Location: Edmonton or Calgary, Alberta
Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time
Salary Range: T4, Level 6, $130,050 - $153,000 per year. The final compensation for this position will be determined based on individual factors, including education, qualifications, experience, and internal equity.
Senior Specialist, Geology and Data Science
The Opportunity
The Alberta Geological Survey (AGS), a branch of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), is recruiting for a Senior Specialist, Geology and Data Science position. This role is a critical piece of AGS’ geospatial intelligence capabilities and will work alongside data management experts, geomodellers, geologists and geophysicists, remote sensing experts, reservoir engineers, as well as regulatory specialists, business stakeholders, and IT partners.
In this role you will will be a major contributor to both strategic and hands-on work across multi-disciplinary projects related to oil and gas, minerals, groundwater and other natural resources. You will extract insights and create predictive models that utilize information from a wide array of geospatial and non-geospatial data, across geoscience, industry operations, and regulatory fields. Importantly, you will capably work and communicate in 3+ dimensions, leveraging the Geological Framework of Alberta and vast archives of industry and AGS data. You will be a central figure in AI enablement initiatives at the AGS.
What your day-to-day will look like:
- Providing technical leadership and guidance while being a significant contributor on multi-disciplinary projects requiring a broad range of data science expertise
- Lead AI enablement initiatives by advancing AI literacy, identifying opportunities for responsible AI adoption, promoting effective AI use, and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous business process improvements
- Own scientific interpretation, method development, and validation of predictive products to ensure they are scientifically sound, meet QA requirements, and results are fit for purpose.
- Compile and clean geological, operational, and regulatory data, extract insights, and create predictive models, using AI and machine learning for the purposes of geological mapping/modelling, landscape susceptibility analysis, assessing operational risks including induced seismicity and addressing other geological/geoenvironmental issues. Translate data into actionable insight through interactive visualizations, reports and dashboards to support internal and external requests.
- Collaborate with subject matter experts across data management, geosciences, engineering, and regulatory processes to facilitate modern, integrated, high-confidence database architectures and analytical tools.
- Collaborate with our IT team to align data science practices with enterprise platform strategies, architecture, and technology standards.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship in the data science space, enabling capability development and success of staff and the organization.
- Communicate complex data solutions, risks, and recommendations clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders to support data literacy and responsible data use across AGS.
What we’re looking for in you:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science, geoscience, or geoscience related discipline.
- 7+ years in the energy industry managing geological datasets, developing and applying modern data science workflows, and exhibiting advanced programming skills.
- Expert knowledge and experience in geological data validation, manipulation, visualization, and presentation, including using machine learning and AI.
- Strong technical proficiency with Python, R, SQL, or other high-level programming languages and software tools used to support data management and analytics.
- Experience designing, developing, and deploying machine learning, statistical, and predictive modelling solutions to address complex scientific and business challenges.
- Experience applying advanced analytics using libraries such as tidymodels, mlr3, xgboost, and ranger in R, and scikit-learn, XGBoost, LightGBM, TensorFlow, and PyTorch in Python.
- Experience integrating machine learning solutions with cloud, geospatial, and enterprise data platforms to support scalable and operationalized analytics.
- Preferred experience developing and applying machine learning, statistical, and AI methods for subsurface characterization, risk, resource evaluation, and predictive modelling using geological, geophysical, petrophysical, engineering, and spatial datasets.
- Awareness of integration of data and its relation to geoscience applications (e.g. Schlumberger Petrel and Studio, IHS Accumap and Kingdom, LASWorx, ESRI ArcGIS Pro, etc.).
- Preferred experience developing and deploying machine learning solutions using R and Python within enterprise analytics environments (e.g., Posit Connect, Databricks, Azure ML), including reproducible workflows, model governance, and integration with geoscience and spatial data systems.
- Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership in the selection, development, and application of machine learning methods, mentoring teams on best practices for reproducible and scalable data science solutions.
- Ability to manage multiple initiatives concurrently, adapt to changing priorities with limited direction, and communicate complex data concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Familiarity with public-sector geoscience organizations and regulatory environments is considered an asset.
Additional Information:
- All applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada at the time of application.
- Should an individual with the required qualifications not be available, applicants with closely related qualifications may be considered. As a result, the position may be redesigned and/or reclassified.
- If you need accommodation during any stage of the recruitment process, please email PeopleServices@aer.ca. Information relating to the need for accommodation and accommodation measures will be addressed confidentially.
What we offer you:
- Opportunity to make a difference and be part of a performance driven team that is responsible for the efficient, safe, orderly, and environmentally responsible development of Alberta’s energy and mineral resources.
- The ability to leverage your expertise and critical thinking skills to contribute in wide-ranging, challenging, and complex work.
- Robust total reward packages including; a competitive compensation program, defined benefit pension plan(s), flexible benefits, and wellness programs.
- Flexible work options and hours, aligned with organizational policies.
More information about working at the AER including our comprehensive Total Rewards package can be found in the careers section of our website https://www.aer.ca/providing-information/about-the-aer/careers/what-we-offer.
Our Commitment to Diversity:
At the AER, our values of Accountability, Collaboration, Transparency, and Trust & Respect are foundational to our culture – a culture where every individual, regardless of race, colour, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, or any other legally protected factors, thrives and contributes their unique perspectives.
Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion fuels innovation, creating a brighter, more sustainable Alberta for all. Join us in shaping this dynamic future.
Application closing date: October 27, 2026, at 11:59 pm
