Lead Data Scientist - Demand Forecasting & Inventory Optimization
First seen by Alion on Oct 30, 2026.
Role:
Lead Data Scientist
About the Role:
We are looking for a hands-on Lead Data Scientist to drive demand forecasting and inventory optimization for a fast-growing quick-commerce business. The role involves building scalable ML solutions to improve demand prediction, inventory availability, replenishment planning and operational efficiency across a network of dark stores.
You will lead a small team of data scientists while remaining hands-on with model development and solving complex business problems.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own the end-to-end demand forecasting and inventory optimization roadmap.
- Develop ML models for time-series forecasting, replenishment planning and inventory management.
- Reduce stockouts, excess inventory, shrinkage and wastage across product categories.
- Optimize safety stock, inventory levels and Days of Inventory (DOI), including perishable and slow-moving products.
- Lead, mentor and review the work of data scientists and analytics professionals.
- Work hands-on with Python, advanced SQL, pandas and Spark/PySpark.
- Design experiments and monitor model performance after production deployment.
- Collaborate with Operations, Finance, Product and Engineering teams to translate business challenges into analytical solutions.
- Explore LLMs and agentic AI for workflow automation and decision-making.
Mandatory Skills:
- 7+ years of experience in Data Science, Machine Learning or Applied Analytics.
- 2+ years of experience leading or mentoring data scientists or analysts.
- Strong expertise in Python, advanced SQL, pandas and Spark/PySpark.
- Proven experience building and deploying production ML models, including time-series forecasting.
- Experience in demand forecasting, inventory optimization, replenishment or supply chain analytics.
- Strong understanding of statistical analysis, experimentation and model evaluation.
- Excellent problem-solving, communication and stakeholder management skills.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in quick commerce, e-commerce, grocery, food delivery, retail or supply chain analytics.
- Exposure to perishable inventory, shrinkage reduction, intermittent demand and safety stock optimization.
- Knowledge of multi-warehouse operations, inventory transfers and purchase order optimization.
- Experience with mathematical optimization, Operations Research, LLMs or agentic AI.
Skills
Data Science, Machine Learning, Python, SQL, Spark, Pandas, Time Series Analysis, Generative AI, Agentic AI