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AI Evaluation Specialist (CS-2)


Job Location:

Ottawa - Canada

Yearly Salary: $ 86503 - 108068
Posted: 27 May 2026 (30+ days ago)
Application Deadline: 24 August 2026
Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Priority may be given to the following designated employment equity groups: women Indigenous Peoples* (First Nations Inuit and Métis) persons with disabilities and racialized persons*.

* The Employment Equity Act which is under review uses the terminology Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities.


Candidates are asked to self-declare when applying to this hiring process.

City:Ottawa

OrganizationalUnit:Digital Technologies

Classification:CS-2

Tenure:Continuing

Language Requirements:English

Work arrangements:

  • Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements this position may be eligible for a limited hybrid work arrangement (combination of working onsite and telework).

    At the NRC we recognize that Indigenous candidates may have important connections to their communities and you may be eligible for an exception to this work arrangement. Alternative work arrangements may also be considered to accommodate candidates as required. To learn more about these options please contact the NRC Hiring team using the contact information below.

Discover the possible

Anything is possible at the NRC named in 2025 one of Canadas Top Employers for Young People Top Employer in the National Capital Region and Forbes Canadas Best Employers!

As Canadas largest research and innovation organization our world-renowned research pushes the boundaries of science and engineering to make the impossible possible. Every day we explore new ideas through innovative research and help companies discover possibilities that impact Canadas future and the world.

At the NRC youll also discover new possibilities. Our supportive workplace fosters a culture of creativity welcoming fresh perspectives and innovation at all levels. We value teamwork. Youll collaborate across multiple fields and with the brightest minds to find creative solutions. Most importantly youll discover whats possible within you as you grow make valuable contributions and progress in your professional journey. From ground-breaking discoveries to a life-changing career discover your possible at the NRC.

The role

Are you passionate about safe and responsible AI Do you want to be part of a pioneering team shaping how AI systems are evaluated measured and deployed safely Do you want your work to have a real impact for Canada and Canadians If so we want to meet you!


We are looking for a CS-02 AI Evaluation Specialist. Come join our dynamic team at the National Research Council (NRC) as we embark on ground-breaking projects related to AI safety and security. Be part of a pioneering team that will establish a new AI Safety Lab for conducting system evaluations and translating technical findings into practical solutions and recommendations for AI practitioners and policy makers.


Under the guidance of the AI Safety Lab Lead you will play a critical role in building maintaining and using a new infrastructure for AI safety evaluation. You will also set up run and monitor advanced agentic evaluation at scale on frontier AI models while contributing to cutting-edge AI safety research conducted by the NRC in collaboration with national and international partners.


Key Responsibilities include:

  • Build maintain and use a state-of-the-art model evaluation infrastructure combining on-premises and cloud-based clusters.
  • Support AI safety researchers leveraging the evaluation infrastructure.
  • Set up run and monitor large-scale evaluations involving multiple AI models agents and benchmarks.
  • Steward and document protocols for model evaluation and experiment tracking.
  • Contribute to develop and maintain customized evaluation benchmarks.
  • Contribute to the analysis and reporting of model evaluation results.
  • Stay current with the latest advancements in model evaluation tools approaches and packages.
Screening criteria

Applicants must demonstrate within the content of their application that they meet the following screening criteria in order to be given further consideration as candidates:

Education

University degree in computer science computer engineering or related field.

Education Assets

  • A specialization in data analytics machine learning or Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be considered an asset.
  • A Masters degree in a field related to the position may be considered an asset.


Equivalency
A college diploma with significant experience directly related to the duties of this position may be considered as an educational equivalent.

For information oncertificates and diplomas issued abroad please see Degree equivalency

Experience

You must meet the essential experience criteria and at least two of the Specialised Technical Experience criteria to be considered in this process.

Essential

  • Experience developing Python-based tooling and automation for ML/AI workflows in a research or production environment.
  • Experience with the programmatic use and orchestration of large language models (both closed-source and open-source).
  • Experience with containerization technologies (such as Docker Podman or Apptainer).
  • Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) clusters and job orchestration (e.g. SLURM).
  • Experience documenting experimental AI results through technical reports internal documentation or scientific publications.


Specialised Technical Experience

  • Experience setting up running or contributing to evaluations or benchmarking of AI systems.
  • Experience with red-teaming workflows adversarial testing or stress-testing of AI systems (including agentic systems).
  • Experience with AI/ML experiment tracking tools (e.g. MLflow Weights & Biases).
  • Experience developing or curating AI benchmark datasets and associated documentation (e.g. through HuggingFace).
Condition of employment

Reliability Status


For a Reliability Status verification of background information over a period of 5 years is required.

Assessment criteria

Candidates will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

Technical competencies

You must meet all of the essential competencies and at least one of the Specialised Technical Competency criteria to move forward in this process.

Essential Technical Competencies

  • Ability to design and implement reproducible AI workflows using Python.
  • Ability to make sound technical decisions when using different models accounting for factors such as API constraints compute budgets reproducibility and result validity.
  • Ability to diagnose and resolve infrastructure issues in HPC or cloud-based evaluation environments including resource contention job failures and performance bottlenecks.
  • Knowledge of AI safety evaluation frameworks (e.g. Inspect AI Moonshot) and their application to frontier model assessment.
  • Knowledge of complex data storage and querying tools for handling large volumes of evaluation data.
  • Knowledge of software engineering best practices including version control CI/CD pipelines automated testing and related modern software development tools (e.g. Git GitLab/GitHub) and practices.


Specialised Technical Competencies

  • Knowledge of ML experiment tracking tools (e.g. MLflow Weights & Biases) and their integration into reproducible research workflows.
  • Knowledge of agentic AI frameworks and protocols.
  • Familiarity with AI safety concepts risk taxonomies or governance frameworks (e.g. TBS guidelines NIST AI Risk Management Framework model evaluation practices).
Behavioural competencies
  • Research Technician/Technologist - Client focus (Level 2)
  • Research Technician/Technologist - Communication (Level 2)
  • Research Technician/Technologist - Results orientation (Level 2)
  • Research Technician/Technologist - Self-knowing and self-development (Level 2)
  • Research Technician/Technologist - Teamwork (Level 2)
  • Management services - Conceptual and analytical ability (Level 2)
Competency Profile(s)

For this position the NRC will evaluate candidates using the following competency profile(s): Management Services; Research Technician/Technologist

View all competency profiles

Notes
  • In 2025 the NRC was chosen as one of Canadas Top Employers for Young People a National Capital Region Top Employerand Forbes Canadas Best Employer.
  • Relocation assistance will be determined in accordance with the NRCs directives.
  • A pre-qualified listmay be established for similar positions for a one year period.
  • Preference will be given to Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents of Canada. Please include citizenship information in your application.
  • The incumbent must adhere to safe workplace practices at all times.
  • We thank all those who apply however only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.

Please direct your questions with therequisition number (25418) to:

E-mail:

Telephone:

Closing Date:2 June 2026 - 23:59 Eastern Time

For more information on career tools and other resources check outCareer tools and resources

*If you are currently a term or continuing employee at NRC please apply through the SuccessFactors Careers module from your NRC computer.


Required Experience:

IC


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The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) is one of Canada’s key security and intelligence organizations. We work tirelessly to protect Canada and Canadians against threats by providing valuable foreign signals intelligence. We also develop and provide sophisticated and advance ... View more

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