Position Summary...

What you'll do...

We are seeking an experienced and visionary Director of Data Science to lead the Transportation Forecasting team. In this role you will be leading a team that develops cutting edge forecasting models using machine learning, and time series methods to drive impactful business decisions. The ideal candidate will possess a deep technical background in coding, data analysis, and visualization, combined with strong leadership capabilities. This role requires a strategic thinker who can collaborate across departments to deliver data-driven insights that support our company's objectives.

How will you contribute to the success of the team?

• Code Development and Testing: Develop robust solutions using SQL, Python, R and other programming languages. Write code to develop application features, create and execute PoCs, deploy models production systems, and maintain comprehensive code documentation.
• Technical Problem Formulation: Utilize analytics, big data, and automation techniques to dissect business problems within your discipline, identify root causes, recommend technology-focused solutions, and quantify the business impact.
• Data Source Identification: Understand business domains and data scenarios, identify and prioritize suitable data sources, perform initial data quality checks, and guide junior associates on data source identification and quality assessments.
• Understanding Business Context: Translate business requirements into strategies and projects aligned with business objectives, build and present business cases with clear ROI, challenge assumptions, mentor team members, and engage with the external community to enhance Walmart's brand.
• Data Visualization: Utilize various data visualization tools to represent complex data, design data representations that meet customer requirements, create compelling stories from data insights, and influence diverse audiences.
• Analytical Modeling: Apply advanced statistical and machine learning techniques to solve complex problems, collaborate with business teams for feature engineering, conduct exploratory data analysis, and develop continuous learning models.
• Model Assessment and Validation: Identify and apply appropriate metrics for model testing and tuning, ensure thorough documentation of testing information.
• Data Strategy: Articulate and apply data strategy principles to complex business problems, influence data strategy across multiple functions, and unlock the monetary value of data assets.
• Model Deployment and Scaling: Deploy and maintain models or model ensembles, ensure long-term sustainability and performance, and collaborate with stakeholders to create innovative user interfaces.
• Leadership and Development: Develop strategies to attract and retain a skilled workforce, support mentorship and workforce development, promote a culture of integrity, and lead community outreach initiatives.

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to understand the case level demand and forecasting requirements.
• Developing and refining forecasting models to predict workload demand and capacity needed at different locations.
• Analyzing data trends and providing actionable insights to optimize transportation logistics.
• Leading your team in conducting exploratory data analysis and feature engineering to enhance model accuracy.
• Presenting data-driven insights and recommendations to senior leadership to inform strategic transportation decisions.
• Ensuring timely and accurate deployment of forecasting models and monitoring their performance. Maintenance accuracy and timeliness of daily, weekly and monthly outputs.
• Mentoring and guiding junior associates on data science best practices and advanced modeling techniques.

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, or a related field. Ph. D. will be a plus.
• Experience: Proven experience in forecasting, machine learning, and time series modeling. Prior team management experience is a must.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in SQL, Python, R, DataIKU; experience with advanced data visualization tools; strong understanding of statistical and machine learning techniques.
• Business Acumen: Ability to translate business requirements into actionable data strategies and solutions.
• Communication: Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.