Data Scientist

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Do you love to straddle the worlds of business, math, and technology?
When faced with a new problem, is your first instinct “How can I use data to solve this?”
Are you ready to work with your fellow data science practitioners to support policies and programs that benefit millions of Ontarians?

Then you are exactly the kind of person we would love to meet here at the Data Science Deployment and Support Unit.

As a part of the Business Intelligence and Practice Division, our role is to enhance the ministry's evidence-informed decision making by applying cutting-edge data science tools and methods to integrated human services data. Our work includes:

• Exploring, analysing, and deriving new insights from our data assets;
• Building, deploying, and maintaining statistical and machine learning models;
• Automating data preparation and analysis processes;
• and much, much more

If you are ready to contribute your data science skills to improving the lives of Ontarians, we would love to hear from you!

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About the job

As a Data Scientist, you will work with colleagues across our division to deliver novel data science solutions to tangible, real-world problems. Just some of the things you can expect to do day-to-day include:

• Training, deploying, and maintaining statistical and machine learning models in production environments;
• Carrying out novel exploratory, inferential, and predictive analyses on complex structured and unstructured data assets;
• Creating data visualization and communication tools and telling strong data stories;
• Connecting and working with your colleagues beyond ministry lines to deliver integrated data, analytics, and data science services

We also believe strongly that data science and continuous learning go hand-in-hand, and we reflect that by offering an environment where our team can learn, grow, and apply new skills while supporting a continuous stream of value delivery to our clients.

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What you bring to the team

Technical Knowledge and Expetise:

• knowledge and experience applying theories, principles and best practices in the field of data science and advanced analytics, data modelling, data mining and evidence-informed decision-making.
• knowledge and experience working data science programming languages (e.g. Python, R, Scala) and data querying languages (e.g. SQL, Hive, Cypher) to load, prepare, and use high variety / high volume data assets for reporting, analysis, and statistical / machine learning model development.
• knowledge of data/database management principles, technologies, and best practices for working with structured and unstructured data assets.
• ability to learn technologies to support development and maintenance of models in production environments, such as container systems and version control systems.
• ability to learn principles of software engineering as they apply to data science models in production environments.

Analytical Knowledge and Expertise:

• knowledge and experience applying a broad variety of techniques for descriptive, exploratory, inferential and predictive analytics.
• knowledge of mathematical foundations of common data science modelling approaches.
• ability to learn public sector policy and program research, development, and analysis principles, practices and methods.

Communication, Consultation and Negotiation Skills:

• knowledge and experience in data storytelling and communication through different mediums – for example, dashboards, briefings, reports, and slide decks.
• ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical colleagues
• consultation, consensus-building and networking skills to maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• persuasion and influencing skills to convince stakeholders of project relevance and necessity.
• negotiation, conflict management and consensus-building skills to resolve contentious issues, maximize team/stakeholder contribution, achieve consensus, and produce required deliverables.

Project Management Skills:

• experience working on projects with diverse project teams and stakeholder groups and competing priorities.
• ability to lead projects independently and ensure satisfactory and timely results delivery.
• ability to learn structured project management approaches such as PMBOK, Agile, etc.

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Additional information:

Note:

• W-SS-160241/21(2)
  The information that you provide for the purpose of this competition and the results from this competition may be used to fill other positions. These positions may be of various tenures including short-term assignments. Your information and the results from this competition will be retained for the purpose of filling vacancies in accordance with the applicable collective agreement or policy provisions.

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Language requirements and assessment:
All external Ontario Public Service (OPS) job ads are posted in English and French. Check the "position(s) language" section at the top of each job ad for the language requirements. For all roles, candidates are assessed in English, the business language of the OPS. If the position is bilingual (English/French), you'll also need to pass a French-language proficiency test.

Exigences en matière de langue et évaluation:
Toutes les offres d'emploi externes de la fonction publique de l'Ontario (FPO) sont affichées en français et en anglais. Consultez la section « Langue du ou des postes » en haut de chaque offre d'emploi pour connaître les exigences linguistiques. Pour tous les postes, les candidats sont évalués en anglais, la langue d'affaires de la FPO. Si le poste est bilingue (anglais/français), vous devrez également passer un test de compétences linguistiques en français.