Principal Applied Scientist - Network Optimization (all genders)

at  Zalando

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

Zalando fulfills more than a hundred million customer orders every year and volumes are increasing. Fulfillment Core within Zalando builds and operates systems that are at the core of Zalando’s platform strategy and ensure timely, efficient, and correct delivery of every one of our customers’ 185+ million orders every year.
Enabling the fulfillment of orders is a complex process, involving the choice of physical locations of our warehouses and the placement of stock, the planning of inner warehouse processes and capacity management, the management of a diverse range of fulfillment and delivery configurations, all while optimizing towards various competing targets.
As a Principal Applied Scientist, you will play a pivotal role in transforming Zalando’s supply chain by enhancing customer experience, and addressing complex and critical challenges. You will develop financially viable self-serve products utilizing Optimization or Simulation techniques. Collaborating with a team of highly talented colleagues in Fulfillment Core, you will drive innovation and resilience within our supply chain operations.
You’ll find our Berlin campus and HQ in the vibrant area of Friedrichshain. With amazing views of the Spree river and East Side Gallery, it’s a campus designed to inspire. Berlin is the city that has shaped our business. Are you up for a new experience in one of the most vibrant, diverse, and green cities in Europe?

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• As a Principal Applied Scientist, you will report to the Head of Applied Science for Network Optimizations and serve as a senior technical leader, collaborating extensively with key stakeholders across Logistic Operations, B2B business units, and other Applied Science teams within Fulfillment Core. In this role, you will deeply engage with the domain, leveraging your expertise to develop advanced mathematical models that optimize product availability - ensuring the right products are in the right locations at the right time, all while navigating and upholding our network constraints.
• In partnership with our highly skilled senior engineers (Principal+), you will lead the development and deployment of mathematical models in production, ensuring their robustness and adaptability over time. Your expertise will also contribute to the ongoing maintenance and refinement of these models to meet evolving business needs.
• You will help optimize a wide range of business processes (e.g. inventory distribution strategies, warehouse processes or order placement strategies) and configurations (e.g. warehouse network resilience, delivery connections) by leveraging various mathematical approaches, including Discrete Event Simulation, Mixed-Integer Linear Programming, and metaheuristics.
• As a member of Fulfillment Core, you will also provide inputs to other research initiatives across the business unit.
• More generally, you will be part of our vibrant community of Applied Scientists at Zalando, participating for example in regular exchange meetings, reading groups and mentoring opportunities.