Applied AI Research Scientist

In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.

Montreal – a world leading AI hub, is home to new Centre of Research & Technology in Artificial Intelligence eXpertise (cortAIx) collaborating with leading Canadian AI research groups in Montreal and Toronto. With competencies in major industrial markets Thales is bringing artificial intelligence to life for our customers creating exciting jobs for AI researchers and developers who will create solutions that will transform our world from the bottom of oceans to the depths of space and cyberspace. As an early adopter of open, creative and collaborative innovation model, Thales is building the Centre of Research and Technology in Artificial Intelligence eXpertise (cortAIx). Led by Thales, cortAIx, the IVADO (Institute of Data Valorization) and the Vector Institute of Toronto, is located in Montreal’s famous Little Italy, in the heart of Montreal’s innovation community.

This is a hybrid role in Montreal

Job Summary

Thales Group is a global organization with operations on all continents serving five major markets, all of them of vital importance for our societies: aerospace, space, ground transportation, defense and security, and digital security. From the bottom of the ocean to the depth of space and cyberspace, Thales Group provides a unique range of technologies and services that make tomorrow possible, today. From helping cities and critical infrastructures to become safe and smart, to securing the global financial markets, protecting data and privacy and keeping security forces connected while on critical missions, Thales ensure that everyone can continue to share information, reap the benefits of a connected world and enjoy an enhanced quality of life, while staying safe and one step ahead of all forms of digital threat.

Thales’ Applied AI Research Team in Canada is looking for a talented researcher with a great appetite to solve complex research questions and apply them to critical machine learning projects. The team aims to design and implement cutting-edge solutions by incorporating safe, robust, trustworthy, and certifiable machine learning capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

A Research and Technology (R&T) scientist specializing in AI and Computer Vision is responsible for discovering, developing and integrating innovative methodologies to address complex challenges in these fields and to translate related concepts into Thales solutions. He/she proves their viability through the implementation of Proofs of Concept (PoCs) and guides their maturity growth through prototypes and demonstrators that will in turn illustrate and enable their full business potential.

To be successful in this role, curiosity for what is new, willingness to challenge the status quo, open-mindedness and out-of-the-box thinking are crucial. The individual should quickly learn and assess new techniques and technologies in order to decide whether to adopt, adapt or discard them. He/she also needs to be able to come up with new ideas, present them, challenge them and improve them continuously. The individual must possess deep, hands-on technical skills and be familiar with computer vision and AI for computer vision research methods and tools. The candidate must demonstrate a strong understanding of the scientific method and his/her ability to deliver quality content at all steps of the research process, from the capability to summarize the theoretical background of a novel domain to the dissemination of research outputs through peer-reviewed publications, patents or other means.

The scientist is part of a multi-disciplinary team. Strong team spirit and teamwork capabilities are mandatory. The ideal candidate therefore is able to demonstrate transverse skills that would facilitate the transfer of the work carried out to all stakeholders involved. She/he will contribute as a technical subject matter expert to Research and Technology projects across Thales and its business units. Therefore, good communication skills are required.

AI/Computer Vision Research Scientist Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct research in computer vision, focusing on image/video processing, deep learning models and algorithm development.
• Develop, implement and optimize state-of-the-art computer vision models for tasks such as object detection, segmentation, recognition, and tracking.
• Conduct pioneering research in frugal learning methods (e.g., few-shot and zero-shot learning), developing algorithms that efficiently learn from limited data, while ensuring model generalization and accuracy.
• Perform research and develop innovative solutions to validate and verify robustness of machine/deep learning models for real-world applications.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to translate research breakthroughs into deployable prototypes and production-ready systems.
• Work on problems of diverse scope to support the deployment of trustworthy and certifiable AI models in critical systems.
• Publish research findings in relevant/top-tier conferences and journals, in AI and computer vision, and contribute to publishing innovation patents.
• Demonstrate excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrate good judgment in selecting methods and techniques for obtaining better solutions.
• Develop excellent collaboration skills with academic or research organizations (e.g., NSERC, MITACS, etc.), and with industrial partners.
• Suggest, collect, and synthesize system requirements from stakeholders and contribute to shaping effective research and innovation roadmaps.

