The vacancy is well-structured with clear responsibilities and requirements, though some details on compensation and company profile could improve clarity.
Job description
As a Senior Principal Applied Scientist, you will drive the scientific vision and execution for the Bidding and Allocation engines within Zalando Marketing Services (ZMS).
Responsibilities
### Responsibilities
- Lead the research and development of our real-time bidding and allocation algorithms, optimizing for long-term platform health, advertiser performance, and user relevance.
- Advance our Auction and Mechanism Design capabilities to ensure a fair, efficient, and transparent marketplace.
- Collaborate with Product Managers, Engineers, and Analysts to translate complex business constraints into mathematical objective functions.
- Drive the long-term scientific and execution roadmap for ZMS Ad Tech Bidding Optimization in collaboration with Engineers and ML Scientists and foster a culture of technical excellence.
- Mentor and grow senior level members of the team, acting as a force multiplier for our scientific community.
Requirements
### Requirements
- PhD in Machine Learning with a track record of publications and industry experience.
- Proven track record of research excellence, evidenced by peer-reviewed publications in relevant fields such as Computational Advertising, Auction Theory, Mechanism Design, or Game Theory.
- At least 10+ years of experience in optimizing complex systems through automated algorithms, specifically within Ad Tech, Marketplaces, or related fields.
- Deep theoretical and technical expertise in optimization, control theory, or reinforcement learning applied to bidding and budget pacing.
- Expert knowledge of productionalizing ML models within ultra-low latency constraints and experience with large-scale distributed systems.
- Strong proficiency in Python and related stack, with a solid understanding of how to architect scalable data pipelines for sparse, high-dimensional advertising data.
Conditions
### Conditions
- 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.
- 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.
About Growth Content Creator
Zalando is Europe’s leading online fashion platform, offering fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products sold and shipped directly to customers across multiple European markets. The company focuses on content creation, creator ecosystems, entertainment ventures, and creative production to engage shoppers through innovative storytelling, landing pages, and immersive campaigns. It emphasizes hybrid work models, employee discounts, and collaboration with brands to drive commercial success and customer inspiration.
