Principal Applied Scientist Search/NLP/IR (all genders)

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

Search is at the core of Zalando’s experience and fashion discoverability. The Search team’s goal is to build intelligent, scalable, and personalized search experiences that connect customers with the most relevant fashion items. We aim to make every search faster, smarter, and more inspiring—turning intent into discovery. As part of the larger Search and Discovery department, you will work with colleagues in Ranking and Recommendations to optimize the customer journey to drive next level commercial impact.  

For that, we are evolving our search systems utilizing state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) and/or information retrieval (IR) methods, particularly transformer-based deep neural networks and large language models (LLMs).

As a Senior or Principal Applied Scientist, you will address challenging Search-related problems using cutting-edge approaches. You will contribute to the execution of our scientific roadmap, applying your scientific capabilities and in collaboration with a team of exceptional scientists and engineers developing models and cutting-edge machine learning products that enhance the experience of over 51 million customers. 

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

If you think you have what it takes, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single requirement. You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles!

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.

Discover more about our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/our-culture/diversity-and-inclusion

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

• Utilize your extensive scientific experience in researching, deploying, and architecting machine learning and deep learning solutions in NLP and IR to enhance our search systems for millions of our customers in large scale projects. 

• Transform Zalando search into a fully intent-driven, LLM-augmented experience — spanning query understanding, semantic retrieval and personalized result page composition, including dynamic UX elements such as conversational query refinement, at the scale of millions of queries per day.

• Develop long term roadmaps for research topics that span multiple product areas and address concrete business goals. 

• Contribute hands-on to delivering the roadmap in partnership with other scientists, engineers, and product.

• Raise the department’s and Zalando’s best practice in methods, algorithms and technology, including architecture, design patterns, and research roadmaps.

• Act as a mentor and guide to more junior scientists, and actively share knowledge and expertise within Zalando’s science community.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• PhD in NLP, IR, machine learning, or related fields (or equivalent experience), accompanied by 4+ years of industry experience, especially deep learning based NLP and/or IR methods.

• Experience leading and shaping the scientific roadmap of the teams in products that span across multiple areas and working with senior science, engineering, and product leaders. 

• Extensive track record of addressing real-world problems using machine learning throughout the entire product cycle.

• Authority on deep learning and track record of leveraging research to advance the state of the art, including publication records at top-tier venues.

• Extensive hands-on experience in deep learning with proficiency in Python and frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow. Expertise with LLMs and their applications in IR. Proficiency in cloud computing platforms such as AWS is also required.

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

• Hybrid working model with up to 60% remote per week, actual practice is up to each team to best support their collaboration

• Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year

• Employee shares program

• 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 counseling 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