Junior Simulation Researcher

Our teams are putting the world’s retailers online using robotics, AI, IoT and the cloud. We provide services to our partners globally via our state-of-the-art robotics technology, known as the Ocado Smart Platform ("OSP"). This proprietary hardware and software powers all online grocery operations - from our sophisticated webshop and highly automated Customer Fulfilment Centres, to our cutting edge last-mile operations.

About the role

We are looking for strong analytical problem solvers to join our Simulation Research team, where you will use simulation to understand the behaviour of our automation systems through modelling, experimentation and data analysis. You will work closely with stakeholders to offer them practical insight from simulation, and perform research to guide the design of some of our most advanced systems. Through research, experimentation and collaboration, you will become an expert in some of our most advanced and complex technology.

We’ve been building and operating cutting-edge warehouse automation for a long time, and simulation research is still a key strategic capability for Ocado Group. Whether it’s guiding our rollout of robotic arms, balancing latency against efficiency, or helping to scale down our solution to fit in the back of an existing store, there are always new business problems that benefit from simulation insight.

Projects can vary a lot, but you might find yourself working on:

• Estimating hardware requirements for a new site
• Iterating on new hardware designs
• Consulting on live system constraints and optimisations
• Building standard experiment designs and analysis tooling

About Simulation Research

You will be part of an open and collaborative team split between the UK and Bulgaria, working closely together to provide stakeholders with trustworthy, actionable insight.

As a simulation researcher, you will regularly switch between:

• Liaising with stakeholders to clearly understand their requirements
• Designing appropriate models, experiments and analysis to produce trustworthy data from our simulation model
• Analysing large datasets in depth to build a full picture of the system performance
• Sharing results both verbally and in writing, providing clear but nuanced insight in an accessible way
• Defining metrics and building data infrastructure and tooling, in collaboration with other teams

About you

You need to be highly numerate and comfortable working with data, with a keen eye for detail and the inquisitiveness and motivation to understand things in depth. You’ll be a fast learner, able to quickly pick up new ideas and use a wide range of tools to solve challenging problems.

Having said that, we care just as much about your soft skills. Great written and verbal communication (in English) is essential, telling a clear story through data to technical and non-technical teams, which also requires building an understanding of what a stakeholder really needs and cares about. You need to care as much about getting the process right and building relationships as you do about the numbers.

The most fundamental requirement of all is that you’re always motivated to do better, whether this means improving yourself or helping your team find better ways of working.

That’s what we care about most, although we would also value any experience with relevant analysis tools or approaches (e.g. Python, SQL, statistics, data engineering), as well as professional or academic data-driven research, particularly if it involves simulation or modelling. Experience in a related domain or working with development teams and business stakeholders would also be a plus.

What we offer

• Hybrid office attendance policy that sees you onsite 60%/40% of your time (this depends on the position and whether it's within SCC or tech)
• 30 days of “Work from anywhere” program
• 25 days of annual leave
• 100 EUR monthly for food vouchers
• 50 EUR social allowance paid with your monthly salary
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave policy
• Medical plan including health & dental coverage
• Life and disability insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Partial Multisport Card Coverage (this is something we don't usually mention, but it is one of our benefits)
  
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