Lead Applied Scientist NLP ML GenAI

Lead Applied Scientist NLP ML GenAI

This position is open due to an existing vacancy to support our evolving business needs. Are you excited about working at the forefront of applied research in an industry setting? Thomson Reuters Labs in Toronto is seeking scientists with a passion for solving problems using state-of-the-art generative AI, information retrieval, natural language processing.

What does Thomson Reuters Labs do?

We experiment, we build, we deliver. We support the organization and our customers through applied research in generative AI, informational retrieval, natural language processing and machine learning. We work closely with product and domain experts to identify compelling solutions at the intersection of user needs and technical feasibility. Our team is responsible for designing the next generation of tax, accounting and audit compliance software for Tax Professionals and Corporates in the US, and across the global markets. We own AI innovation for Thomson Reuters’ core tax products, including CoCounsel for Tax, Checkpoint Edge, Cloud Audit Suite, SurePrep and ONESOURCE. Our notable recent agentic AI product launches include Ready to Advise and Ready to Review.

About The Role

Lead Applied Scientists are experts in Generative AI (LLM agents), Machine Learning, and NLP, responsible for the design and delivery of AI solutions that enhance Thomson Reuters' products. They leverage information retrieval techniques, agentic workflows, model training and evaluation design to build and optimize solutions. Their work ensures AI technologies are effectively aligned with business objectives, driving product innovation and value.

As a Lead Applied Scientist, you will:

• Innovate and drive solution delivery as a technical leader
• Be fully accountable for all research deliverables
• Provide input to the business and Labs leadership on long term AI strategy.
• Lead and drive stakeholder engagement with other functions (UX, Product, Tech)
• Develop in-depth knowledge of customer problems and data
• Design and optimize multi-agent systems including tool design, complex tool calling, context management, and workflow orchestration for production deployment
• Develop comprehensive evaluation frameworks leveraging LLM observability platforms to measure agent performance and end-to-end system quality
• Maintain scientific and technical expertise in one or more relevant areas as demonstrated through product deliverables, published research, and intellectual property.
• Mentor and coach other scientists and engineers on best practices
• Partner effectively with Engineering to ensure well-managed software delivery and co-design LLM Ops processes related to model monitoring, evaluation, and retraining.
• Communicate research in peer-reviewed publications and develop patentable ideas ensuring competitiveness of the company’s products and services.

About You

You’re a fit for the role of Lead Applied Scientist if your background includes:

• PhD in a relevant discipline or Master’s plus a comparable level of experience
• 7+ years of hands-on experience building IR / NLP / LLM / Agentic Systems for commercial applications
• Experience with agentic AI systems, including tool use, multi-agent orchestration, context management strategies, and agent observability and telemetry platforms (e.g., Braintrust, Langfuse)
• Experience writing production code, ensuring well-managed software delivery, and leveraging AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code) for productivity
• Demonstrable experience translating complex problems into successful AI applications
• Professional experience scaling yourself and leading through others, in an applied research setting
• Outstanding communication, problem-solving, and analysis skills
• Collaborating with Product, Engineering and Business Stakeholders in an agile manner to demonstrate value and iterate with customer feedback, while proactively surfacing ideas and POCs driven by customer needs
• Strong Python skills with experience in PydanticAI/Pydantic and familiarity with deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Hugging Face)
• Publications at relevant venues such as ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS, ICLR, SIGIR, or KDD.

What’s in It For You?

• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.
• Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow’s challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our Grow My Way programming and skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.
• Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
• Culture: Globally recognized, award-winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work-life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.
• Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
• Making a Real-World Impact: We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.

Our use of AI within the recruitment process

Thomson Reuters utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our global recruitment process. Unless you opt-out, our AI system will assess the information provided by you and compare it to the requirements listed for the role, and present the result to our recruitment personnel for further review. The AI system acts as a supporting tool, but there is always a human making the decision if you will be considered for the role.

About Us

Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law. More information on requesting an accommodation here. Learn more on how to protect yourself from fraudulent job postings here.

More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com

Key skills/competency

• Lead Applied Scientist
• Generative AI
• LLM Agents
• Machine Learning
• Natural Language Processing
• Information Retrieval
• Agentic Systems
• Python
• PyTorch
• Hugging Face