Minimum Qualifications

• Ph.D. or master’s degree in computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field with focus on computer vision, machine/deep learning or AI.
• Solid theoretical knowledge and understanding of machine learning fundamentals, supervised/unsupervised learning, self-supervised learning, few-shot learning.
• Demonstrate experience in developing and deploying computer vision algorithms in either academic or industrial settings.
• Strong understanding of various image sensing modalities, including RGB, RADAR, Infrared, LIDAR, hyperspectral, multispectral, RGB-D, thermal, ultrasonic, sonar, and structured light imaging.
• Strong knowledge of deep learning architectures for computer vision such as CNNs, Transformers, recent foundation models and related techniques used in object detection, segmentation and recognition.
• Solid experience in designing and executing experiments, refining models, optimization and data analysis.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and C++, and in using ML frameworks such as PyTorch, Tensorflow, and Scikit-learn, and OpenCV library.
• Critical thinker with ability to communicating scientific work in a clear and effective manner.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with ability to think creatively and strategically.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for effective collaboration and dissemination of research.
• Fluency in English (spoken and written).

Desired Qualifications

• 2 to 5 years of research experience in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or similar fields.
• A track record of research publications in relevant AI and computer vision conferences and journals, such as NeurIPs, ICCV, ECCV, CVPR, AAAI, and PAMI.
• Proven expertise in developing and implementing detection and segmentation algorithms for radar images.
• Fluency in French (spoken and written).

Special Job Requirements

The job may require the employee to setup equipment and perform field trials in outdoor environments.

What we offer

• Thales offers an extensive benefits program for all full-time employees working 24 or more hours per week and their eligible dependents, including the following:
• Company paid Extended Health, Dental, HSA, Life, AD&D, Short-term Disability, travel insurance, Employee Assistance Plan and Well-Being program.
• Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP, DCPP, TFSA) with a company contribution and a match to a DCPP, with no vesting period.
• Company paid holidays, vacation days, and paid sick leave.
• Voluntary Life, AD&D, Critical Illness, Long-Term Disability.

Why join us?

Say HI and learn more about working at Thales by clicking here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4Tu0YPm_U

#LI-AR2

The reference Total Target Compensation(TTC) market range for this position, inclusive of annual base salary and the variable compensation target, is between

Total Target Cash (TTC) 91,737.47 - 167,298.57 CAD Annual

This reflects how companies in a similar industry and geographic region generally pay for similar jobs. This range helps the Company make pay decisions as one data point among many. Where a position falls within this range is also dependent on other factors including – but not limited to – the employee’s career path history, competencies, skills and performance, as well as the company’s annual salary budget, the customer’s program requirements, and the company’s internal equity. Thales may offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s status protected by local, state, or federal law.

(For Internal candidate, if you need more information, please reach out to your HR Shared Service, 1st Point)

Thales provides an extensive benefits program for all full-time employees working 24 or more hours per week and their eligible dependents, including the following:

• Company paid Extended Health, Dental, HSA, Life, AD&D, Short-term Disability, travel insurance, Employee Assistance Plan and Well-Being program.
• Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP, DCPP, TFSA) with a company contribution and a match to a DCPP, with no vesting period.
• Company paid holidays, vacation days, and paid sick leave.
• Voluntary Life, AD&D, Critical Illness, Long-Term Disability.
• Employee Discounts on insurance (home, and auto).

Thales is an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. Thales is committed to providing accommodations in all parts of the interview process. Applicants selected for an interview who require accommodation are asked to advise accordingly upon the invitation for an interview. We will work with you to meet your needs. All accommodation information provided will be treated as confidential and used only for the purpose of providing an accessible candidate experience.

This position requires direct or indirect access to hardware, software or technical information controlled under the Canadian Export Control List, the Canadian Industrial Security Program, and/or the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR). All applicants must be eligible or able to obtain authorization including a Canadian Enhanced Reliability security clearance.