Senior Principal Applied Scientist - Catalog/Search Ranking (all genders)

Senior Principal Applied Scientist - Catalog and Search Ranking (all genders)

The Ranking team at Zalando assists customers in their fashion discovery journey and helps them find what they are looking for. We are developing the next generation of our discovery systems, utilising state-of-the-art Deep Learning, Transformer-Based models and Reinforcement Learning, to create highly personalised and engaging customer experiences by optimizing our ranking algorithms for the Search and Catalog experiences.

As a Senior Principal Applied Scientist, you will address challenging fashion problems using cutting-edge approaches. You will contribute to drive our scientific roadmap, applying your scientific capabilities and in collaboration with a team of exceptional scientists and engineers developing models and cutting-edge machine learning products that enhance the experience of over 53 million customers.

WHERE YOUR EXPERTISE IS NEEDED

• Utilise your extensive scientific experience in researching, deploying, and architecting machine learning and deep learning solutions, particularly in Deep Learning, Transformer-Based Models, Multi-objective optimisation models and Reinforcement learning to enhance the conversion journey of millions of our customers through product selection and ranking. Collaborate with multiple teams to create a cutting-edge science stack that aligns with the product strategy and drive architectural and design principles.

• Develop long-term roadmaps for research topics that span multiple product areas and address concrete business goals. As part of the leadership team, be the sparring partner and trusted advisor for Zalando senior leadership and advise on investments in people, strategic direction and make or buy decisions.

• Act as a mentor and guide to senior and principal scientists, and actively share knowledge and expertise within Zalando’s science community.

• Forge close partnerships with applied science leaders and product managers, to deliver state-of-the-art machine learning solutions to our customers and uncover new opportunities for growth. This includes driving and delivering large delivery projects with high uncertainty in production, applying the scientific approach to solve complex challenges, and communicating and aligning with other teams, stakeholders, and senior leadership. You will support and work on deploying, developing, implementing, testing, and researching ML models for personalisation, ranking, recommendations for our Search and Catalog Experience.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• PhD in Machine Learning, Control Theory, Operations Research, or related fields (or equivalent experience), accompanied by 8+ years of industry experience, especially in deep reinforcement learning, multi-armed bandits, or large-scale sequential decision-making systems, ideally applied to content selection, personalization, or ranking in feed-based products.

• Experience leading and shaping the scientific roadmap of teams in products that span across multiple areas and working with senior Applied Science leaders. Ability to discover new business opportunities collaborating with product, science, and engineering managers and solve business problems through scientific solutions.

• Extensive track record of addressing real-world problems using machine learning throughout the entire product cycle, and raises department and Zalando’s best practice in methods, algorithms and technology, including architecture, design patterns, and research roadmaps.

• Authority on deep learning and extensive track record in leveraging research to advance the state of the art, including strong publication records

• Extensive hands-on experience in deep learning with proficiency in Python and frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow for RL implementations. Proficiency in cloud computing platforms such as AWS is also required.

PERKS AT WORK

• Culture of trust, empowerment and constructive feedback, open source commitment, meetups, game nights, 70+ internal technical and fun guilds, knowledge sharing through tech talks, internal tech academy and blogs, product demos, parties & events.

• Competitive salary, employee share shop, 40% Zalando shopping discount, discounts from external partners, centrally located offices, public transport discounts, municipality services, great IT equipment, flexible working times, additional holidays and volunteering