[Hiring] Operations Research Principal Data Scientist @Zimmer, Inc.

Role Description

Drives advanced analytics and optimization across our supply chain and operational ecosystem. Bridging advanced machine learning, optimization, and simulation with real-world operational execution, delivering measurable impact across inventory, service levels, working capital, and patient care.

How You'll Create Impact

• Establishes reliable, analytics-ready datasets across the end-to-end supply chain and clinical usage data; partners with data engineering teams to ensure scalable, governed data pipelines.
• Designs, builds, and deploys global Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization (MEIO) models that balance service levels, cost, and risk.
• Develops and operationalizes demand forecasting models that account for variability, seasonality, market dynamics, and clinical drivers.
• Applies optimization techniques (linear programming, mixed-integer programming, heuristics) to inventory positioning and replenishment decisions.
• Analyzes usage patterns of consigned and loaned medical devices across sites and procedures; develops analytics to recommend when to shift between consignment and ownership models.
• Reduces excess inventory, free working capital, and improves asset utilization without impacting patient care.
• Builds risk and disruption models to assess exposure to demand volatility, supplier constraints, and geopolitical or regional risks.
• Leverages simulation and what-if analysis to test inventory and supply strategies prior to deployment.
• Supports supply chain resilience planning and contingency strategies.
• Establishes feedback loops to continuously refine forecasts, optimization logic, and assumptions.
• Uses analytical insights to streamline workflows and automate replenishment and decision processes.
• Partners closely with supply chain planners, procurement, logistics, finance, and field teams.
• Translates analytical outputs into clear, actionable recommendations for non-technical stakeholders; drives adoption of data-driven decision making across operational teams.
• Defines and tracks KPIs such as inventory turns, service levels, stockout rates, cost savings, and working capital improvements.
• Quantifies impact on operational efficiency, financial performance, and patient outcomes; communicates results to executive and operational leadership.

Qualifications

• Background in Healthcare Management Consulting with experience advising on operations, supply chain, or performance improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to operate across industries and functional domains.
• Experience working in regulated healthcare or medical device environments strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of moving analytics from concept to operational execution.
• Experience deploying models into operational systems.
• Strong adherence to production-grade development practices: Modular, maintainable code; Version control (Git); Unit testing and documentation.
• Ability to clearly communicate complex insights to clinicians, operators, and executives.
• Experience in demand forecasting and predictive analytics across multi-stage supply chains.
• Expert proficiency in Python (ML, optimization libraries, automation) and/or R (statistical modeling) plus strong SQL skills for extracting, transforming, and analyzing large datasets from ERP, WMS, and clinical systems.
• Optimization algorithms (linear programming, heuristics, simulation-based optimization).
• Risk modeling for supply variability and disruption scenarios.
• Experience working in cloud environments (Snowflake) for scalable analytics - familiarity with distributed data processing and cloud-native analytics patterns.
• Proficiency in Power BI, Matplotlib, Seaborn, or similar tools.

Your Background

• Minimum Qualification: Bachelor's Degree and 6 years of relevant experience, or Associate's Degree and 8 years of relevant experience, or High School Diploma or Equivalent and 10 years of relevant experience.

Travel Expectations

• Up to 15%

Expected Compensation

• $140,000-$175,000 base salary.

EOE