AVP Data Science – Canadian Tire – Toronto, ON

Canadian Tire Corporation is looking for a seasoned technical leader to step into the role of AVP, Data Science at their corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. This is a senior executive position for someone who thrives at the intersection of advanced analytics, applied AI, and large-scale enterprise engineering — someone who leads from the front and builds things that actually ship to production.

This role goes well beyond strategy. You’ll be hands-on in architecting and delivering enterprise-grade machine learning and AI solutions, while simultaneously modernizing how data science is practised across the entire organization. If you’ve spent your career building real, production-ready solutions and want to shape the technical direction of one of Canada’s most recognized companies, this could be a strong fit.

About the Role: AVP, Data Science

As the AVP of Data Science, you’ll serve as the senior technical authority for ML and AI engineering at Canadian Tire Corporation. You’ll lead the design, development, and productionization of large-scale data science solutions, while owning company-wide engineering standards. A major focus of the mandate is modernizing the software development lifecycle (SDLC) through AI-native practices — including adoption of tools like OpenAI Codex, Anthropic Claude, and other LLM-based programming agents — to materially improve productivity, code quality, and delivery speed.

You’ll also lead the Data Science Community of Practice across the organization, mentoring senior practitioners, establishing quality standards, and driving consistency through reusable libraries, reference architectures, and shared tooling. Collaboration is key — you’ll work closely with Data Engineering, platform teams, and business leaders to ensure solutions are scalable, production-ready, and aligned with strategic priorities.

Benefits and Salary

Canadian Tire offers competitive salaries and wages, along with a robust benefits package that includes mental health benefits of $5,000 per year for eligible employees and their families, enhanced flex benefits, total well-being tools and resources, Canadian Tire Profit Sharing, and retirement and savings programs. Employees also receive store discounts and access to supported learning through the Triangle Learning Academy.

Responsibilities

The AVP, Data Science carries a broad and deeply technical mandate. From setting enterprise-wide standards to shipping production ML systems, the day-to-day work demands both architectural vision and hands-on execution. Here’s what you’ll be accountable for:

• Enterprise Technical Leadership: Serve as the senior technical authority for data science and applied AI, leading hands-on architecture, modelling, and implementation of complex, production-grade ML and AI solutions
• Production-Grade Delivery: Own the design and delivery of scalable, reliable, and maintainable data science solutions that operate in real-world production environments — not just prototypes or experiments
• AI-Assisted SDLC Ownership: Modernize the data science SDLC end-to-end by establishing AI-native development workflows using tools such as Codex, Claude, and similar agents to improve throughput, code quality, testing, and documentation
• Standards & Best Practices: Define, enforce, and evolve company-wide data science and AI engineering standards, including coding standards, model development practices, MLOps patterns, and peer review expectations
• Community of Practice Leadership: Build and lead the Data Science Community of Practice across the organization — setting technical direction, facilitating knowledge sharing, and mentoring senior data scientists
• Consistency & Efficiency: Drive reuse and efficiency across teams through shared libraries, reference architectures, and governance-lite standards that enable speed without unnecessary bureaucracy
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with Data Engineering, platform teams, and business leaders to ensure solutions are production-ready, scalable, and aligned with business priorities
• Team Development: Lead, coach, mentor, and develop team members to build capability, drive performance, and support their career progression

Requirements / Skills

The ideal candidate brings deep, hands-on technical expertise combined with a track record of leading data science at scale. Canadian Tire is looking for someone who can influence without authority, build standards that stick, and drive measurable improvements across engineering teams.

• 15+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or applied AI, with substantial experience building and productionizing large-scale solutions in complex environments
• Deep hands-on ML expertise including strong software engineering practices such as Python, version control, testing, CI/CD, and MLOps
• AI-assisted programming tools: Demonstrated expertise using tools like Codex, Claude, and GPT-based coding agents to improve developer productivity and engineering quality
• Cross-team technical leadership: Proven ability to influence standards, architecture, and delivery across multiple teams without being a direct line manager
• Communication skills: Ability to translate complex technical concepts clearly for both senior technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Data Science CoE or CoP leadership: Preferred experience standing up or leading a Data Science Centre of Excellence or Community of Practice
• Cloud-based ML platforms: Familiarity with modern cloud ML platforms and data ecosystems
• Advanced degree in a quantitative or technical field (Master’s or PhD) is considered an asset

How to Apply

To apply for the AVP, Data Science position at Canadian Tire Corporation, use the official application link below. Make sure your resume is up to date and reflects your most relevant technical leadership experience before submitting.

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