Software Engineer, Crop Computer Vision and Machine Learning

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Software Engineer, Crop Computer Vision and Machine Learning  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.
Organizational Unit:
Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
Classification: CS-3
Tenure:
Continuing
Work arrangements:
Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements, this position will require full-time physical presence at the NRC work location identified.
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    The role   Canada’s crop production is being increasingly challenged by climate change, more prevalent weather extremes, and emerging disease threats. Designing transformative computer vision and machine learning systems to boost efficiencies and design resilient crops is critical to our agriculture industry. Automated vision analysis of crop roots and the rhizosphere presents a unique opportunity to increase the genetic gains and adaptability of Canada’s field crops.

At the NRC’s Aquatic and Crop Resource Development (ACRD) research centre, we are investing in technologies to image and analyze crop root and shoot systems, increasing the use of machine learning and generative AI solutions, and expanding our digital capabilities to develop innovative tools for crop improvement and agricultural productivity. We invite you to join our team to take crop phenomics to the next level and be an integral member contributing to making Canada’s crops more resilient.

Interacting with colleagues across ACRD and collaborating nationally and internationally, the successful candidate would be someone who shares our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Respect and Creativity.
As a Computer Vision specialist on the Integrated Omics and Climate Resilience Team at ACRD, you will play a key role in helping position the NRC as leaders in digital research for Canada. Your responsibilities include the delivery of software support for the design, development, and implementation of computer code which enables automated analyses of crop images. This would include supporting ACRD efforts for implementing best practices and new tools for data management.

The successful candidate is also expected to mentor and lead Computer Systems administrators, Technical Officers, and Research Officers colleagues and students for accomplishment of projects focused on Computer Vision and Machine Learning.
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   M.Sc. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field. Candidates with a

B.Sc. and at least 2 years of relevant experience in developing computer vision or machine learning algorithms will also be considered.
Significant experience
* in computer vision approaches with proven track‑record of developing algorithms, documentation, and production‑quality software code for image analysis. Experience
*** with biological or agricultural images is an asset.
Strong proficiency
** in Python and experience
*** with C++ for performance‑critical computer vision applications.
Experience
*** in computational geometry, 3D representations and related data structures.
Experience
*** developing and training deep learning models for computer vision, including convolutional neural networks (CNNs), vision transformers, and foundation models.
Experience
*** mentoring junior developers, engineers, or students in machine learning…