Sr. Manager, Data Science - Pricing Algorithms

CarMax; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

CarMax is seeking a senior data science leader for the Pricing team in Richmond, VA. The role focuses on developing optimal pricing strategies for vehicles and leading the team that builds pricing models and AI-driven pricing solutions.

You will influence pricing decisions across hundreds of thousands of vehicles, working with cross-functional partners to align strategies with business goals and market conditions.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree with strong academic performance in quantitative discipline; advanced degree a plus.
• Proven ability to build pricing models and apply analytical skills to business problems.
• Experience leading analytics teams and driving business value.

Responsibilities

• Develop pricing strategies that meet short- and long-term business objectives.
• Lead the development of pricing models and AI pricing for vehicles.
• Manage a pricing team of data scientists and drive cross-functional collaborations.

Skills

Pricing strategy

Data science

Leadership

Analytical communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in quantitative field

Master's or PhD preferred

Tools

Python

Job description

8901 - Corp Office West Crk - 12800 Tuckahoe Creek Parkway, Richmond, Virginia, 23238

CarMax, the way your career should be! About the Team

The primary responsibility for the Pricing team is to accurately and systematically value each individual car that we buy and sell. Last year, CarMax sold over 1 million vehicles and appraised over 2 million vehicles, and Pricing directed over $20B in spend to purchase inventory. To properly value these vehicles, our data scientists must develop algorithms that best reflect customer preferences for each vehicle's unique characteristics and that effectively respond to constantly changing consumer demand, wholesale auction supply, and other global/local market conditions.

What You Will Do - Essential Responsibilities

• Develop optimal pricing strategies that meet both short and long term business objectives
• Leverage exceptional business knowledge, creativity, vision and analytic skills in order to lead the development of optimal pricing strategies
• Develop right optimization strategy given CarMax's unique business model of selling a non-commodity product at a no-haggle price.
• Leverage strong analytic communication skills to gain broad buy-in to pricing strategies and goals at all levels of the organization
• Continuously improve our pricing strategy by delivering $10-25MM/yr of incremental value
• Build a highly engaged team of 4-7 Data Scientists with the skills to implement our pricing strategies across hundreds of thousands of vehicles each year
• Create a rewarding and challenging environment designed to teach uniquely gifted analytic professionals how to become effective, value adding data scientists
• Leverage strong functional expertise in a quickly evolving field to ensure that team members have the right technology to meet today's business needs.
• Set specific, actionable short and mid-term goals for each team member
• Challenge, develop & recognize team members when they achieve their goals
• Lead the building of Artificial Intelligence to autonomously price every vehicle in an optimal way
• Leverage strong mathematics, statistics and technology skills (machine learning, Python, etc.) in order to lead the development of sophisticated pricing models that autonomously implement our strategies
• Leverage strong computer science and software engineering skills in order to build software that (a) Calculates the optimal value for each vehicle and (b) Delivers that value to field associates in seconds
• Lead cross functional efforts to implement new models with IT and the field
• Apply exceptional experiment test and design skills in order to measure the business impact of different pricing changes
• Develop and execute a management system that ensures the right value is put on every vehicle every day
• Ensure that the model is tuned to current market conditions by identifying times when immediate strategy changes are needed (ex: gas prices spiking)
• Build and execute a management system to ensure that the model is delivering intended values (alert system, regular review meetings...)
• Quickly respond to and resolve pricing system issues regardless of time of day/week

Purpose of the Role

CarMax relies on algorithms to make important decisions about which cars to buy, how to price them, and how to allocate them across our 200+ stores. Doing so ensures that we have the right cars at the right prices to meet our customers' needs. As we continue to innovate our business and shift more of our buying and selling online, we increasingly need to make these decisions quickly with less human intervention. Our team of data scientists plays a critical role in unlocking the business value from these innovations.

Qualifications and Requirements:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions

• Undergraduate degree with exceptional academic performance in quantitative discipline (Statistics, Math, Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering). Advanced Degree (Master's/Ph.D.) is a plus.
• Mathematical, modeling, and reasoning skills in order to build complex pricing models
• 4+ years experience in strategy, analytics and/or data science
• Proven ability to deliver business value by leveraging deep analytic skills in order to solve complex business problems
• Computer programming skills in order to turn the mathematical model into Artificial Intelligence
• Leadership skills necessary to build a highly engaged team and to work cross functionally to implement new pricing strategies
• Exceptional verbal, written, and listening skills necessary to (a) effectively manage their team, (b) listen and understand conflicting points of view on complex matters, (c) navigate through potential contentious situations that periodically occur in a change