As an Associate Data Scientist this role will offer an exciting opportunity to design, evaluate, and deploy LLM-based applications, contributing significantly to our mission of developing responsible and impactful AI solutions. By collaborating on projects that involve cutting-edge LLM technologies and integration with platforms like OpenAI and Azure, the candidate will play a crucial part in advancing our AI initiatives and ensuring model performance and alignment. Through this opportunity, they will gain invaluable real-world experience in LLM evaluation, mentorship from senior AI professionals, and exposure to enterprise AI workflows, all within a collaborative environment that fosters innovation and continuous learning.

Position Responsibilities: 

• Design and evaluate LLM-based applications, including RAG pipelines, agentic systems, and chat interfaces.
• Conduct LLM red-teaming, bias detection, and alignment testing using comparative and statistical analysis techniques.
• Build and maintain automated evaluation frameworks for LLM outputs using embedding-based and prompt-based methods.
• Develop interactive dashboards and visualizations using Power BI to communicate insights and model performance to stakeholders.
• Integrate and test LLMs using OpenAI APIs, Databricks, and Azure AI Services.
• Collaborate on the development of fine-tuning and pre-training pipelines for domain-specific use cases.
• Work with Vector Databases (e.g., FAISS, MongoDB, Neo4j) to support RAG and semantic search capabilities.
• Participate in code reviews, documentation, and agile development cycles with the engineering team.

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum 1 year of professional (non-academic) experience in data science, machine learning, or AI-related roles.
• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL; experience with JavaScript is a plus.
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Data Science, AI, or a related field.  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience with LLM evaluation, bias detection, or alignment research.
• Proficiency in data visualization tools, especially Power BI (experience with Tableau or similar tools is a bonus).
• Familiarity with LangChain, RAG, Ollama, LLM fine-tuning, and embedding-based analysis.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure and Databricks.
• Knowledge of databases including PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Neo4j, and FAISS.
• Strong analytical thinking, attention to detail, and a passion for building responsible AI systems.

When you join our team:

• We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want. 

• We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words. 

• As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see. 

#LI-Hybrid

About Manulife and John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer

At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.

It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact [email protected].

Referenced Salary Location

Toronto, OntarioHybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$60,900.00 CAD - $113,100.00 CAD

If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact [email protected] for the salary range for your location. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

Manulife offers eligible employees a wide array of customizable benefits, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans. We also offer eligible employees various retirement savings plans (including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in Canada includes holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence. If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact [email protected] for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.