Machine Learning Resident - Client: Thrive Career Wellness (1 year) at Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute)

“Come work with us to explore the application of sequential decision-making algorithms to address a critical challenge in career mobility. If you are an RL/ML researcher or engineer looking to apply your skills to an important real-world problem with significant human impact, we want to talk to you. You will have the opportunity to innovate on a problem that has the real potential to improve the career trajectories of individuals and get mentored by some of the best minds in AI during the process.”

• Mara Cairo, Product Owner, Advanced Technology
  
  

About The Role

This is a paid Residency that will be undertaken over a twelve-month period with the potential to be hired by our client, Thrive Career Wellness, afterwards (note: at the discretion of the client). The Resident will report to an Amii Scientist and regularly consult and work with our partners to share insights and engage in knowledge transfer activities.

Successful candidates will be members of a cross-functional project team with backgrounds in ML research, project management, software engineering, and new product development. This is a rare opportunity to be mentored by world-class scientists and to develop something truly impactful.

About The Client

Thrive is a cutting-edge, AI-enabled career wellness platform that provides comprehensive workforce solutions. We help organizations navigate workforce transitions while offering career mobility and development services. With a focus on protecting employer brands, reducing costs, and optimizing workforce effectiveness, Thrive ensures both businesses and their people thrive during times of change.

Trusted by over 500 global enterprises, next-generation growth firms, and public sector organizations, our mission is to empower individuals to move their careers forward and reach their full potential. Thrive’s award-winning digital platform blends advanced technology with personalized support to deliver an exceptional experience for both employers and employees.

Our Core Values Are Deeply Embedded In Our Culture

• Customer Centricity
• Ownership
• Outcome Focus
• Solutions Orientation
• Growth Mindset
• Empowering Others
  
  

We believe in providing value through a customizable marketplace of third-party service providers, offering access to career coaching, upskilling, mental health counseling, health insurance, entrepreneurship coaching, and personal branding services. This holistic approach ensures a superior user experience while supporting both organizational success and individual career growth.

Working with Thrive

Thrive is a collaborative, transparent, and mission-driven team. Everyone at Thrive has a voice - we value curiosity, open feedback, and ownership. Whether you’re working cross-functionally with Product, Marketing, or Customer Success, you’ll find that collaboration and communication are at the heart of how we work.

We’re a growing startup - which means things move fast, priorities shift, and we all wear multiple hats. Success here comes from being adaptable, curious, and engaged.

The Best Candidates Are

• Collaborative: You work well with others and believe great ideas come from teamwork.
• Proactive: You don’t wait to be told what to do - you take initiative, share ideas, and find ways to make an impact.
• Adaptable: You’re comfortable with change and can pivot quickly when priorities shift.
• Growth-Oriented: You see feedback as fuel and look for opportunities to learn, stretch, and grow.
• Mission-Driven: You care about building something meaningful and making work better for others.
  
  

About The Project

The AI Career Guide project by Thrive is designed to revolutionize workforce development by making personalized career guidance accessible anytime, anywhere, especially for those who face challenges with traditional digital platforms. Recognizing that only a small percentage of adults access career services and government-funded programs reach limited numbers annually, the project addresses an urgent need for scalable, efficient career support. By integrating advanced AI technologies into a proven SaaS platform, Thrive aims to break down barriers caused by digital literacy gaps and overwhelming labor market data.

The project's innovative solution is built around sophisticated AI agents that offer personalized career guidance through conversational interfaces and recommendation engines. This technology supports job seekers in navigating their career paths more easily, regardless of their technological proficiency, and provides employment service providers with tools to help more people effectively while automating routine tasks. For employers, the platform simplifies candidate matching by making career services more accessible and efficient.

As a Machine Learning Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in designing and implementing LLM agents, architectures and machine learning models that power Thrive's AI-driven career guidance tools. Your work will directly impact how job seekers navigate their career paths, enabling personalized and accessible career advice through conversational AI agents.

Required Skills / Expertise

Are you passionate about building great solutions? You’ll be presented with opportunities to both personally and professionally develop as you build your career. We’re looking for a talented and enthusiastic individual with a solid background in machine learning, specifically sequential decision-making algorithms.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, train, and evaluate agents (e.g. LLM-agents, Reinforcement Learning) specifically tailored for optimizing workforce redeployments, outplacement, and career development
• Conduct applied research on large language models, with a focus on understanding and addressing the limitations of existing models.
• Conduct applied research on multi agent architectures to coordinate and deploy AI agents.
• Collaborate with project team and stakeholders to develop minimum viable products (MVPs) and client focused solutions
• Engage in regular client meetings, standups, prepare presentations and reports on project progress.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Completion of a graduate level program or higher (M.S./Ph.D) in Computer Science, ML or Engineering
• Research or project experience in machine learning, specifically large language models
• Proficient in Python programming language and related ML frameworks, libraries and toolkits (e.g. PyTorch, Tensorflow, Langchain, Pydantic)
• Familiarity with linux style systems, Git version control, and writing clean code
• A positive attitude towards learning and understanding a new applied domain
• Must be legally eligible to work in Canada
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Publication record in peer-reviewed academic conferences or relevant journals in machine learning (specifically with Large Language Models, agentic frameworks, secondarily in sequential decision-making algorithms such as Reinforcement Learning)
• Familiarity with agentic frameworks (LangGraph, Agenta, Dspy, CrewAI)
• Familiarity with context engineering literature and frameworks
  
  

Non-Technical Requirements

• Desire to take ownership of a problem and demonstrated leadership skills
• Interdisciplinary team player enthusiastic about working together to achieve excellence
• Capable of critical and independent thought
• Able to communicate technical concepts clearly and advise on the application of machine intelligence
• Intellectual curiosity and the desire to learn new things, techniques, and technologies
  
  

Why You Should Apply

Besides Gaining Industry Experience, Additional Perks Include

• Work under the mentorship of an Amii Scientist for the duration of the project
• Participate in professional development activities
• Gain access to the Amii community and events
• Get paid for your work (a fair and equitable rate of pay will be negotiated at the time of offer)
• Build your professional network
• The opportunity for an ongoing machine learning role at the client’s organization at the end of the term (at the client’s discretion)
  
  

About Amii

One of Canada’s three main institutes for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, our world-renowned researchers drive fundamental and applied research at the University of Alberta (and other academic institutions), training some of the world’s top scientific talent. Our cross-functional teams work collaboratively with Alberta-based businesses and organizations to build AI capacity and translate scientific advancement into industry adoption and economic impact.

How to Apply

If this sounds like the opportunity you've been waiting for, please don’t wait for the closing December 14, 2025 to apply - we’re excited to add a new member to the Amii team for this role, and the posting may come down sooner than the closing date if we find the right candidate before the posting closes! When sending your application, please send your resume and cover letter indicating why you think you'd be a fit for Amii. In your cover letter, please include one professional accomplishment you are most proud of and why.

Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada at the time of application.

Amii is an equal opportunity employer and values a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability. Accommodations for disability-related needs throughout the recruitment and selection process are available upon request. Any information provided by you for accommodations will be kept confidential and won’t be used in the selection process.