Senior ML Scientist / Data Engineer

Job title: Senior ML Scientist / Data Engineer

About the Role

As a Senior ML Scientist / Data Engineer, you will drive algorithmic research-driven software development in a logistics team. At Zalando, we process millions of customer orders every week and our systems make critical scheduling, planning, and routing decisions within our warehouses. Predictive warehousing allows us to preemptively take actions, which improve the warehouse efficiency by solving a stochastic optimization problem, at the crossroads of combinatorial optimization and data science. Our research pipeline enables fast incremental improvements which together with the scale of our decisions has a direct impact on the productivity of our warehouses.

What You'll Do

• Drive the research, design, and implementation of algorithms and predictive models.
• Deliver end-to-end solutions and set the bar for the entire development cycle, which includes research, prototyping, implementing production software, as well as testing and operating the highly available production system.
• Influence our research and development methodologies to foster a scalable and data-driven architecture.
• Support and coach other Applied Scientists by sharing your knowledge and expertise in applied research.

What We're Looking For

• You hold a Master’s or PhD in Mathematics, Computer Science, or another quantitative field, together with industry experience in algorithm-related software development in Java, Kotlin, Python, or similar.
• Your professional background includes hands-on experience with state-of-the-art methods in software engineering, particularly microservice architecture and distributed systems for data processing (e.g. Spark, Databricks).
• You demonstrate a practical understanding of various advanced algorithmic techniques (e.g., from combinatorics, graph theory), mathematical modeling (e.g., from operations research, statistics, experimentation), and machine learning approaches (e.g. forecasting, Bayesian networks). You exhibit a high degree of autonomy to translate real-world business cases into mathematical problems, with a proven record of at least 6 years of applied research experience.
• Your strengths extend to your ability to effectively collaborate within an agile and cross-functional team environment, engaging with engineers, product owners, and fellow applied scientists.
• Want to know what kind of problems you will be working on? You can find on this google doc a stochastic optimization problem that showcases an example. If you like solving mathematical puzzles, send us your solution instead of uploading a cover letter.

Compensation & Benefits

• Employee shares program
• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Zalando Lounge, discounts from external partners
• 2 paid volunteering days a year
• Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year
• 27 days of vacation a year to start
• Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
• Family services, including counseling and support
• Health and wellbeing options (including Gympass)
• Mental health support and coaching available
• Learn all about Zalando and our values here: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/?gh_src=22377bdd1us