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‘There are multiple paths’: How TD finds its new AI talent
• Aug 20, 2025

Only days away from turning 20, Diarra Mbacke left the white sand beaches of Dakar, Senegal for the first time in her life.

It was 2014 and she landed in Montreal in the middle of a blizzard. She was going to attend Laval University on a scholarship and complete a double major in mathematics and computer science.

Mbacke had a plan in place: It would start with a double major and then she would eventually complete a PhD in mathematics. From there, she would enter academia and become a mathematics professor.

None of those dreams, however, involved AI. Mbacke doesn't think she had even heard of the technology at the time.

"I had no knowledge of AI," she said.

Little more than 10 years later, Mbacke finds herself working as a machine learning research scientist at Layer 6, TD Bank Group's AI research and development centre.

Mbacke's path to a career in AI is a common one for those working in the field because of how non-linear it is. Unlike studying law or medicine, there is no singular path to a career in AI.

While some post-secondary schools in Canada and the U.S. now offer bachelor's and master's degree programs in AI and machine learning, completion of these programs isn't the only way to enter the field, as Mbacke knows. Layer 6 is made up of over 200 colleagues like Mbacke whose journeys led them through different countries, educational backgrounds, and working experiences.

For Mbacke, AI became an option during her PhD studies. After graduating with a master's in computer science in 2018, she moved to Toronto and worked in software development before returning to Quebec City to complete a PhD at Laval in 2021.

"AI seemed like the perfect subject for me," Mbacke said. "At the time, I didn't know a lot, but I knew that it could be a way of combining my formal education and using it to solve real-world problems, instead of just sitting in a lab. I was always interested in solving real-world problems that could improve peoples' lives."

Mbacke completed her PhD in November 2024 and joined the Layer 6 team one month later. Almost immediately, she started working with the group developing and validating the TD Securities AI virtual assistant, an internal chatbot designed to help sales, trading, and research professionals gather investment research and stock market data faster than they ever could before so to better serve clients.

In July, the virtual assistant launched as a pilot. Mbacke is now seeing a platform she helped develop solve problems in real time and assist more than 100 colleagues across the Bank.

Building an AI team with young talent

Like Mbacke, Sumee Seetharaman, Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Practice at TD, had a non-linear path to AI. Seetharaman grew up in India as the daughter of an engineer and an editor of a leading chemistry journal. She moved to the U.S. to attend the University of Cincinnati's electrical engineering program. After working in tech for a few years Seetharaman returned to university, this time to the University of Toronto to complete a master's in business administration.

She joined TD in 2014 to help develop digital identity technology. Later, she became one of the Bank's innovation leaders before transitioning to her current role in Layer 6, where she is now involved in hiring much of the new AI talent.

"There are multiple paths to AI," Seetharaman said. "We're not specifically looking for someone who comes from an AI program. We're looking for a strong grounding in applied science, computer science, engineering or mathematics and a variety of programs offer that exposure. And we hire at every level, whether it's bachelor's, master's or a PhD."

For many of Seetharaman's colleagues, this is their first job out of university. Some joined Layer 6 years ago and have remained with TD as they've upskilled and have been promoted. Others, like Mbacke, have only recently been hired out of university. Seetharaman estimates that Layer 6 hires 60% of its talent immediately after completion of university programs.

TD identifies young talent through academic relationships it's developed with the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo in Canada, and M.I.T. and Columbia University in the U.S. Through internship and co-op programs that bring students in for months-long research projects, "we tap into AI talent early," Seetharaman said.

TD is taking this approach at a time when competition for AI talent is fierce. According to Business Insider, many in the industry are now comparing the competition to free agency in sports with multiple franchises competing for a league's top players. Demand couldn't be higher and it's partly because there isn't enough talent available. Only about 2,000 people are currently capable of building foundational models, the publication reports.

Academic background isn’t everything

What allows Layer 6 to not only attract talent but retain it is its working culture, Seetharaman said. Layer 6 was a start-up before it was acquired by TD in 2018, but in many ways, it still performs like one. Colleagues like Mbacke who are interested in research and publishing papers at AI conferences still have the ability to do so. Following this process, their research for the Bank can be used to solve business problems and commercialized, she said.

And while the team has grown by more than 10 times in size since its acquisition, Seetharaman said it's still nimble enough to give colleagues latitude and ownership of the projects they're undertaking. “The ability to push the AI research frontier while driving meaningful client outcomes and business impact is appealing,” she said.

The educational background isn't everything for Seetharaman though. There are certain non-negotiable skills that aren't taught in science, math and engineering programs. Communication is one. Layer 6 works with every other business in the Bank and colleagues need to be able to explain their work and collaborate with individuals who have little or no knowledge of AI.

The other is curiosity, Seetharaman said. The colleagues on her team need to have a desire to learn and to do so quickly.

Nothing highlights this more about Mbacke than her personal journey. She left her home country for the first time to develop an expertise in computer science and math. She went back to school and decided to specialize in a completely new field that she hadn’t considered before.

And now, that curiosity is fuelling her work and research at Layer 6.

"We're not only pushing forward AI knowledge, we're creating it and discovering new things," Mbacke said.

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