Staff Applied AI Scientist - Ottawa, ON

Trend Micro is seeking a Staff Applied AI Scientist to develop and optimize advanced machine learning and AI systems for cybersecurity. This hybrid role involves owning the full lifecycle of language and deep learning models, from design and training to deployment and continuous improvement. The scientist will design scalable AI systems, drive technical decisions on model development, prototype novel approaches, and build AI Ops pipelines, applying state-of-the-art AI advances to real-world cybersecurity problems.

Must Have

• Own the full lifecycle of language models and other deep learning models
• Design efficient, scalable AI systems with strong mathematical foundations
• Drive key technical decisions on model development, training, tuning, and optimization
• Prototype novel approaches using expert-level programming skills
• Build and operate AI Ops pipelines
• Stay current with state-of-the-art language, vision, and multimodal models
• Hands-on, end-to-end experience bringing LLM/SLM research into production
• Demonstrated experience taking AI models from research through production, including deployment, monitoring, and iteration
• Experience building and deploying containerized AI microservices
• Expertise in balancing data, model, and infrastructure trade-offs
• Expertise in fine-tuning LLMs using modern toolchains (e.g., LLaMA-Factory, NVIDIA NeMo) and PEFT methods
• Expertise in reinforcement learning for LLMs and agents (e.g., VeRL/verl, SkyRL, Ray RLlib)
• Expertise in production inference with frameworks such as vLLM, NVIDIA NIM, Triton, CUDA/NCCL, and PyTorch/XLA
• Expertise in model optimization for throughput and latency using TensorRT, quantization, and custom kernels
• Expertise in AI Ops and observability tooling (e.g., Weights & Biases, MLflow, Ray Serve)

Perks & Benefits

• Group benefits program with health and dental coverage
• Telehealth Virtual Health Services
• Life Insurance
• Short & Long Term Disability
• Pre-partum, maternity, parental and medical leave
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Mental Health Wellness Program
• Wellness Incentive Program
• Retirement Savings Programs with company match
• Paid Time Off
• 14 Annual Holidays
• Tuition Assistance
• Employee Resource Groups
• Competitive compensation with bonus opportunity tied to company performance
• Room to enhance skills through ongoing learning
• Broad technological opportunities
• Work-life balance
• Team activities
• Environment rooted in equity, inclusion, and collaboration

Position Summary:

Trend Micro is a world-leading cybersecurity company that focuses on building cutting-edge AI applications and services, with a mission to secure these technologies and ensure a safer AI-driven world. We are seeking talented professionals to join our team in developing and optimizing advanced machine learning and AI systems.

As a Staff Applied AI Scientist, you will contribute across the full machine learning lifecycle, driving innovation in AI for cybersecurity and advancing techniques to secure AI applications. You will combine strong theoretical foundations with hands-on engineering to design, build, and operate production-grade AI systems at scale.

Responsibilities:

• Own the full lifecycle of language models and other deep learning models, from design and training through evaluation, deployment, and continuous improvement for enterprise-grade applications.
• Design efficient, scalable AI systems, applying strong mathematical foundations to problem formulation and model architecture selection.
• Drive key technical decisions on how models are developed and adapted, selecting appropriate training, tuning, and optimization approaches for each use case.
• Prototype novel approaches using expert-level programming skills and evaluate their performance in production environments.
• Build and operate AI Ops pipelines, including evaluation metrics, monitoring, drift detection, and automated lifecycle management.
• Stay current with the state of the art in language, vision, and multimodal models, and apply relevant advances to real-world cybersecurity problems.

Core Skills & Experience:

• Hands-on, end-to-end experience bringing LLM/SLM research into production, including fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, inference optimization, evaluation pipelines, and AI Ops integration.
• Demonstrated experience taking AI models from research through production, including responsibility for deployment, monitoring, and ongoing iteration in live systems, as well as building and deploying containerized AI microservices.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts clearly.
• Strong problem-solving skills, creativity, and curiosity.
• A passion for staying ahead in a fast-moving AI landscape.

Expertise in one or more of the following areas:

• Balancing data, model, and infrastructure trade-offs to meet real business SLAs and cost constraints.
• Fine-tuning LLMs using modern toolchains (e.g., LLaMA-Factory, NVIDIA NeMo) and PEFT methods (LoRA and newer PEFT variants).
• Reinforcement learning for LLMs and agents (e.g., VeRL/verl, SkyRL, Ray RLlib) for RLHF, reasoning fine-tuning, and agentic training.
• Production inference with frameworks such as vLLM, NVIDIA NIM, Triton, CUDA/NCCL, and PyTorch/XLA, including quantization, distillation, kernel-level optimizations, and end-to-end profiling and benchmarking.
• Model optimization for throughput and latency using TensorRT, quantization techniques, and custom kernels.
• AI Ops and observability tooling, such as Weights & Biases, MLflow, and Ray Serve.

What We Offer You:

You're important to us. What matters to you, matters to us too. Trend Micro provides benefit options for you and your family.

• Group benefits program with health and dental coverage
• Telehealth Virtual Health Services
• Life Insurance
• Short & Long Term Disability
• Pre-partum, maternity, parental and medical leave
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Mental Health Wellness Program
• Wellness Incentive Program
• Retirement Savings Programs with company match
• Paid Time Off
• 14 Annual Holidays
• Tuition Assistance
• Employee Resource Groups

We offer competitive compensation with bonus opportunity tied to company performance, along with room to enhance your skills through ongoing learning and broad technological opportunities. Achieving work-life balance is a priority, complemented by team activities, fostering an environment rooted in equity, inclusion, and collaboration, that is reflected in both our culture and our work.

Trend Micro Canada has been recognized as one of the National Capital Region's Top Employers. If you're curious to learn more, click the link below to discover why joining Trend Micro could be the perfect career move for you: Trend Micro Top Employer

Be Passionate. Be Innovative. Be a Trender.

No sponsorship will be provided for work permit applications or renewals for this position now or in the future.

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At Trend Micro, we embrace change, empower people, and encourage innovation in a connected world. Our diversity and multicultural workforce are key contributing factors to our success across the globe. Trend Micro welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.