Staff Applied Research Scientist (Revenue Management)

The Opportunity

Flexport is looking for a strong technical leader to lead our marketplace initiatives. This person is an expert in revenue management, pricing strategies, inventory management, probabilistic and statistical modeling, deterministic and stochastic optimization techniques.

Data is at the heart of our business, and as a Staff Applied Research Scientist, you will design and create first-in-class science products to make global trade easy and efficient. In collaboration with multidisciplinary product, engineering, user experience, and business/operations teams, you will apply advanced Operations Research (OR)  and Machine Learning (ML) methods to deliver data-driven insights, predictive capabilities, and automated decision solutions in Flexport’s marketplace. 

Our product and engineering teams collaborate closely with our science team to share domain knowledge, test hypotheses at scale, and develop promising solutions that can be quickly and widely deployed. In addition, we are passionate about providing effortlessly accessible intelligence and actionable insights to our end users. Thus, the ideal Staff ARS candidate is: self-motivated, highly analytical, technically excellent at writing code, capable and comfortable dealing with ambiguity, and passionate about delivering cutting-edge solutions.  

Locations: San Francisco, Bellevue 

You Will:

• Lead research, development, and production deployment of standard data-driven pricing and inventory management systems across multiple transportation modes, to automate and improve incumbent processes.
• Hands-on, guide the evolution of our revenue management strategies while identifying and developing new greenfield opportunities.
• Establish technical standards and drive the science system architecture, engineering practices, and engineering methodologies.
• Build high-quality, scalable, interpretable, and architecturally sound revenue management systems that support the growth of the business.
• Mentor a team of talented data, applied research, and machine learning scientists, demonstrate thought leadership and guidance to make the right scientific or technical trade-offs.
• Create the technical vision for the team on both data foundations and advanced models/algorithms. 
• Work collaboratively with product, engineering, and business to:
• find opportunities to create new, improve and simplify existing revenue management systems, 
• understand Flexport’s business and operations processes to identify impact opportunities, 
• translate ambiguous business requirements into the right technical solution, and
• design and build robust and scalable production solutions.

You Should Have:

Minimum Qualifications

• Masters degree in quantitative fields, such as Operations Research, Computer Science, Applied Math, etc. 
• 8+ years of experience in modeling and solving pricing and inventory management problems, and developing automated and practical solutions.
• 5+ years of technical leadership experience.
• Strong experience in advanced experiment design and observational causal inference.
• Design experiments to measure the impact of our pricing and assortment decisions. 
• Design advanced A/B tests to enable us to learn in the presence of network effects, long-term dependencies to optimize key business metrics.
• Experience with quasi-experimental methods for causal identification, and employing ML to estimate treatment effects.
• Good working knowledge of machine learning.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated ability to communicate with business stakeholders to understand requirements and present findings and recommendations that show value. 
• Strong track record in performing high-quality analysis of big data
• Track record of driving change based on persuasive communication of insights and opportunities based on analysis.
• Experience incubating new technology working closely with research scientists, software developers, and product managers from conception to implementation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. (or equivalent research experience) in quantitative fields, such as Computer Science, Operations Research, Applied Math, etc. 
• Deep expertise in modeling, algorithm design, engineering, and production implementation.
• Great at system design with strong evidence of capability to design complex solutions at the right level of abstraction.
• Proven object-oriented design and implementation skills (Python, Java, or C++) and strong knowledge of design patterns.
• Extensive knowledge of software engineering best practices for the complete software development life cycle.
• Experience developing and deploying OR/ML solutions for high-volume, critical production service environments. 
• Deep expertise working with large data sets and knowledge of tools for big data analytics (e.g., SQL, Python, Perl, or Ruby).
• Strong research track record (e.g., tier-1 publications and patents).

About Flexport

We believe global trade can move the human race forward. That’s why it’s our mission to make global trade easier for everyone. We aim to do this by building the Operating System for Global trade - a strategic model combining advanced technology and data analytics, logistics infrastructure, and supply chain expertise. Flexport today connects almost 10,000 clients and suppliers across 109 countries, including established global brands like Georgia-Pacific, as well as emerging innovators like Sonos. Started in 2013, we've raised over $1.3B in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund, Founders Fund, GV, First Round Capital, and Y Combinator. We’re excited about the three big ways we’re moving forward after our recent $1B investment from SoftBank Vision Fund in February 2019.

Are you worried about not having any freight forwarding experience?

• Don’t be! We’re building the first Operating System for Global Trade. That’s why it’s crucial for us to bring people from diverse backgrounds and experiences together with our industry veterans to help move the freight forwarding industry forward.
• What’s freight forwarding, and why does it matter? Freight forwarding is the coordination and shipment of goods from one place to another, and it’s what makes global trade possible. Flexport is on a mission to make global trade easier for everyone because we believe it can help connect the world and break down economic barriers.
• We know this industry is complex. That’s why we invest in education starting day one with Flexport Academy, a one-week intensive onboarding program explicitly designed to set every new Flexport employee up for success.

At Flexport, our ability to fulfill our mission of making global trade easy for everyone relies on having a diverse, dedicated, and engaged workforce. That is why Flexport is committed to creating and nurturing an environment where anyone can be their authentic self. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, health status, marital and family status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.