We are seeking a highly skilled Machine Learning Engineer to design, test, and deploy predictive machine learning models—with a primary focus on time series forecasting and classification solutions—within the contact center. This role focuses on hands-on data science development, exploratory data analysis, feature engineering, and rigorous model testing, working closely with product managers and operations teams. You will help build AI-driven solutions across the contact lifecycle to predict volumes, classify customer intents, and drive meaningful performance and customer experience improvements. Additional experience in Generative AI (GenAI) and AI engineering is highly preferred to help build hybrid predictive and generative solutions. Key Responsibilities – Solution Development: Develop, train, and deploy machine learning models (specifically time series and classification models) to support contact center optimization, volume forecasting, and quality automation. Build and maintain robust ML pipelines for data prep, feature engineering, model training, testing, and monitoring. Apply MLOps best practices including CI/CD, model versioning, concept/data drift detection, and performance monitoring. Perform advanced exploratory data analysis (EDA) to identify trends, seasonality, and patterns in historical contact center data. Build time series forecasting models (e.g., ARIMA, Prophet, LSTMs) to predict call volumes, handle times, and resource demands. Design classification models (e.g., Random Forest, XGBoost, Logistic Regression) to categorize customer intent, sentiment, or escalation risks. Iterate on model features and architecture to improve predictive accuracy, stability, and consistency. Integrate predictive ML models with enterprise data sources and operational dashboards. Key Responsibilities – Model Evaluation & Quality Assurance: Design rigorous evaluation methodologies including cross-validation, backtesting for time series, and hyperparameter tuning. Create scoring metrics tailored to operational scenarios (e.g., RMSE and MAPE for forecasting; Precision, Recall, and F1-score for classification). Run side-by-side model comparisons, feature importance analysis, and maintain dashboards for accuracy, latency, and business impact. Test data pipelines and model outputs against compliance, risk, and privacy guidelines. Key Responsibilities – Technical Solutioning & Prototyping: Build end-to-end prototypes using Python, SQL, and data orchestration frameworks. Experience developing and deploying traditional ML and deep learning models (supervised and unsupervised) in production. Skilled with predictive ML frameworks such as scikit-learn, XGBoost, LightGBM, TensorFlow, or PyTorch. Familiarity with MLOps tools (MLflow, Kubeflow, Azure ML) to ensure seamless model lifecycle management. Develop pipelines to extract, clean, and prepare structured metadata, tabular data, and call transcripts for ML consumption. Partner with software and data engineering teams to hand off production-ready inference logic and monitoring artifacts. Required Skills & Qualifications: Hands-on experience with custom ML model development, specifically targeting time series forecasting and classification problems. Strong programming skills in Python and SQL (pandas, numpy, scikit-learn, statsmodels). Deep understanding of statistical modeling, predictive analytics, and forecasting techniques. Experience working with large operational datasets, tabular data, and conversational datasets. Familiarity with cloud services and enterprise data platforms (e.g., Azure, Databricks). Preferred Skills: Hands-on AI Engineering experience with LLMs, prompt design, and Generative AI evaluation. Experience implementing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems with vector databases to supplement predictive models. Understanding of modern NLP concepts including semantic similarity, embeddings, and text summarization. Knowledge of responsible AI, safety evaluation, model fairness, and compliance testing. When you join our team: We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want. We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words. As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see. #LI-Hybrid The role being advertised is an existing vacancy. About Manulife and John Hancock Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html. Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law. It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact hr@manulife.com. Referenced Salary Location Toronto, Ontario Working Arrangement Hybrid Salary range is expected to be between $94,430.00 CAD - $144,430.00 CAD Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact hr@manulife.com for the salary range for your location. Manulife offers eligible employees a wide array of customizable benefits, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans. We also offer eligible employees various retirement savings plans (including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in Canada includes holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence. If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact hr@manulife.com for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions. We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process. For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement. We're Manulife. And we’re on a mission to make decisions easier and lives better. Better is what drives us. It’s what inspires us to find new ways to support customers and colleagues in living longer and healthier lives. It’s the reason we’re dedicated to investing in digital innovation and accelerating a sustainable and economically inclusive future. Joining us means you’ll be empowered to learn and grow your career. We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words. And as part of our global team, you’ll help shape the future you want to see – and discover that better can take you anywhere you want to go. We’re proud of our accomplishments and recognitions. Recent awards include: 2024 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winner Manulife Named one of Forbes World’s Best Employers 2023 Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2023 We’ve been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers (2024) Manulife included in Bloomberg’s 2023 Gender-Equality Index To receive our latest job opportunities directly to your inbox, create an account or sign in and navigate to the ‘Job Alerts’ section located in the top right corner of the page. From there, you can sign up to receive job alerts. Our ambition is to be the most digital, customer-centric global company in our industry. Learn more at https://www.manulife.com/.