Data Science Manager

MAJID AL FUTTAIM; Dubai; On-site; AED 480,000 - 720,000; Full time

Job summary

MAJID AL FUTTAIM in Dubai seeks a Data Science Senior Manager for MAF LifeStyle to own demand forecasting, sensing, planning, and advanced customer segmentation across UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. You will partner with brand owners and planning teams to drive commercial impact.

You will build production‑grade ML solutions on Azure, lead NLP and CV initiatives, and enable data‑driven decisions with Power BI dashboards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in STEM fields.
• Advanced degree is a strong plus.
• Retail, fashion or lifestyle industry experience preferred.
• Experience in GCC/MENA markets is advantageous.
• Strong customer segmentation and CLV modeling experience.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end demand forecasting across SKU, category, and brand levels for GCC markets.
• Lead demand sensing using real-time POS and external signals to anticipate near-term demand shifts.
• Partner with Buying & Planning to translate forecasts into OTB, replenishment, markdown optimisation, and NPI strategies.
• Design advanced customer segmentation models (RFM, CLV, behavioural and propensity models).
• Identify and prioritise high‑impact AI use cases with quantified business value.
• Drive adoption of Computer Vision solutions including footfall analytics, shelf compliance, and planogram adherence.
• Lead NLP and conversational AI initiatives such as chatbots and multilingual text analytics.
• Build and scale production‑grade ML solutions on Azure/Microsoft Fabric with automated pipelines and Power BI reporting.

Skills

Demand forecasting

Demand sensing

Customer segmentation

NLP

Computer Vision

ML pipelines

Azure

Power BI

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Advanced degree

Tools

Azure/Microsoft Fabric

Power BI

Python

Job description

Data Science Senior Manager | MAF LifeStyle | Lifestyle

Role Summary

This role is the primary owner of demand forecasting, demand sensing, demand planning, and advanced customer segmentation capabilities – driving measurable commercial impact across a multi‑brand, multi‑market retail portfolio spanning UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. The role partners closely with brand owners, buying and planning teams.

Role Profile

• Own end‑to‑end demand forecasting across SKU, category, and brand levels (short, medium, long term), incorporating seasonality, promotions, sell‑through, and external market factors across GCC markets.
• Lead demand sensing initiatives using real‑time POS, digital, and macro signals to anticipate near‑term demand shifts and enable rapid commercial decisions.
• Partner with Buying & Planning teams to translate forecasts into OTB, replenishment, markdown optimisation, and NPI strategies, presented in clear commercial language.
• Design advanced customer segmentation models (RFM, CLV, behavioural and propensity models) to enable personalised marketing, CRM, and loyalty activation.
• Identify and prioritise high‑impact AI use cases across pricing, assortment, promotions, churn, store clustering, and next‑best‑action with quantified business value.
• Drive adoption of Computer Vision solutions including footfall analytics, shelf compliance, planogram adherence, visual search, and automated product tagging.
• Lead NLP and conversational AI initiatives such as chatbots, sentiment analysis, multilingual (Arabic/English) text analytics, and automated product content generation.
• Build and scale production‑grade ML solutions on Azure/Microsoft Fabric, including automated pipelines, monitoring, drift detection, and executive reporting via Power BI.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).
• Advanced degree in related topics is a strong plus.
• Background or previous experience in retail, fashion, or lifestyle industry is strongly preferred.
• Experience in GCC/MENA markets is an advantage.
• Strong customer segmentation & CLV modeling experience.