and members of the RCMP must attest to their vaccination status. The requirement for employees to be fully vaccinated applies whether they are teleworking, working remotely or working on-site. This is a condition of employment and it applies to indeterminate (permanent), determinate (term), casual, and student hiring. Should you reach the point in the selection process where it is necessary to verify terms and conditions of employment then the hiring manager or a human resources representative will contact you in order to complete an attestation.

Reference checks may be sought.

An interview may be administered.

A written examination may be administered.

Acknowledgment of receipt of applications will not be sent; we will contact candidates when the screening process is completed.

Communication for this process will be sent via email. It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure accurate contact information is provided and updated as required. Candidates who apply to this selection process should include an email address that accepts email from unknown users (some email systems block these types of email).

It is to be noted that it is your responsibility to ensure that, during the life of this selection process, you communicate any changes related to your telephone number or e-mail address to the email address indicated on the poster. Failure to do so might exclude you from the selection process.

You will be asked to provide proof of your education credentials later during the process.

Persons are entitled to participate in the appointment process in the official language of their choice.

The OPC is a fragrance free environment.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans first and then to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.