Lead Data Scientist – Forecasting

Position Summary 

The Forecasting Center of Excellence (COE) at CVS Health builds scalable forecasting systems that support pricing, promotions, and assortment decisions across the retail business. As a Lead Data Scientist, you will own how demand is modeled and used for decision-making, not just how it is predicted. 

This role focuses on defining and scaling a unified forecasting framework that produces consistent outputs across use cases. You will work with data science, engineering, product management, software development, and business teams to ensure forecasts are not just accurate, but stable, and usable in real decision workflows. 

In this role, you will have the opportunity to: 

• Own the design and evolution of a unified forecasting architecture, defining how demand is constructed   

• Integrate internal and external data sources (e.g., coupon redemption, merchandising, competitive, macroeconomic) into scalable forecasting pipelines 

• Evaluate tradeoffs across various forecasting methods (and ensure outputs are stable, interpretable, and decision-ready 

• Develop scenario planning and simulation frameworks to measure the business impact of pricing, promotions, and assortment decisions 

• Implement robust MLOps practices for deployment, monitoring, and retraining in cloud environments (Azure, GCP, AWS) 

• Elevate the technical bar of the entire organization. Establish a culture of continous learning and champion the recruitment of top-tier analytical talent 

• Lead the exploration of state-of-the-art machine learning/deep learning techniques.  

• Translate complex business objectives into a multi-quarter data science roadmap, prioritizing high impact initiatives from research through deployment while managing technical debt and ensuring alignment with cross-functional product milestones. 

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We are a fast-paced team focused on building innovative advanced analytics solutions using cloud capabilities. Within our team, we believe cutting-edge AI products and analytics can only be delivered if every aspect of the solution from data to model to front end UI is fully designed and developed by the team.  

We are looking for talented individuals who have a strong sense of ownership, accountability and a desire to deliver high quality end to end intuitive and impactful analytic products using advanced data driven approaches. 

Required Qualifications 

• Master’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, or related quantitative field (PhD preferred) 

• 7+ years of experience in forecasting or demand modeling, ideally in a retail or B2C environment including hands-on deploying  enterprise-level production forecasting systems with measurable impact 

• 3+ years of experience working with a data engineering/MLOps team to productionize data science models, familiarity with version control (GitLab or GitHub), and ML platforms (AWS SageMaker, Databricks, GCP Vertex AI, etc.) 

• 4+ years of experience with Python and SQL for large-scale data processing 

• Excellent communication, leadership, and presentation skills and attention to detail. Worked in an agile environment, has the flexibility to adapt to changing business needs 

• Proven experience leading multiple complex projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment. 

• Experience mentoring junior team members and setting standards for forecasting approaches, model validation, and code quality 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience applying demand forecasting methods in a retail environment 

• In depth understanding of merchandising concepts and metrics  

• Experience managing large scale projects and working with multiple stakeholders in a matrixed environment 

Education 

• Master’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, or a related quantitative field 

• Advanced degree (PhD) preferred in quantitative disciplines with applied experience in forecasting,