Freelance Data Science Engineer

Mindrift connects specialists with project-based AI opportunities for leading tech companies, focused on testing, evaluating, and improving AI systems. Participation is project-based, not permanent employment.

Location: Canada

Salary: up to $55 per hour

Responsibilities

• Design original computational data science problems that simulate real-world analytical workflows across industries (telecom, finance, government, e-commerce, healthcare)
• Create problems requiring Python programming to solve (using Pandas, Numpy, Scipy, Sklearn, Statsmodels, Matplotlib, Seaborn)
• Ensure problems are computationally intensive and cannot be solved manually within reasonable timeframes (days/weeks)
• Develop problems requiring non-trivial reasoning chains in data processing, statistical analysis, feature engineering, predictive modeling, and insight extraction
• Create deterministic problems with reproducible answers: avoid stochastic elements or require fixed random seeds for exact reproducibility
• Base problems on real business challenges: customer analytics, risk assessment, fraud detection, forecasting, optimization, and operational efficiency
• Design end-to-end problems spanning the complete data science pipeline (data ingestion → cleaning → EDA → modeling → validation → deployment considerations)
• Incorporate big data processing scenarios requiring scalable computational approaches
• Verify solutions using Python with standard data science libraries and statistical methods
• Document problem statements clearly with realistic business contexts and provide verified correct answers

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on data science experience with proven business impact
• Portfolio of completed projects and publications showcasing real-world problem-solving
• Expert Python programming for data science (pandas, numpy, scipy, scikit-learn, statsmodels)
• Expert statistical analysis and machine learning - deep understanding of algorithms, methods, and their practical applications
• Expert with SQL and database operations for data manipulation and analysis
• Experience with GenAI technologies (LLMs, RAG, prompt engineering, vector databases)
• Understanding of MLOps practices and model deployment workflows
• Knowledge of modern frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, LangChain)
• Strong written English (C1+)