Machine Learning Engineer - Time Series Forecasting

At Picnic, we’re revolutionizing the way people buy groceries with our affordable and sustainable app-only service. We do almost everything in-house, developing cutting-edge technologies and processes to ensure we continue to grow rapidly without missing a beat.

If you’re a passionate Machine Learning Engineer specializing in Time Series Forecasting, we’re offering you the opportunity to join the diverse team at our Amsterdam HQ and make a real difference in our data-driven, scale-up environment. We are currently seeking talented individuals across various levels of expertise.

As a Machine Learning Engineer at Picnic, you’ll work on creating intelligent, automated systems to solve our company’s biggest challenges at scale. You won’t stop at building a model—you’ll productionize it alongside the wide variety of machine learning models we already have running in production.

You will be working together with business leads to identify and solve problems that leverage machine learning, with an emphasis on time series forecasting. From working on a model that predicts how many orders we can expect in a day, a week, or a month, to improving the Temporal Fusion Transformer model that predicts demand on the article level — a direct input for our ordering system. You're more than a model builder: you’re a blend of internal consultant, software engineer, and applied mathematician.

You might think, “Sounds good, but 80% of my job is going to be cleaning data.” Not here. Our data is registered, logged, consistent, and immaculate - maintained by our very own Data Engineering team. We’re a mature team with the infrastructure, tools, and expertise to get models into production.

Check out some of our previous machine learning projects here:

You will focus on building ML forecast-oriented solutions. This includes:

• Forecasting order volumes used Picnic-wide: can we go even further and try to “clean” our historic demand data from operational capacity constraints?
• Forecasting the number of trips
• Forecasting capacity in warehouses and distribution
• Working closely with business leads and analysts to identify opportunities, define business cases, and scope the requirements
• Owning your own project from inception to production to continuous improvement

• Python (FastAPI - or we build our own packages)
• ML (Scikit-learn, PyTorch, Tensorflow, …)
• SQL (Snowflake, Postgres)
• Git
• Kubernetes
• Docker

• Master’s degree or higher in AI, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field
• At least 4 years of experience in data science with experience in the time series forecasting domain
• Experience with maintaining production-level ML solutions with solid software engineering and ML principles
• Strong Python and SQL skills
• Superb communication skills and ability to transfer knowledge to business stakeholders and the rest of the data science team
• Comfortable with taking responsibility, showing initiative, and working independently
• Ability to think outside the box and an anything-is-possible mindset
• Quality control: commitment to excellence, performance, and efficiency

• You’ll get plenty of opportunities to challenge yourself and grow, including the Picnic Tech Academy, Lunch & Learn sessions, and tailored soft skills training. We also offer free professional weekly language courses.

• You’ll work in an awesome scale-up environment with the freedom to drive your own projects and create a visible impact.
• Our fully electric vehicles and sustainable business model mean you’ll also be contributing to making the world a better place!

• With more than 80 nationalities across 3 countries, you’ll be part of a diverse company with plenty of cool stuff to get involved with, from board game evenings to after-work drinks to our company ski trip and more!

• You’ll get freshly prepared, healthy lunches and snacks (with plenty of vegetarian, vegan, and halal options). Coffee snob? Don’t worry, our amazing Picnic barista has you covered.

• Mental health is important. As well as having the option to speak with Picnic colleagues who act as confidential advisors, our collaboration with OpenUp gives you easy access to professional psychologists, along with workshops and materials.
• There are plenty of sports communities and events to get involved with, from tennis to yoga to climbing!

• We offer competitive compensation and a pension plan that looks out for your future self as well as 25 vacation days per year, so you can recharge your batteries

Benefits for expats

It can be daunting starting a new job AND moving to a new country. That’s why we offer lots of support for our many expat colleagues, including:

• Relocation package: If you join Picnic from abroad, we’ll cover your trip to Amsterdam, sponsor your Visa, and offer you a month of accommodation while you settle in (as long as regulations allow).
• In the Netherlands, we offer support with your first tax report as well as arranging the 30% ruling.
• From health insurance to living arrangements to pet passports, there are always colleagues who’ve faced the same challenges and are more than happy to help!

Commitment to equal opportunities

Picnic is an equal opportunity employer—this means that all decisions regarding applications will be based on qualifications and merit. Applicants will be regarded independently of age, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, skin color, civil status, religious beliefs, physical or mental disability, or any other factors protected by law.

At Picnic, we celebrate and value our differences and are committed to building a safe and inclusive working environment where everyone can be themselves.