Data Scientist

Company Description

Dedicated to telling stories and creating experiences, Indigo is always looking for bright, energetic and customer-focused people who can help bring our exciting mission to life in one of our more than 170 Indigo, Indigospirit, Chapters and Coles stores across Canada. We offer a variety of exciting opportunities at our retail stores, distribution centres, and home office for people who share our passions and want to be part of a dynamic and enriching culture.

WHO WE ARE

• We love books and all things beautiful
• We are Canada's Cultural Department Store
• Books are our heart and our soul and Great Books are JUST the Beginning…

We play by the following rules:

• We exist to add joy to our customers' lives each and every time they interact with us and our products
• Our job is to create joyful moments for our customers
• We treat each other the way we'd treat a valued friend
• We inspire each other to do our best work
• We seek to ignite creativity and innovation every day
• We give back to the communities in which we operate

The Data Scientist plays a crucial role in supporting Indigo's data-driven initiatives under the guidance of the Manager, Data Science. This role will be responsible for building, deploying, and optimizing machine learning models and data-driven solutions that support Indigo's personalization and business strategies. This role will work closely with cross-functional teams to analyze large datasets, generate actionable insights, and improve decision-making through data science and AI applications

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

• Demonstrated improvement of product and customer focused business processes
• Timely and accurate delivery of audience and recommendations for targeted offer execution
• Improvements in quality and accuracy of product and customer data
• High independence in managing own day-to-day work deliverables
• Collaboration with internal partners on to drive data literacy and understanding
• Contribution to driving overall data enablement strategy.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Functional

• Develop and deploy machine learning models for customer insights, personalization, and operational optimization
• Design and implement customer segmentation strategies to enhance marketing and merchandising initiatives
• Leverage data science techniques to analyze large datasets and uncover meaningful business insights
• Collaborate with teams across digital marketing, loyalty, merchandising, and e-commerce to integrate AI-driven solutions
• Optimize predictive models for scalability, accuracy, and real-time deployment
• Utilize Power BI or Tableau to build compelling dashboards and reports that drive data-informed decisions
• Stay up to date with advancements in AI, machine learning, and Gen-AI applications.
• Ensure proper documentation of methodologies, models, and insights for knowledge retention and reproducibility

People

• Work collaboratively with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment on data-driven initiatives
• Contribute to knowledge-sharing sessions and mentorship within the data team
• Share technical knowledge with others and actively seek to learn from those more knowledgeable than yourself
• Actively seek feedback from peers and stakeholders to refine models and analyses
• Encourage others to freely share their point of view and be open to feedback

Cultural

• Support the implementation and enhancement of data science methodologies across the organization
• Contribute to the development and utilization of Indigo's data language and ensure its integration into business processes
• Model Indigo's beliefs and convey a positive image in everything you do
• Celebrate diversity of thought and have an open mindset
• Take an active role in fostering a culture of continual learning, taking risks without the fear of making mistakes
• Embrace, champion and influence change through your team and/or the organization

SCOPE

Reports to: Manager, Data Science

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

• Loyalty
• Email Marketing
• Performance Marketing
• Data Engineering
• Data Science
• IT

Qualifications

Work Experience / Education / Certifications

• University's (master's is preferred) degree in statistics, mathematics, economics, data science, or computer science, or a related field
• 3+ years of demonstrated experience in data science, AI, machine learning, or advanced analytics, with experience leading end-to-end projects preferably in the retail sector
• Extensive experience linking and analyzing large datasets
• Experience developing and deploying predictive ML/AI models in a business setting
• Proven ability and experience analyzing customer data for actionable business insight
• Proven experience with NLP and/or Gen-AI

Competencies / Skills / Attributes

• Strong programming skills in Python, SQL and Spark, with experience using libraries such as Pandas, Numpy, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Keras
• Proficiency in Power BI or Tableau for data visualization, reporting, and storytelling
• Experience with LLMs, fine-tuning, and Transformer model development, with familiarity with industry trends and open-source platforms
• Demonstrated expertise in building predictive ML/AI algorithms (supervised and unsupervised) and recommendation systems
• Familiarity with cloud-based data platforms, such as Snowflake, is highly valued
• Proficiency in Git and version control, and experience with MLOps practices is a bonus
• Passion for leveraging data science to enhance customer experience and business performance
• Effective communication skills that include excellent written, oral, and presentation abilities
• Demonstrated time management skills: the ability to organize and prioritize work to manage timelines and meet defined deadlines in a fast-paced work environment
• Dedication to exceed performance expectations and approaches work with a sense of urgency and passion
• Passionate about the Indigo brand

Additional information

At Indigo, we are committed to our communities, our customers, and each other; together we can make a positive impact. We know that fostering diversity and inclusion brings out your full potential and creates a joyful and welcoming environment for everyone. We are driven to be an equitable employer, which highly values your diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that you, in all your uniqueness, belong at Indigo. We welcome all applicants and encourage applications from individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, a person of colour, LGBTQ2+ and people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request to individuals who self-identify as ha.