Staff Applied Scientist: Real-Time Last‑Mile Optimisation

Relay; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Relay is seeking a Staff Applied Scientist to lead optimisation for our last-mile network, making routing, pricing and scheduling decisions for couriers and the broader system.

You will develop and scale in-house solvers and algorithms, collaborate with ML and recommender teams, and raise the bar for Operational Research across Relay while growing the research culture and mentoring peers.

Join a data-driven, fast-moving team shaping how millions of parcels move in real time.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in operational research, from a PhD, publications, or frontier industry.
• Background in operational research or industrial engineering, or from a quantitative discipline including trading that has branched into optimisation.
• Experience building optimisation systems or ML models that run in production, and owning the outcome.
• Energetic about large, messy problems and able to bring structure to them.
• Collaborate generously and explain complex ideas simply.

Responsibilities

• Lead optimisation for Relay's last mile, making the best routing, pricing and scheduling decisions for couriers and the wider network.
• Model and optimise the decisions that define our last-mile delivery network and marketplace.
• Develop our solvers and algorithms so they perform live, and at scale.
• Partner with other Scientists to unite ML and recommender systems with Operational Research.
• Raise the standard for Operational Research at Relay, and grow the team, the research culture and our voice in the tech community.

Skills

Operational Research

Optimization

Machine Learning

Quantitative discipline

Production systems

Education

PhD in OR or related field

Job description

Relay is seeking a Staff Applied Scientist to lead optimisation for our last-mile network, making routing, pricing and scheduling decisions for couriers and the broader system.

You will develop and scale in-house solvers and algorithms, collaborate with ML and recommender teams, and raise the bar for Operational Research across Relay while growing the research culture and mentoring peers.

Join a data-driven, fast-moving team shaping how millions of parcels move in real time.