Manager, Data Science & Analytics (Inventory & Supply Chain) - Remote

Key Skills

Confluence, Data Analytics, Data science techniques, Git, Logistic Regression, Looker, Machine learning techniques, Optimization, PowerBI, Python Programming, SQL, Supply Chain Management, Tableau

Job Description

Enterprise Analytics & Data Science (EADS) is the advanced analytics department at Petco, delivering data products across Inventory & Supply Chain, Merchandising, Pricing, Customer and Marketing.

Our EADS inventory team applies data science to guide the right product to the right location at the right time to maximize sales across channels, while balancing inventory investment / logistics cost across our ~1,500 stores and multi-echelon fulfilment network.

We are seeking a Manager with a unique blend of analytics expertise and business acumen to execute on projects and realize their value within the business. This role reports into the Director, Inventory Analytics, manages an Associate Data Scientist and will work alongside two other Data Scientists.

Ideal capabilities

• A facilitator – you can lead conversations and partner with business teams (e.g. evaluating current processes / challenges, effectively communicating analytical solutions / results)
• An owner – you take ownership of initiatives and can progress independently, while providing thoughtful guidance to others. You suggest the next best step vs. needing this to be provided
• A driver – you are motivated by delivering tangible business results. You manage expectations and deliver to timelines, transitioning seamlessly between coding and business engagement
• Data fluency – You are comfortable transforming large datasets (~20K products, ~25M product-locations, ~10B product-location-days per year) and building clean data pipelines to feed tools
• Domain expertise – You have a solid foundation of inventory optimization & logistics (ideally within a retail environment)

Project roadmap

We support the business with a mix of advanced analytics and data science initiatives – all projects are aligned upfront with Petco leadership and should deliver measurable business value.

Examples of projects that you can expect to lead / contribute to:

• Replenishment optimization

Executing on our replenishment strategy, including differentiated service levels, accurate lead time variability / forecast error and optimized presentation stock.

• Unproductive sell-through

Understanding current processes for exiting product and building a rules-based decision tool to drive sell-through of clearance / expiring / excess inventory.

• In-stock drivers

Modelling complex business and system relationships to evaluate the primary drivers of stockouts, providing clear (remediation) direction to business teams.

• Freight terms optimization

For our “collect” orders (where we pay the transportation cost), analyze cost history to evaluate if vendors are sufficiently discounting unit cost to achieve our target margin.

• DC delivery optimization

Evaluating store demand, proximity to DC / other stores, DC labor capacity etc. to determine a store’s optimal replenishment frequency and truck routes.

• Substitutability model

Modelling a “substitutability” score for each product and surfacing the primary alternatives for customers (based on strength of substitute relationships).

What you’ll do

• Balance time across data science / analytics initiatives and tactical business requests
• Develop a strong understanding of the Petco business, capturing pain-points for customers and teams. Apply a “business-value” lens to all initiatives
• Provide structure and guidance for your direct report(s), effectively delegating work / timelines, reviewing outputs and sharing improvement opportunities
• Take ownership of projects – partnering with functional areas (Merch Planning, Logistics) to understand challenges, and applying your analytical skillset to design solutions
• Build the project roadmap – what data will you need, what analysis is required, what approach / algorithm is most effective, how will you manage business expectations + demonstrate success
• Synthesize data and develop thoughtful models / analyses to achieve business objectives
• Where valuable, construct front-end reporting to facilitate business action from your insights
• Communicate progress (verbally & written presentation) with business stakeholders and obtain required inputs by presenting decision points in a clear, accessible way
• Create / maintain documentation to educate our team (and business) on tools, key concepts
• Identify new opportunities / initiatives – review with the business and communicate their value

What you’ll need

• Advanced degree in a quantitative field (Data Science, Statistics, Research, Engineering, etc.)
• 4+ years hands-on experience in an analytical role (ideally within retail) involving application of advanced analytics and modelling to address business challenges
• Understanding of typical retail datasets is a significant plus (e.g. sales history, inventory history, purchase history, network transfers, planograms, pricing)
• Knowledge & experience in inventory optimization / logistics is highly preferred
• Exceptional analytical thinking and detail – you propose innovative solutions to challenging technical problems and can critically assess work from a technical & business logic perspective
• Strong communication, messaging and collaboration skills, with demonstrated ability to manage business expectations and drive projects through to completion
• Strong technical competency with data analytics toolset & platforms:
• Core: SQL mastery (efficient, clean code that can be shared)
• Core: Comfort applying statistical methods, EDA etc. in python
• Core: Experience working with BI software (Looker, Power BI, Tableau)
• Core: Familiarity with collaborative programming tools: Git, Confluence, etc.
• Ideal: Experience applying linear programming / MIP (e.g. PuLP, OR-tools) to find optimal solutions (e.g. in the presence of supply chain constraints)
• Ideal: Ability to evaluate and apply ML algorithms to improve predictive accuracy
• Ideal: Experience with retail-specific modelling considerations – cannibalization, halo effects, cross-elasticity of demand (from substitutes)

Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or any other protected classification.

Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or any other protected classification.

The pay range(s) below are provided in compliance with state specific laws. Pay ranges may be different in other locations.

$101,900.00 - $152,800.00