Senior Data Scientist - Corporate Services

Job description / Role

Overview of the role:

We are seeking a talented Senior Data Scientist to join our team and work on a project focused on demand forecasting, price optimization, and customer analytics. In this role, you will develop machine learning models to predict future demand patterns, optimize pricing strategies using dynamic pricing techniques, and analyze customer behavior to drive data-driven decisions. Your expertise will help enhance inventory management, pricing strategies, and overall customer satisfaction, contributing to the company's growth and profitability.

What you will do:

• Strategic problem solving
• Communication and stakeholder management
• Model development, deployment, and maintenance
• AI innovation: AI use cases identification and development
• Design, develop, and deploy demand forecasting models using traditional and machine learning techniques like ARIMA, XGBoost, and LSTM.
• Implement dynamic pricing models using advanced algorithms to optimize pricing strategies based on demand predictions, inventory levels, and competitor data.
• Leverage generative AI (GenAI) to enhance demand forecasting accuracy by simulating future demand scenarios and improving model predictions.
• Analyze customer behavior by applying clustering algorithms and predicting customer lifetime value (CLV) with machine learning models to drive personalized pricing strategies.
• Monitor, evaluate, and fine-tune model performance using metrics such as MAE, RMSE, and precision/recall, continuously improving model accuracy and robustness.
• Familiarity with tools and methods to explain machine learning models, such as SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) and LIME (Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations), to improve trust in model predictions.
• Apply MLOps practices, including version control, model deployment pipelines, and automated testing, to ensure seamless integration, monitoring, and scaling of models across environments.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including marketing, product, and sales, to ensure alignment between forecasting models and business objectives.
• Deploy and scale forecasting and pricing models on Azure cloud platform, leveraging CI/CD pipelines and model monitoring tools for real-time performance tracking and proactive issue resolution.

Required skills to be successful:

• Experience as a Data Scientist
• Experience in machine learning
• 5+ years of experience in cloud - Databricks
• Industry experience in retail, FMCG, or automotive

About the team:

You will be reporting to the Data Science Lead.

What equips you for the role:

• A Master's degree in statistics, data science, machine learning, mathematics, computer science, or a related quantitative field.
• 10+ years of experience in data science, with at least 5+ years focused on developing and deploying demand forecasting, price optimization, and customer analytics solutions.
• Strong hands-on experience with machine learning models such as ARIMA, XGBoost, LSTM, and price elasticity, and other classification models.
• 4+ years of experience in retail, automotive, or FMCG industry.
• Expertise in generative AI (GenAI) techniques and applying them to demand forecasting and optimization scenarios.
• Proficiency in Python, SQL, Databricks, and cloud platforms (e.g., Azure, GCP), and familiarity with data processing frameworks like Spark.
• In-depth knowledge and experience with MLOps practices, including model versioning, deployment pipelines, automated testing, and monitoring in production environments.
• Experience with cloud-based model deployment and managing large-scale data pipelines, integrating real-time data for demand prediction and pricing optimization.
• Strong experience in feature engineering, model tuning, and performance monitoring using key metrics like MAE, RMSE, R² and others.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to develop innovative solutions for complex forecasting and pricing challenges.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams (marketing, product, sales) and stakeholders to drive impactful data-driven decisions.
• Familiarity with best practices in data security, scalability, and model interpretability for delivering high-performance, reliable solutions.
• Hands-on experience with PyTorch and TensorFlow.

We're here to provide excellent service but a little help from you can ensure a five-star candidate experience from start to finish.

Before you click "apply": Please read the job description carefully to ensure you can confidently demonstrate why this opportunity is right for you and take the time to put together a well-crafted and personalized CV to further boost your visibility. Our global talent acquisition team members are all assigned to specific businesses to ensure that we make the best matches between talent and opportunities. We not only consider the requisite compatibility of skills and behaviors, but also how candidates align with our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, and excellence.

As part of our candidate experience promise, we also want to make ourselves available to you throughout the application process. We make every effort to review and respond to every application.

About the Company

Established in the 1930's, the Al-Futtaim Group initially operated as a trading enterprise. Rapid development throughout the 1940's and 50's saw it establish itself regionally as an integrated commercial, industrial and services organisation, positioning itself one of the leading business houses in the lower Gulf region. Today, it operates collectively over 40 companies bearing the Al-Futtaim name, dominates many market segments in the UAE, and has expanded its sphere of operation to include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Egypt.

The Group comprises a diverse range of strategically positioned operating subsidiaries and associate companies, structured to give the Al-Futtaim Group the flexibility and versatility to keep ahead of local competition while keeping pace with the ever-evolving global business scenario. The Groups continued investment in world-class systems technology is clear evidence of its commitment to maintain leading edge performance and service delivery.

The success of the Al-Futtaim Group can be attributed to a business approach that combines the ability to change with the traditional values of integrity, service and social responsibility that define its core business philosophy. This, linked with the Groups belief in decentralisation, gives the heads of the operating companies a high degree of functional autonomy and authority, providing the Group with essential flexibility, and individual employees a clearly defined work culture and sense of responsibility.