Data Scientist II

About Scribd, Inc.

Scribd, Inc. is dedicated to advancing human understanding through its products Scribd®, Slideshare®, Everand™, and Fable. These platforms collectively help billions worldwide move from merely accessing information to gaining insight, application, and expertise.

The company culture encourages employees to be authentic and bold, engaging in open debate and commitment while adapting to change. It values individual flexibility balanced with community connection, promoting a flexible work model called Scribd Flex that supports optimal workstyle and location choice, alongside intentional in-person collaboration. All employees, regardless of location, must attend occasional in-person events.

Our Core Values (GRIT)

Scribd hires based on GRIT, combining passion and perseverance toward long-term goals. This embodies setting and achieving goals, delivering meaningful results, providing innovative ideas and solutions, and enhancing team collaboration and attitude.

About The Applied Research Team

The Applied Research team comprises data scientists and content experts skilled in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and generative AI. This team drives innovation through product experimentation, metadata production, and model development in partnership with product and engineering groups. Their work spans content enrichment, representation learning, recommendations, search, translation, and more, across text, image, and audio media. They operate at scales involving hundreds of millions of documents and billions of user interactions.

Role Overview

We are searching for a Data Scientist II who has experience designing, developing, and deploying machine learning models. This role involves collaborating in cross-functional teams with machine learning engineers, data engineers, and product teams. The individual will focus on building impactful AI and ML systems, handling large datasets, and working with language and generative models.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop diverse content classification solutions using approaches from traditional NLP to complex large language and generative models.
• Explore techniques to resolve challenging large-scale problems encountered by Scribd.
• Collaborate closely with data scientists, machine learning engineers, and ML data engineers on cross-team initiatives.
• Utilize a broad range of algorithms and tools including Scikit-learn, NumPy, custom PyTorch neural networks, and third-party large language model APIs.
• Process and analyze massive data volumes using Python, SQL, and Spark.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders via written and verbal updates, and maintain thorough, precise project documentation.

Candidate Requirements

• At least 4 years of professional experience building machine learning models, managing large-scale systems, and deploying solutions to production.
• Strong Python programming skills.
• Experience in developing ML pipelines and utilizing distributed data processing frameworks such as Apache Spark or Databricks.
• Intermediate proficiency in at least three areas including classification algorithms, NLP, search, information retrieval, named entity recognition, deep learning, or generative modeling.
• Intermediate or higher experience working with SQL or PySpark.
• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in a quantitative field like Statistics, Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or similar areas.

Compensation and Location

The base salary for this role varies depending on geographic location, factoring in labor market benchmarks. In Canada, expected salaries range from 123000 to 150000 CAD annually. The position also offers competitive equity ownership and an extensive benefits package.

Work Locations

Employees should reside in or near specific metropolitan areas where Scribd employs, including Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver in Canada.

Benefits

• Flexible work model (Scribd Flex)
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Support for mental health and disability
• Generous paid time off including vacation, sick leave, holidays, winter breaks, volunteer time, and sabbaticals
• Paid parental leave and family assistance benefits
• Retirement matching and employee equity programs
• Opportunities for learning, development, and career growth
• Wellness and home office stipends
• Free access to Scribd's suite of products
• Enterprise access to advanced AI tools

Equal Opportunity and Accessibility

Scribd is devoted to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, or any legally protected category. The company encourages applicants from all backgrounds and makes efforts to accommodate candidates throughout the interview process.