Zalando fulfills more than a hundred million customer orders every year, and volumes are increasing. Logistics Capabilities within Zalando builds and operates systems that are at the core of our Logistics Strategy, ensuring timely, efficient, and correct delivery of our customers’ orders.
As a Principal Applied Scientist, you will play a pivotal role in a team of researchers and engineers responsible for developing and operating algorithmic decision components that optimize order fulfillment in all of Zalando’s fulfillment centers. Beyond technical development, you will be instrumental in connecting research to measurable business value through A/B testing, statistical analysis, and systematic impact evaluation. Collaborating with teams of highly talented colleagues in Logistics Capabilities, you will drive innovation and resilience within our logistics operations while ensuring our research translates into real-world improvements.
Learn more about Logistics Capabilities.
WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)
As a Principal Applied Scientist you will serve as a senior scientific leader, collaborating extensively with key stakeholders across Logistics Operations, B2B business units, and other Applied Science teams within Logistics Capabilities. In this role, you will deeply engage with the domain, leveraging your expertise to model, solve, implement, and evaluate our research-driven software frameworks to cater for the increasing scale and load. Constantly question the models and the algorithms we use and seek for a consistent improvement.
In partnership with our highly skilled teams, you will lead the research, development and deployment of our mathematical models and algorithms in production, ensuring their robustness and adaptability over time. Your expertise will also contribute to the ongoing maintenance and refinement of these models and algorithms to meet evolving business needs.
You will help optimize a wide range of intralogistics processes across our fulfillment centers (e.g. order batching, scheduling, and real-time prioritization under uncertainty) by leveraging various mathematical approaches, including combinatorial optimization, Mixed-Integer Linear Programming, and others.
Together with your fellow Principal Applied Scientists, and the teams, you help shape the long-term scientific vision and research roadmap for the department, identifying future challenges and opportunities that will help our business to grow.
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.
WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF
You hold an advanced degree (PhD preferred, MS minimum) in Mathematics, Operations Research, or a closely related quantitative discipline.
You have significant industry experience translating complex business problems with a high level of uncertainty into mathematical models and deploying them as production-ready technical solutions.
You have a history of leading complex research projects that delivered significant, and measurable business impact from start to finish.
You’re excited about working in a setup that requires a deep domain understanding, e.g. how warehouse processes work.
You’re highly proficient in Python, have a strong knowledge of SQL and are hands-on with Jupyter Notebooks or Databricks. You have experience writing software on the JVM for a production-grade environment and are familiar with fundamental software development practices.
You are self-motivated, with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
You have a customer-focused mindset and excel in teamwork: You like interacting with stakeholders of various roles and levels, and understanding their challenges, and you enjoy collaborating with your colleagues in an agile and cross-functional environment. You're energized by enabling and mentoring other researchers, helping teams develop long-term research strategies and identify impactful research opportunities.
You embrace working in a diverse, inclusive and international environment where English is the working language.
If you think this role fits you, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single requirement.
OUR OFFER
Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.
Employee shares program
40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners
2 paid volunteering days a year
Hybrid working model with up to 60% remote per week, actual practice is up to each team to best support their collaboration
Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year
27 days of vacation a year to start for full-time employees
Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
Family services, including counseling and support
Health and wellbeing options (including Wellhub, formerly Gympass)
Mental health support and coaching available
Drive your development through our training platform and biannual peer-to-peer review
INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN
At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce - one that is inclusive by design. We only assess candidates based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We welcome applications from people of all gender identities, sexual orientations, personal expressions, racial identities, ethnicities, religious beliefs, and disability statuses. We only want to know why you’re great for this role, so please avoid including your picture, age, and marital status in your CV as well.
We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Please feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support and assist you throughout the hiring process.
do.BETTER - our diversity & inclusion strategy: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/our-culture/diversity-and-inclusion
