Head of Applied Science

Rohlik is the leading Central European e-grocer. More than a million customers shop with us across [](http://Rohlik.cz), [](http://Knuspr.de), [](http://Kifli.hu), [](http://Gurkerl.at), and [](http://Sezamo.ro), choosing from over 20,000 items delivered within hours in 15-minute windows. Behind every order is a continuous stream of automated decisions: how much inventory to buy for each warehouse, how many pickers to schedule on Thursday morning, where in the warehouse a product should sit, and which van carries which bags. Our models make these choices every day across five countries. When a forecast is accurate, shelves stay full and waste is minimized. When a plan is right, warehouses run on exact labor needs and orders arrive precisely in the customer’s chosen window. Get it wrong, and it immediately translates into shrink, overtime, tied-up capital, and missed customer deliveries. ## Why this role is exciting - **Direct operational and business impact:** Your team’s models directly drive availability, shrink, fulfillment costs, and working capital across all five markets. - **True ownership with zero friction:** We operate automated production pipelines with no committee between your team and deployment—a solid backtest is all you need to ship. - **Unification of two core capabilities:** You will bring Forecasting and Optimization into a single function, building an end-to-end decision-making ecosystem from the ground up. - **AI-first environment:** Our engineers use AI coding agents (Devin, Claude Code) daily, and we expect you to push the boundaries of modern agentic workflows and tooling. - **Direct executive exposure:** Reporting directly to the Group CTO, you will have the mandate and space to shape technical strategy and execution. ## What you will own and deliver - **Business outcomes:** Own the business results delivered by the forecasting and optimization portfolio, setting targets with cell leads and tracking financial and operational impact in production. - **Strategic roadmap & prioritization:** Define which decisions to automate next across purchasing, fulfillment center planning, workforce scheduling, and commercial optimization (promotions, markdowns, demand shaping). - **Technical standards & architecture:** Set the bar for problem framing, method selection, fast production MVPs, honest evaluation/backtesting against business metrics, and reliability monitoring. - **Function unification & leadership:** Merge Forecasting and Optimization into one high-performing team; set hiring standards, develop ML engineers and applied scientists, and foster an AI-first way of working. - **Cross-functional partnership:** Partner closely with cell leads, operations managers, product owners, and engineering leads to align on business metrics, baselines, and seamless system integration. ## What we are looking for - **Track record of impact:** 8+ years applying machine learning, forecasting, or operations research to real operational or commercial problems, with clear metrics demonstrating business results. - **Works backwards from outcomes:** A proven habit of defining target metrics first, selecting the simplest effective method, shipping fast MVPs, and iterating in production. - **Hands-on technical depth:** Experience building and shipping production models in time-series/probabilistic forecasting or mathematical optimization (LP, MIP, CP, heuristics, simulation), with enough depth to review models and judge when simple heuristics beat complex models. - **Technical skills:** Fluency in Python and SQL; hands-on experience with production pipelines, monitoring, and backtesting; familiarity with modern forecasting stacks or solvers (Gurobi, CPLEX, OR-Tools). - **Operational fluency:** Experience working directly alongside supply chain, warehouse, or logistics operations, including spending time on the floor to understand problems before framing models. - **Leadership & communication:** Proven experience leading technical teams, hiring top talent, developing engineers, and translating complex model mechanics into business trade-offs for executives. - **AI-first mindset:** Active use of coding agents and modern AI tooling in your daily workflow, driving the same approach across your team. - **Quantitative background:** M.S. or Ph.D. in Operations Research, Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or equivalent hands-on experience. **Nice to have:** - Experience in e-commerce, grocery, supply chain, or logistics at scale. - Experience building or scaling a forecasting, optimization, or decision-science function from an early stage. - Experience feeding probabilistic forecasts directly into optimization models. - Experience with GCP, Snowflake, or BigQuery, and ML platforms such as ZenML or Vertex AI. ## **What’s in it for you** - **Fair pay, transparent, stable compensation** A strong fixed salary with clear rules. No bonus politics. Great work is rewarded openly and fairly. - **Good food options, fresh, every day** Enjoy subsidised meals/fresh food options in the office and regular refreshments like drinks, fruit, and snacks that keep you energized. - **Life beyond work, hybrid work & real flexibility** Three days in the office and the rest where it works best for you. Take time off when you need it with paid vacation days above statutory and flexible scheduling. - **Grow with Knuspr every day -** we move fast, and so can you. Learn, experiment, and take ownership from day one. Every challenge is a chance to grow. - **Recognition & community -** Your impact is seen and appreciated. You can celebrate colleagues through Bonusly peer-recognition credits and feel supported by a team that works hard and wins together. - **Health & wellbeing -** Access to our UNIQA private insurance option and supportive wellbeing culture, keeping you healthy inside and outside of work. - **Mobility & convenience -** Company car available for selected management-level roles and fuel support for regular WH travel. - **Premium membership -** Free Knuspr Premium membership with exclusive benefits. - **Referral rewards -** Recommend great people and get rewarded through our group referral program. - **Team spirit -** We organize team events, celebrations, and moments to connect because work is better when we win together. #LI-ML1 #Knuspr