Senior Applied Scientist - Agentic AI (all genders)

Zalando GmbH; Berlin; On-site; EUR 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days holiday

Employee shares programme

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Zalando is seeking a Senior Applied Scientist to join our Berlin-based Applied Science team. Drive end-to-end research, design and scale agentic AI systems, and own production models to optimize customer self-service at scale.

You will collaborate with data engineers, software engineers, analysts, and product managers to translate innovations into scalable AI products that enhance the customer experience.

Qualifications

• Proven research excellence in AI and ML.
• Strong programming skills in Python and ML frameworks.
• Experience with large language models and production-grade systems.

Responsibilities

• Translate high-impact business challenges into structured research plans and lead projects from discovery to production.
• Design, fine-tune, evaluate, and scale advanced LLM applications and agentic workflows.
• Own end-to-end AI production models from architecture to monitoring at scale.
• Mentor junior scientists and promote rigorous, reproducible research.

Skills

Agentic AI

LLMs

NLP

Python

SQL

Tools

PyTorch

PydanticAI

Databricks

Job description

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 a Senior 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 Agentic AI systems and Large Language Models (LLMs) 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.

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.

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

Drive End-to-End Research: Translate ambiguous, high-impact business challenges in Customer Care Technology into structured research plans, leading projects from discovery to production deployment.

Build Agentic Systems: Apply rigorous scientific methodologies to design, fine-tune, evaluate, and scale advanced LLM applications and agentic workflows.

Own Production Models: Take end-to-end accountability for AI models in production—including architecture design, performance optimization, deployment, and real-time monitoring at scale.

Elevate Standards: Establish best practices for research methodologies, ensuring high-quality, reproducible experiments across the team.

Mentor & Inspire: Coach junior Applied Scientists, fostering a culture of scientific rigor, innovation, and operational excellence.

Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Partner with product managers, data engineers, and software engineers to seamlessly integrate AI solutions into production services.

AI Productionization: You have a strong track record of autonomously tackling complex research projects and shipping scientific innovations into customer-facing AI products at scale.

Core LLM Expertise: You have extensive expertise in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing (NLP), with a focus on building and scaling production-grade LLM applications.

Agentic System Design: You have a strong understanding of agentic architectures, agent orchestration, hallucination mitigation, and retrieval augmented generation (RAG).

Engineering & Tech Stack: You have excellent programming skills in Python (including frameworks like PyTorch and PydanticAI), strong SQL skills, and hands-on experience with Databricks.

Strategic Communication: You have the ability to think strategically and effectively translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for non-experts and senior leadership.

Agile & Collaborative Mindset: You have a results-driven, collaborative mindset, feel comfortable navigating high-uncertainty environments, and actively take initiative to uncover high-value research opportunities.

OUR OFFER

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

In some cases we also work with a selection of headhunters and agencies to fill specific roles. Please note that neither Zalando nor our recruiting partners will ask for any kind of payment to apply for a job or attend an interview.

About Zalando

Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle. Connecting 62 million active customers with more than 7,000 brands across 29 markets, our operations are built on a unique AI-powered data and infrastructure platform. For our customers, our multi-app approach - comprising Zalando, ABOUT YOU, and Lounge by Zalando - delivers an inspiring, highly personalized shopping experience, serving different customers with different needs. For our partners, we are building the operating system for e-commerce. Through ZEOS, Tradebyte, and SCAYLE, we open our logistics, software, and service capabilities to brands and retailers, enabling them to seamlessly scale their businesses across borders.