Canon USA, a leading innovator in imaging and optical products, is renowned for its pioneering technology and commitment to excellence. With a reputation for creating top-tier imaging solutions, Canon USA continues to lead in fields ranging from cameras and camcorders to medical equipment and industrial products.

Considering a position as a Research Scientist at Canon USA means engaging in groundbreaking research and development. This role requires adept knowledge in imaging, optical technologies, and advanced analytics. As a Research Scientist, you will explore and develop new technologies that push the boundaries of imaging solutions, working on projects that influence various applications and industries.

If you're ready to embark on a career with Canon USA, our guide on Interview Query will help you navigate through the interview process, common questions, and useful tips to succeed. Let's dive in!

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Canon USA as a Research Scientist. Whether you were contacted by a Canon recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Canon Talent Acquisition Team will make contact and verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be a part of the screening process.

In some cases, the Canon research scientist hiring manager stays present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also indulge in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

The whole recruiter call should take about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will present you with an invitation for the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Canon research scientist role usually is conducted through virtual means, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around data systems, ETL pipelines, and relevant technical skills.

In the case of research scientist roles, take-home assignments concerning product metrics, analytics, and data visualization are incorporated. Apart from these, your proficiency against hypothesis testing, probability distributions, and machine learning fundamentals may also be assessed during the round.

Depending on the seniority of the position, case studies and similar real-scenario problems may also be assigned.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Followed by a second recruiter call outlining the next stage, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted during your day at the Canon office. Your technical prowess, including programming and ML modeling capabilities, will be evaluated against the finalized candidates throughout these interviews.

If you were assigned take-home exercises, a presentation round may also await you during the onsite interview for the research scientist role at Canon.

Quick Tips For Canon USA Research Scientist Interviews

• Brushing up on both fundamental and advanced technical skills is crucial. Utilize resources like Interview Query to practice and refine your responses to interview questions.
• Understand Canon's Research Initiatives: Canon envisions innovation in imaging and optical technologies. Review Canon’s research areas, recent publications, and potential research projects to align your answers with their goals.
• Collaborative Culture: Canon values a collaborative work environment. In your behavioral responses, highlight instances where you worked effectively within a team to solve complex problems.
• Data Proficiency: Ensure you are well-versed in data manipulation, modeling, and statistical analysis. Be prepared to discuss your previous work in detail, and how your contributions led to meaningful outcomes.

Typically, interviews at Canon Usa vary by role and team, but commonly Research Scientist interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

• Write a query to get the average order value by gender. Given three tables representing customer transactions and customer attributes, write a query to get the average order value by gender. Round the answer to two decimal places.

• Write a function missing_number to find the missing number in an array. You have an array of integers, nums of length n spanning 0 to n with one missing. Write a function missing_number that returns the missing number in the array. Complexity of (O(n)) required.

• Find the index where the sum of the left half equals the right half in a list. Given a list of integers, find the index at which the sum of the left half of the list is equal to the right half. If there is no such index, return -1.

• Write a function sorting to sort a list of strings in ascending order. Given a list of strings, write a function sorting from scratch to sort the list in ascending alphabetical order. Do not use the built-in sorted function. Return the new sorted list.

• Write a query to find the earliest date each user played their third unique song. Given a table of song_plays and a table of users, write a query to extract the earliest date each user played their third unique song. If a user has listened to less than three unique songs, display their name with a NULL date and song name.

• How would you build a model to predict which merchants DoorDash should acquire in a new market? As a data scientist at DoorDash, describe the steps and features you would use to build a predictive model to identify which merchants the company should target for acquisition when entering a new market.

• How would you determine the customer service quality through the chat box for small businesses on Facebook Marketplace? Working at Facebook, your team aims to help small businesses increase sales through the Marketplace app. Explain how you would assess the quality of customer service interactions via the chat box for small businesses selling items to consumers.

• What business health metrics would you track on a dashboard for an e-commerce D2C sock business? If you are in charge of an e-commerce D2C business that sells socks, list and explain the key business health metrics you would monitor on a company dashboard.

• Write a query to determine if user interactions (likes, comments) lead to higher purchasing volumes. Given three tables (users, transactions, and events), write a SQL query to analyze whether users who interact on the website (e.g., likes, comments) convert to purchasing at a higher volume than those who do not interact.

• How does random forest generate the forest and why use it over logistic regression? Explain the process of generating a forest in a random forest algorithm and discuss the advantages of using random forest over logistic regression.

• How do we deal with missing square footage data to construct a housing price model? You have 100K sold listings over the past three years for Seattle, but 20% are missing square footage data. Describe methods to handle the missing data to build an accurate housing price prediction model.

• How would you build a model to predict which merchants DoorDash should acquire in a new market? As a data scientist at DoorDash, outline the steps to create a model that predicts which merchants to target for acquisition when entering a new market.

• How do you detect and handle correlation between variables in linear regression? Describe methods to detect and manage correlation between variables in a linear regression model. Explain the consequences of ignoring such correlations.

• How would you design a model to detect potential bombs at a border crossing? Outline the design of a model to detect potential bombs at a border crossing, including the selection of inputs and outputs, accuracy measurement, and testing procedures.

• How many more samples are needed to decrease the margin of error from 3 to 0.3? Given a sample size (n) with a margin of error of 3, calculate the additional samples required to reduce the margin of error to 0.3.

• What is the mean and variance of the distribution of (2X - Y)? Given (X) and (Y) are independent random variables with normal distributions (X \sim \mathcal{N}(3, 4)) and (Y \sim \mathcal{N}(1, 4)), determine the mean and variance of (2X - Y).

• How do you calculate the sample size and power for an AB test? For an AB test with a test group and a control group:

• Explain how to calculate the necessary sample size for accurate measurement.
• If the sample size is sufficient, should the power increase or decrease to measure very small differences?

Considering the interview experiences and job postings for the Research Scientist position at Canon USA, it's clear that this role demands a blend of advanced technical skills, innovation, and a passion for cutting-edge research. If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Canon USA Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about Canon USA's interview process for different positions.

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to conquer every Canon USA research scientist interview question and challenge.

You can check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!