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Job Title: Data Scientist - Optimization - Retail Operations

Location: Sobeys COLAB Office (Toronto Downtown)

Team: Advanced Analytics

The Advanced Analytics team at Sobeys operates on the frontlines of retail innovation. We are a multi-disciplinary team of data scientists, engineers, developers, and analysts who design, develop, and deploy high-impact, scalable ML/AI solutions that are fundamentally transforming how Sobeys and its family of banners interact with customers and plan and operate their businesses.

We leverage the latest cloud tech and advanced analytical techniques to connect the dots between customer behaviour and business operations and unearth the true drivers of customer engagement, sales growth, and profitability. Our work directly impacts the daily lives of millions of Canadian consumers and is a key pillar in our mission to deliver a best-in-class shopping experience for our customers.

Here’s Where You’ll Be Focusing As the Data Scientist – Optimization – Retail Operations, you will be at the forefront of driving business value through advanced data science techniques in retail operations with a focus on space optimization. You will collaborate in a team of data scientists focused on developing and deploying optimization models and machine learning models at scale. You will understand and predict optimal in-store shelf space, and the optimal product on shelves of our customers’ needs.

Responsibilities

• Own the research, development, and continual improvement of optimization algorithms on the team.
• Research, build, train, serve, and monitor machine learning (ML) models.
• Collaborate with a small team of Data Scientists.
• Work closely with Machine Learning Engineers (MLE) and Data Engineers (DE) to create and manage end-to-end ML pipeline in Azure cloud development environment.
• Write production ready code that will be reviewed by other team members and review their code.
• Work with MLEs to scale, automate and optimize ML pipelines.
• Work with DEs to ETL in a big data environment consistent of billions of rows of retail data covering many banners, regions, and millions of customers.
• Work closely with various stakeholders throughout our business to understand business needs and develop solutions through machine learning or other advanced analytics/predictive modeling techniques.
• Work with BI team to create dashboards that monitor performance of your ML systems.

What You Have To Offer

• Master's or PhD degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related technical field.
• The curiosity to ask why explicit solutions were chosen, and the considerate ingenuity to deliver opportune innovations.
• 2+ years of work experience with operations research/optimization and the productionization of optimization solutions.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience in developing end-to-end machine-learning algorithms in cloud or distributed environments using Python, Java, or Scala.
• Strong experience with data manipulation using PySpark and SQL is required.
• 1+ years of experience in cloud CI/CD environments, such as Azure DevOps or Bitbucket Pipelines.
• Proven ability to engage with stakeholders to gather requirements and communicate updates effectively.
• Creative mindset, excellent communication skills, and the ability to create and manage ML pipelines with minimal guidance.
• Familiarity with Cloud Environments, specifically Databricks and Azure, is a significant asset.
• Experience in Retail or similar settings is an additional asset.
• Stay up to date with the latest advancements in operations research and machine learning, and drive the adoption of best practices within the team.

Who We Are We started in a small town in Nova Scotia but we are now in communities of all sizes across this great country. With over 1,600 stores in all 10 provinces, you may know us as Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, Lawtons Drug Stores or another of our great banners but we are all one extended family.

Our family of 128,000 employees and franchise affiliates share a collective passion for delivering exceptional shopping experiences and amazing food to all our customers. Our mission is to nurture the things that make life better – great experiences, families, communities, and our employees. We are a family nurturing families.

Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is fuelled by our purpose and values. It shapes our culture and drives business success. As a family nurturing families, we embed DE&I into everything we do. We know that it takes open minds and respect for distinct perspectives to create engaging workplaces, inclusive customer experiences and strong community partnerships. We are committed to accommodating applicants with disabilities throughout the hiring process and will work with applicants requesting accommodation at any stage of this process.

What We Offer Our Total Rewards package is designed to help our teammates thrive—physically, financially, and emotionally. While offerings vary by role and employment types; eligible teammates may receive:

• Comprehensive Benefits Package with health and dental coverage, life insurance, and short- and long-term disability insurance.
• Access to Virtual Health Care and an Employee and Family Assistance Program for personalized support.
• Retirement and Savings Plan to help you build financial security.
• 10% In-Store Discount at participating banners, plus additional discount programs.
• Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP), giving you the opportunity to invest in the company’s success.
• Learning and Development Resources to support your career growth.
• Parental Leave Top-Up to assist growing families.
• Paid Vacation and Days Off to help you recharge.

Sobeys is committed to providing a compensation structure that is flexible, equitable and competitive in the market to enable performance and growth. To learn more about this opportunity—including expected range of compensation in accordance with Pay Transparency Legislation where required —please click the “I’m interested” button above. Individual Compensation is determined based on qualifications, experience, and internal equity within the range provided.

External websites may share our organization's job postings which includes compensation information based on similar roles and market benchmarks. These figures are provided for general comparison purposes only and are not issued or verified by our organization..

To drive our commitment to team collaboration and the overall success of our office culture we require our teammates to have the ability to adhere to a hybrid work model that requires your presence at one of our office locations at least three days per week.

We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to support efficiencies in the candidate screening, assessment, and recruitment processes. These AI tools do not make hiring decisions on behalf of the Company, these decisions are made by our Hiring Teams.

If you feel that this describes the kind of work you want to do and you are excited about what Sobeys has to offer, then please apply by the posting end date indicated above. We encourage candidates to submit a resume and take the time to ensure that their application highlights what makes them uniquely qualified for this opportunity!

Please note: Successful candidates will be required to provide documentation to prove their legal ability to work in the position during the onboarding process. Documentation will be assessed by the employer prior to commencement of work.