About the position
We are seeking intermediate & Senior Data Scientist's to develop and improve analytical models that support retail pricing, forecasting and operational decisions. The role will focus on four areas: anomaly detection, price elasticity, forecasting caps and forecast accuracy. You will work with business and technology teams to turn model outputs into decisions they can use and measure.
This is a contract role, oniste in Cape Town.
Key responsibilities
- Anomaly detection: Develop methods to identify unusual patterns in sales, pricing, demand and forecast data. Investigate whether flagged results reflect data issues or genuine business events.
- Price elasticity: Build and refine models that estimate how changes in price affect demand. Account for factors such as promotions, seasonality and differences between products or stores.
- Capping in forecasting: Assess and improve the rules used to cap forecasts, so extreme predictions are controlled without suppressing genuine demand.
- Forecast accuracy: Measure model performance using appropriate metrics, investigate sources of error and improve forecasts across products, stores and time periods.
- Prepare and analyse large datasets using Python and SQL, with appropriate data-quality checks.
- Explain assumptions, results and limitations to commercial and operational stakeholders.
- Work with data engineering and technology teams to implement, monitor and maintain analytical solutions.
Requirements
- A degree in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science or a related field.
- Practical experience developing statistical or machine-learning models, particularly demand forecasting or pricing analytics.
- Strong Python and SQL skills.
- Sound understanding of time-series modelling, model evaluation and data quality.
- Ability to investigate model behaviour and explain findings to non-technical stakeholders.
Advantageous
- Retail, FMCG or grocery experience.
- Experience with price elasticity modelling, anomaly detection or forecast controls.
- Experience applying models across large product and store ranges.
Desired Skills:
