Senior Operational Research Scientist - Last Mile

Company Mission

Relay's Mission is to free commerce from friction. Today, high delivery costs act as a hidden tax on e commerce, quietly shaping what can be sold online and limiting who can participate. We envision a world where more goods move more freely between more people, making the online shopping experience seamless and accessible to everyone.

Opportunity

As the first Operational Research Scientist in Last Mile Marketplace, you will design, build and evolve the optimisation models and solvers that sit at the heart of Relay's last mile network - production decision systems that shape how Relay operates every day. This senior individual contributor role sits within Relay's Data function, joining a dedicated Operational Research team and reporting to the Staff Decision Systems Architect.

What You'll Do

• Translate operational requirements into optimisation models across scheduling, assignment and pricing problems.
• Develop and evaluate solution approaches using mathematical programming and meta heuristics.
• Design and build algorithms, heuristics and solvers custom to the unique problems you formulate.
• Ensure your solutions are scalable and adaptable to our growing operation.
• Benchmark and evaluate the performance of your solutions.
• Work closely with engineering to productionise your solutions into automated daily processes.
• Collaborate with analytics to monitor daily performance and proactively evolve your solution to make better decisions.

Qualifications

• Experience in operational research, specifically in heuristics and/or mathematical programming.
• Proficiency coding in a general purpose or performance language such as Python, Rust, Julia or C++.
• Enjoy solving large scale optimisation problems.
• Motivated to work on production systems, learning from real world outcomes and improving your solutions daily.
• Deep understanding of problem dynamics, crafting bespoke solutions to unique decision problems.
• Excited to collaborate with cross functional tech teams in building Relay's Last Mile Marketplace.
• Concern for the end users of your work-couriers, retailers, and consumers-all impacted by the decisions your systems make.

Compensation & Benefits

• Generous equity with annual top ups to share Relay's success.
• Private health and dental coverage.
• 25 days of holidays.
• Enhanced parental leave.
• Hardware of your choice.
• Extensive perks including gym subsidies, cycle to work, Friday office lunch, and more.

Relay is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity, inclusion, and fostering a workplace where everyone thrives.