Data Scientist

Role Responsibilities

Are you an experienced data scientist, advanced analyst or business intelligence & analytics professional who thrives at the intersection of data, technology, and strategic decision-making? We are seeking a results-oriented Data Scientist to join our high-performing data science team within Tax and Revenue Administration (TRA). This role plays a critical part in enabling data-driven decisions through both advanced reporting and applied machine learning.

As a Data Scientist reporting to the Manager, Business Intelligence & Analytics, you will be responsible for delivering high-impact analytics and machine learning solutions that directly inform decisions, strategies, and program effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities:

• Analyze large, complex structured and unstructured datasets to identify trends, patterns, and actionable insights
• Perform exploratory data analysis (EDA) and feature engineering to support modeling efforts
• Design and implement data cleaning, transformation and processing logic for analytical and ML use cases
• Develop, validate, and maintain statistical, machine learning and neural network models to solve business problems
• Develop NLP solutions such as text classification, information extraction, summarization, and document similarity
• Apply pre-trained LLMs using techniques such as prompt engineering, embeddings, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• Collaborate with data engineers, analysts and other stakeholders to design and support scalable data and ML pipelines
• Support model deployment and performance evaluation on AWS, Azure or other cloud and hybrid environments for operation
• Monitor model performance, data quality, data drifts, and pipeline reliability
• Create reports, develop dashboards aligned with TRA’s strategic goals and communicate findings, assumptions, and results clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ensure data quality, reproducibility, and documentation of analytical work
• Promote data culture through trainings and consultative support and apply best practices for data governance, privacy, security, and ethical use of data and responsible AI
• Ensure compliance with Alberta’s data privacy legislation, including Protection of Privacy Act (POPA), and support TRA’s standards for ethical data use, protection, and transparency

This role demands strong systems thinking, creative problem solving, experimentation, prototyping, results focus, and the agility to navigate evolving priorities and complex data challenges.

The Job Description is provided for further details on this position. 

APS Competencies

Competencies are behaviors that are essential to reach our goals in serving Albertans. We encourage you to have an in depth understanding of the competencies that are required for this opportunity and to be prepared to demonstrate them during the recruitment process. 

In this role, you will contribute to our team by demonstrating aspects of all the competencies, with particular focus on the following:

• Systems Thinking – Work within the APS takes place in a broader, integrated, and inter‑related environment. Actions in one area may impact multiple groups and initiatives both within and outside the APS. Applying systems thinking helps ensure these broader impacts and interdependencies are considered.
• Creative Problem Solving – Demonstrates the ability to assess options and their implications in new ways, enabling the development of effective and sustainable outcomes and solutions.
• Agility – Demonstrates the ability to anticipate and assess change, adapt to shifting priorities, maintain resilience under uncertainty, and work effectively in evolving environments.
• Drive for Results – Demonstrates the ability to set and accomplish priorities that support outcomes aligned with government direction, departmental objectives, and public expectations.

This link will assist you with understanding competencies.

Qualifications

University degree in a relevant discipline – such as Advanced Analytics, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, or Statistics – plus four years of progressively responsible experience in related roles.

Equivalency: Directly related education or experience considered on the basis of:

• 1 year of education for 1 year of experience; or
• 1 year of experience for 1 year of education.

Preference will be given to those with a university degree in a relevant discipline.

The successful candidate will demonstrate strong technical and analytical capabilities, sound judgment, and aproven ability to interpret complex data and translate it into actionable insights that support evidence based policy, program delivery, and operational decision making.

Key skills and qualifications include:

• Strong Python skills and associated libraries for data processing and modeling
• Hands-on experience with core ML techniques (classification, regression, clustering, time series)
• Hands-on experience with SQL for data extraction and manipulations
• Fluency in developing strategic, decision-focused dashboards and reports
• Experience working with data visualization tools such as Matplotlib, Seaborn, Power BI, Tableau, or similar
• Hands-on experience in deploying or supporting production-grade machine learning models 
• Working knowledge of neural networks and deep learning fundamentals
• Hands-on exposure to NLP and text-based data
• Familiarity with LLM concepts such as embeddings, prompt design, and model APIs
• Experience working in cloud environment (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Ability to communicate analytical results clearly and concisely
• Knowledge of Alberta’s data privacy legislation (POPA), and related policies governing the ethical handling, protection, and sharing of sensitive or personally identifiable information in analytics workflows

Additional assets for this role include:

• Experience with deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow)
• Familirty with Spark or Databricks for large-scale data processing
• Exposure to deploying or supporting ML workloads in AWS and/or Azure 
• Exposure to MLOps practices (MLflow, CI/CD for ML, model monitoring)
• Formal certification from AWS or Azure
• Experience in data acquisition and integration from multiple sources
• Ability to provide technical advice and analytical consultation to both technical teams and business stakeholders

Minimum recruitment standards outline the minimum education and experience required for appointment to a job classification.

Notes

This is a Permanent full-time position working 36.25 hours per week, Monday to Friday (In-office). Location is in the Terrace Building, 9515 107 Street NW, in downtown Edmonton

Candidates may be asked to participate in a written assessment / presentation in person at the Terrace Building in Edmonton.

Candidates with lesser qualifications may be considered at a lower classification and salary. This competition may be used to fill current and future vacancies at equal or lesser classification across the Government of Alberta.

Applicants being considered for this position will be required to complete a Level 2 Security screening (including an enhanced criminal record check along with a credit check) as part of the pre-employment checks for this position.

What the Government of Alberta has to offer:

• Working for the Alberta Public Service.
• Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) 
• Alberta Public Service Benefit Information.
• Professional learning and development.
• Research Alberta Public Service Careers tool.
• Positive workplace culture and work-life balance.

Any costs associated with obtaining the required documents/checks as noted or interview travel expenses, will be the responsibility of the candidate. Out-of-province applicants can obtain the required documents/checks from the province they currently reside in.