Principal Data Scientist - Ranking & Visibility (all genders)

Zalando SE; Berlin; On-site; EUR 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days holiday

40% off fashion and beauty products

30% off Lounge by Zalando

Discounts from external partners

Family support and counselling

Company pension scheme

Employee shares programme

Health and wellbeing options

Mental health support and coaching

Training platform and peer reviews

2 paid volunteering days a year

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Zalando SE is seeking a Principal Data Scientist to investigate marketplace dynamics, develop causal inference frameworks, and conduct exploratory analysis across the Search, Catalog, and S&D platform. You will translate data into insights shaping product development and ranking health metrics, collaborating with engineers, PMs, and stakeholders.

The role emphasizes building production-ready models, mentoring scientists, and driving data-driven decisions for multi-sided marketplace economics.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in quantitative economics, CS, or related field with econometrics, statistics, and computational methods.
• 4+ years of relevant industry experience in data science or ML.
• Expertise in experimentation design and causal inference methods (DML, DiD, synthetic controls, causal forests).

Responsibilities

• Turn business strategy into data and analytics frameworks and roadmaps for ranking objectives.
• Design and analyze large online experiments, including long-term effects and interference.
• Develop methods for brand diversity, long-tail exposure and new-article exploration.
• Work with engineers to productionize models and methods at scale.
• Set scientific direction, mentor scientists, and influence senior stakeholders.
• Build and maintain platform health monitoring frameworks to track visibility KPIs and surface anomalies.
• Use economic modeling and first-principles reasoning to support trade-off decisions between visibility objectives.

Skills

Causal inference

Experiment design

Communication to leadership

Python

SQL

Education

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

Python

SQL

Jupyter

Airflow

PySpark

Databricks

Git

AWS

Job description

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

As a Principal Data Scientist, you will investigate marketplace dynamics, develop causal inference frameworks, and conduct exploratory data analysis that spans Search, Catalog, and the broader S&D platform. Your work will directly inform strategic trade-off decisions around Zalando’s platform dynamics and health, turning data into insights that shape product development and program direction for Zalando’s ranking platform. This position has an equally important mandate in ranking health monitoring and opportunity analysis, and benefits from a strong understanding of the economics of multi-sided marketplaces: identifying structural shifts in visibility outcomes, diagnosing their root causes, and quantifying the business implications for Zalando's marketplace. You will collaborate with other Applied Scientists, Data Engineers, Product Managers, and commercial stakeholders across S&D and beyond.

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

• Turn business strategy into data and analytics frameworks and roadmaps that inform long-term ranking objectives.
• Design and analyze large online experiments, including long-term effects and interference between buyers and sellers.
• Develop methods for brand diversity, long-tail exposure and new-article exploration.
• Work with engineers to bring models and methods into production at scale.
• Set scientific direction, mentor scientists and influence senior stakeholders with evidence.
• Build and maintain platform health monitoring frameworks that track visibility KPIs over time, detect anomalies, and surface early signals of marketplace imbalances before they become business issues.
• Use economic modeling and first-principles reasoning to support trade-off decisions between competing visibility objectives.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• You hold a Master's or above (PhD) in quantitative economics, computer science, or a related quantitative discipline with a strong foundation in econometrics, statistics, and computational methods, and 4+ years of relevant industry experience.
• You possess expertise in experimentation design and quasi-experimental research methods such as Double Machine Learning, difference-in-differences, synthetic control, and causal forests.
• You have strong experience conducting exploratory data analysis at scale and communicating findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leadership.
• You are a hands‑on owner and builder who drives large initiatives across departments.
• You are proficient in Python and SQL, with hands‑on experience using Jupyter Notebooks, Airflow, PySpark, Databricks, Git, and AWS.
• You are enthusiastic about using AI engineering in your workflows as well as contributing to the team's agentic research and engineering setup.

OUR OFFER

Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect.

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

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle – 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

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 Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/insidezalando