Senior Data Scientist - Demand Forecast

About Decathlon

Decathlon aims to become the best sports digital platform and open ecosystem in the world. We want to enable customers to experience Decathlon through many local sport-centric experiences by connecting many third-party actors and services, in a secure and performant way.

Our digital teams bring together more than 5000 collaborators are united to build and scale digital products with the aim to always deliver the best value to our users. With a presence in more than 70 countries, Decathlon is committed to innovation, sustainability, and customer satisfaction.

Job Description

Decathlon is seeking a talented and experienced Data Scientist to join our Demand and Assortment Planning team within the Supply Chain department. As a Senior Data Scientist, you will play a critical role in developing AI models into production and providing insights/recommendations to optimise demand forecasting and assortment planning processes. We welcome candidates with expertise in time series forecasting and a passion for leveraging data to drive business decisions.

Responsibilities

• Analyse and study historical sales data and market trends to forecast demand for Decathlon products.
• Develop and implement advanced statistical models and machine learning algorithms for demand forecasting and assortment planning, including foundation models. 
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Supply Chain Business, Engineering, and Product Development to align Data and AI efforts with business objectives.
• Evaluate and improve existing forecasting models and methodologies to enhance accuracy and efficiency.
• Communicate insights and recommendations to stakeholders through clear and concise data visualisations and presentations.
• Stay updated on industry trends and emerging technologies in data science and supply chain management.

Hard Skills

• Proficiency in statistical analysis, forecasting, machine learning techniques, time series, time series foundation models and time series analysis (stationarity, decomposition, drift, anomaly detection).
• Experience with programming languages such as Python, Spark, TensorFlow, Pytorch for data analysis and modelling.
• Strong knowledge of data manipulation and visualisation tools such as pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib, or ggplot2.
• Familiarity with database systems and querying languages (e.g., SQL, PySpark) for data extraction and manipulation.
• Experience with demand forecasting and inventory optimisation software/tools is a plus.
• Experience with Generative AI is a plus.

Soft Skills

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities with a keen attention to detail.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively in cross-functional teams.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders.
• Self-motivated with a proactive approach to learning and professional development.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment with changing priorities.
• Initiative and proactivity

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in data science, statistical modelling, or related fields.
• Proficiency in Python for data analysis and modelling.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. degree in Data Science, Statistics, Operations Research, or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in Data Science.
• Experience in demand forecasting, inventory optimisation, or supply chain analytics.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and project management tools.
• Previous experience in the retail or e-commerce industry is a plus.
• Experience in implementing Generative AI to enhance forecasting, alongside optimising business or organisational processes for product delivery.

Technical Environment

• Execution Engine: Databricks, AWS EKS, Sagemaker
• Payload: Python, Spark, Scikit-Learn, Tensorflow / Pytorch, Pyspark 
• CICD: Github Actions
• Serving: Docker, Protobuf, gRPC
• Model registry, Model Tracking: MLFlow
• Orchestration:  Airflow
• Documentation / code: Git, Confluence
• Data Visualisation: Tableau
• Agentic & Gen Ai : Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform