Lead Data Scientist

We are looking for an experienced Lead Data Scientist to join our growing Data Analytics team at NEXT!

As the Lead Data Scientist you will personalise the NEXT website (both UK & International) and customer journey in order to maximise sales.

Within this exciting role you will be a key part of the personalisation Data Science team, currently working within DataBricks and Google Cloud Platform with further connections to the wider Marketing team.

We are looking for someone who has a good understanding and experience of Data Science techniques within a CRM environment. You must also have great communication skills so that you can present your findings to various stakeholders within the business.

We can offer hybrid working, with part of your week working at Next Head Office in Enderby, Leicestershire and part of the week working remotely (2 days office, 3 remote!)

About the role

• Collaborate with internal teams from around the business to understand problems and opportunities and gather requirements for model building.
• Interrogate large volumes of data from a range of sources, including transactional, demographic and online, to collect data for modeling.
• Build predictive models and segmentations.
• Present model findings and analysis to a range of audiences.
• Proactively identify opportunities for personalisation and improvements to the customer experience
• Take ownership of the Data Science testing plan for CRM.
• Line manage 1 Analyst and provide technical guidance, support and training.
• Translate technical findings into actionable insights and present findings to stakeholders at all levels.

About you

• Understanding and experience of Data Science techniques covering regression, classification and segmentation problems.
• Knowledge of other programming languages, e.g. SQL, Python, Scala would be beneficial.
• Extensive experience with test design.
• Advanced analytical skills and comfortable with large amounts of data.
• Previous CRM experience in a similar environment.
• Experience with Big Data, Pyspark, DataBricks, Azure is desirable but not essential.
• Experience working in a Retail eCommerce environment is desirable but not essential.
• Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills.
• Excellent communication skills – comfortable presenting to a range of audiences and tailoring content accordingly.
• Good time management skills with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and priorities.
• Experience of line managing 1 or more people.

You know Next, but did you know we’re a FTSE-100 retail company employing over 35,000 people across the UK and Ireland. We’re the UK’s 2nd largest fashion retailer and for Kidswear we’re the market leader. At the last count we have over 500 stores, plus the Next Online and it’s now possible to buy on-line from over 70 countries around the world! So we’ve gone global!