Data Science & AI Developer Intern

Overview

The Data Science and Automation Team at Health Canada’s Pesticides Regulatory Directorate (aka PMRA) is seeking recent graduates or student interns through the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP).

This position combines data science, advanced AI, and software development to support regulatory modernization and automation initiatives. The selected candidate will contribute to the design, development, and evaluation of AI-driven and data-driven solutions used in real-world government regulatory systems.

Interns will work in a collaborative Scrum-based environment and receive mentorship from senior data science and software engineering leads.

Position Details

• Position Type: Full-time (37.5 hours/week), with possible part-time arrangements
• Start Date: as early as August 1, 2026
• Duration: 4 months, with possibility of extension and future employment opportunities
• Work Arrangement: Hybrid (4 days onsite)
• Location: Ottawa, Ontario (College Square area)
• Compensation:
• • Master’s students: starting at $25.17/hour
• • Doctoral students: starting at $29.64/hour
• • Graduates: starting at $36.07/hour
• Language Requirement: English essential

Eligibility

Requirements include:

• Legal Status:

  Canadian citizens or permanent residents

• Academic Level: Master’s or PhD
• Security Clearance: Ability to obtain and maintain federal government security clearance of “Reliability Status”

Responsibilities

Responsibilities may include:

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to understand business needs, data requirements, and regulatory processes
• Conducting data preprocessing, cleaning, validation, and analysis to ensure data quality and compatibility
• Researching and experimenting with traditional and modern AI/ML techniques
• Developing and evaluating Machine Learning and Generative AI solutions using supervised and unsupervised methods
• Applying Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to analyze unstructured data sources
• Building proof-of-concept and production-oriented AI applications using object-oriented programming principles
• Developing data visualizations and communicating technical findings to non-technical stakeholders
• Participating in Agile Scrum activities including standups, sprint planning, team reviews, and achieving goals in 2-week sprints

Qualifications

Required:

• Background in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related field
• Experience with Python programming
• Familiarity with:
• predictive and descriptive modeling in ML
• transformers and other NLP techniques
• prompt engineering and GenAI LLMs
• data manipulation and preprocessing
• SQL and relational databases
• software development and testing practices
• Git-based version control
• REST APIs
• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Ability to write technical documentation and explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences

Assets:

Experience or familiarity with:

• Responsible AI practices
• Object-oriented programming (OOP)
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems
• Vector databases
• Cloud and analytics platforms such as:
• • MS Azure
• - MS Fabric
• • MS Foundry
• • Databricks
• • Power BI

How to Apply

Please submit the following materials ONLY if you fully meet the above Eligibility and Qualifications:

• Resume
• Cover letter (highlighting your relevant experience and why you are interested to join us)
• Sample of Python code or relevant project work

Send applications to:

[email protected]

Subject line:

DS/AI Internship Application – [FirstName] [LastName]

Application deadline:

June 30, 2026

Interview: Only selected candidates will be reached out by July 10, 2026, for a virtual interview

Equity and Inclusion

Health Canada is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

Join us in applying data science and AI to support public health and regulatory innovation in pest management.