Research Scientist, (Machine Learning)

About Precision AI

Precision AI is on a mission to transform agriculture with cutting-edge drone technology. Our aerial spraying systems help farmers target weeds with surgical precision, reducing chemical use and increasing yields. We’re a fast-moving, impact-driven team looking for people who want to help build the future of farming.

The Artificial Intelligence Scientist at Precision AI will drive innovation at the intersection of advanced AI research and agricultural applications. This role is responsible for conceiving, researching, and translating novel AI approaches into practical solutions that address complex challenges in agriculture.

The AI Scientist will lead the scientific direction of AI initiatives by designing and overseeing research-driven AI projects and developing and advancing state-of-the-art machine learning models. This role emphasizes problem discovery and ideation, developing novel solutions, and driving research from concept through deployment in collaboration with internal and external partners.

Working closely with AI leadership, engineers, agronomy experts, and strategic partners, the AI Scientist will shape both the long-term technical vision and the day-to-day execution of Precision AI’s AI-powered agricultural solutions.

This role is hybrid working out of our Calgary office.

Research & Innovation

Lead applied AI research to develop novel approaches for agricultural challenges such as crop monitoring, yield forecasting, and sustainability.

Explore and prototype emerging AI paradigms, including reasoning-enhanced LLMs (e.g., chain-of-thought, self-reflection, tool use), recursive or iterative modeling, reinforcement learning and RLHF-style training, and self-supervised or foundation models.

Translate research ideas into validated prototypes and production-ready methods.

Design and evaluate state-of-the-art models across computer vision, NLP, time-series, and multimodal learning (e.g., satellite/drone imagery, sensor data, text).

Apply modern techniques such as representation learning, domain adaptation, few-shot learning, multimodal fusion, spatiotemporal modeling, and efficient fine-tuning.

Advance model robustness, generalization, and efficiency under real-world agricultural constraints.

Agricultural Intelligence Integration

Integrate domain knowledge from agronomy, climate, and geospatial data into model design and evaluation.

Develop methods that handle noisy, sparse, seasonal, and region-dependent data, common in agricultural systems.

Scientific Leadership & Mentorship

Set standards for scientific experimentation, and reproducibility across AI research efforts.

Mentor engineers and scientists on research methodology, model design, and experimental analysis.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams and external research partners to align research outcomes with real-world impact.

Communicate research findings clearly through technical reports, presentations, and internal knowledge sharing.

4+ years of experience in AI/ML model design, training, and deployment in production environments.

• Proven expertise in building and optimizing models, including LLMs, VLMs, computer vision, and multimodal architecture.
• Experience with emerging and novel techniques, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), diffusion models, reasoning-enhanced LLMs (e.g., chain-of-thought, self-reflection), and reinforcement learning–based training or optimization.
• Strong programming skills in Python with solid knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and software engineering best practices.
• Hands-on experience with large-scale data sets, data lake architectures and distributed data processing
• Fluency in ML frameworks (e.g., Strong technical communication skills, with the ability to document research, present results, and collaborate effectively across technical and non-technical teams.
• Proven ability to stay current with AI research, critically evaluate new methods, and apply them to complex real-world problems.

Academic Requirements

PhD or master's in computer science, computer engineering, statistics, or mathematics

Strong publication record in reputable conferences or journals in AI, machine learning, computer vision, NLP, or related areas

Research shows that some candidates, especially women, underrepresented groups, and career changers, are less likely to apply for a role unless they meet 100% of the listed qualifications. At Precision AI, we believe the right person can grow into the role, and we value potential as much as experience. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other status protected by law.