Applied Scientist - LLMs / Agentic AI (all genders)

Zalando; Berlin; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee shares programme

Relocation assistance

Discounts on products

Job summary

Zalando in Berlin seeks an Applied Scientist to design, build, and scale AI systems for customer care, leveraging DL, LLMs, and agentic workflows to improve self-service across millions of queries monthly.

You will lead end-to-end model lifecycles, deploy production-ready AI products, and collaborate with data engineers, software engineers, analysts, and product managers to turn research into scalable customer experiences.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in building DL/LLM powered AI systems for production.
• Strong knowledge of modern ML/NLP architectures and agentic workflows.
• Experience integrating AI solutions with data engineering and software teams.

Responsibilities

• Define research plans translating business challenges into production-ready research.
• Build and scale DL/LLM applications and agentic workflows.
• Own end-to-end lifecycle of AI models in production including deployment and monitoring.
• Collaborate with product managers, data engineers and software engineers to integrate AI into customer care.
• Establish best practices for reproducible experiments and robust research methods.

Skills

DL/LLM Expertise

AI System Design

Python (PyTorch)

Databricks

Production Experience

Tools

PyTorch

PydanticAI

SQL

Databricks

Job description

THE ROLE & THE TEAM In Customer Care Technology, we build the intelligent applications and infrastructure driving the full customer journey, supporting millions of customers and thousands of customer care specialists. We are seeking an Applied Scientist to join our Berlin-based Applied Science team in a business‑critical role. In this position, you will design, build, and scale cutting‑edge AI systems, leveraging a mix of Deep Learning, LLMs and Agentic workflows for high‑volume production, directly optimizing customer self‑service solutions to handle millions of queries monthly. Working closely with a cross‑functional team of data engineers, software engineers, analysts, and product managers, you will turn scientific innovations into scalable AI products that elevate the customer experience. Learn more about our Applied science team https://jobs.zalando.com/en/what-we-do/applied-science-and-research and how we work together https://jobs.zalando.com/en/where-we-work Inclusive by design. At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading pan‑European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce – one that thrives on diversity and is truly inclusive by design. We believe that diverse teams fuel innovation and creativity, and we actively seek out talent from all backgrounds. We actively seek to reduce bias in our hiring and employment processes, focusing on your qualifications, skills, and contributions. To support this, we kindly ask that you refrain from including personal details such as your photo, age, or marital status in your CV, ensuring a fair and equitable evaluation based solely on your abilities and potential. We are committed to providing an exceptional and accessible candidate experience for everyone. If you require any accommodations to support you throughout the hiring process, please let us know – we are here to assist you. Discover more about our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/our-culture/diversity-and-inclusion

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• Define Research Plans: Translate business challenges in Customer Care Technology into structured research plans, executing projects from discovery to production deployment.
• Build AI Applications: Apply scientific methodologies to design, evaluate, and scale DL and LLM applications, ranging from predictive models to agentic workflows.
• Own Production Systems: Take accountability to the end‑to‑end lifecycle of AI models in production, including design, performance optimization, deployment, and monitoring.
• Collaborate & Learn: Work with product managers, data engineers, and software engineers to integrate AI solutions into the very fabric of our customer service.
• Elevate Best Practices: Define and maintain best practices for research methodologies, ensuring high‑quality, reproducible experiments.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• Production Experience: You have a track record of tackling research projects and contributing to the productionization of customer‑facing AI products.
• DL/LLM Expertise: You have strong expertise in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing (NLP), with experience building LLM applications.
• AI System Design: You have a solid understanding of modern AI architectures, including systems utilising deep learning models, agentic workflows, and RAG.
• Engineering & Tech Stack: You have strong programming skills in Python (including frameworks like PyTorch and PydanticAI), SQL skills, and experience with data platforms like Databricks.
• Communication: You can effectively communicate technical concepts to both technical peers and business stakeholders.
• Collaborative Mindset: You are results‑driven, comfortable navigating uncertainty, and proactive in taking initiative to uncover high‑value research opportunities.

OUR OFFER

Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

• 27 days of holiday a year to start for full‑time employees (+1 day for every calendar year up to 30 days)
• 2 paid volunteering days a year
• Employee shares programme
• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners
• Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
• Family services, including counselling and support
• Health and wellbeing options (including Wellhub, formerly Gympass)
• Mental health support and coaching available
• Drive your development through our training platform and biannual peer‑to‑peer review

It’s the perfect time to join Zalando on our journey, from being a pioneer in the world of e‑commerce, to the Starting Point for Fashion in Europe. We connect customers, brands, and partners across 25 markets. Help us drive digital and sustainable solutions for fashion, logistics, advertising and research, bringing head‑to‑toe fashion to 50 million active customers through a team of diverse skill‑sets, cultural backgrounds, and interests. Our values do. More - our sustainability strategy