Data Science Manager

Data Science Manager - AI & Data Products
Location: Canada - Remote
INDEPENDENT CONTRACT.
Travel for business purposes to the USA needed
About the role
We are looking for a hands-on Data Science Manager to lead a small team of senior data professionals and build and launch production-grade AI and machine learning products.
This is not a traditional people-management role. You will remain technically involved, contributing to architecture, development, model design, and deployment, while leading a team and partnering closely with Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders.
The ideal candidate combines three strengths critical to this position: deep technical expertise, strong product and business judgment, and excellent communication skills.
You should be equally comfortable discussing model architecture with engineers, building or reviewing Python code, and presenting the business value of an AI solution to senior stakeholders.
What you'll do
Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Lead and mentor a team of 3–4 senior data scientists while actively coding, designing architecture, and maintaining hands-on contribution.
End-to-End AI/ML Engineering: Drive the complete lifecycle (concept to deployment) of production-grade ML models, RAG solutions, and AI agents using Python and SQL.
Strategic Business Alignment: Partner with product leaders and cross-functional engineering teams to turn business problems into scalable, production-ready data products.
What we're looking for
7+ years of hands-on Data Science experience, ideally building production data or AI products.
5+ years of technical leadership or team leadership experience.
Strong hands-on experience with Python, SQL, machine learning, and statistical modeling.
Proven experience taking ML/AI solutions from development into production.
Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or similar.
Experience with modern Generative AI, including LLMs, AI agents, RAG, embeddings, and vector search.
Experience working directly with Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders.
What will make you stand out
Experience building client-facing data or AI products, rather than primarily internal analytics or dashboards.
A track record of taking new Data Science products from zero to one.
Hands-on experience deploying AI agents or LLM-powered applications into production.
Experience in insurance, financial services, banking, or another data-intensive industry.
Experience leading senior technical professionals while continuing to build and contribute technically yourself.
This is a remote, full-time contractor opportunity for candidates based in Canada.
The role requires the ability to travel to the United States approximately 25% of the time for team meetings and other business needs.

Work arrangement
Yes