Simulation Research Engineer (E3) - 6 month secondment

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Simulation Research Engineer (E3) | Automation Control Systems | Hatfield | Hybrid (2 days office) | Secondment 

This position is being offered as a 6-month secondment opportunity. It is intended to support short-term organisational priorities and provide the successful candidate with development opportunities within a different part of the business. 

About us: Leading online retail into the future

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’re looking for outstanding analytical problem solvers to join our Simulation Research team; a group dedicated to exploring and understanding Ocado’s most sophisticated systems through modelling, experimentation, and data-driven analysis. In this role, you’ll collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders, delivering actionable insights that inform real-world decisions and shape the future of our cutting-edge algorithms and hardware.

By working at the intersection of simulation and research, you’ll gain deep expertise in some of the most advanced and complex technologies within Ocado. You’ll play a key role in ensuring our robotic warehouses operate at peak efficiency and innovation.

Our team provides critical data and insights into the performance of Ocado’s automated fulfilment centres, directly influencing strategic decisions about the development and deployment of this technology. Currently, the team consists of eight engineers based in the UK and Bulgaria. As demand for simulation-driven insights continues to grow across the business, we’re excited to be expanding the team with two new roles.

About the environment:

We all appreciate being part of an open and collaborative team. Every engineer spends a large part of their time actively working with the rest of the team - solving problems together, reviewing findings before sharing them with stakeholders, and offering technical support to each other. We work together to understand novel requests and warehouse scenarios (of which there are many), and share all our findings as a team. We believe in the Kanban philosophy and are always looking to improve our ways of working.

About the work:

We get a wide range of requests that require many different approaches. You might spend a few days comparing alternative warehouse designs, a week evaluating a new hardware design, then a fortnight investigating the constraints on some of our algorithms.

A typical piece of analysis work may involve:

• Liaising with stakeholders to understand their requirements
• Determining how best to answer these questions, which might be existing data, a spreadsheet model, a suite of simulations, or even not to answer at all
• Anticipating any additional functionality required (to the simulation, algorithms or tooling), and communicating with the relevant development teams
• Planning and configuring appropriate simulation studies
• In-depth analysis of the results, building a complete picture of the simulation behaviour
• Running further experiments and investigations into any unexpected or interesting behaviours
• Producing an accessible and understandable summary of the results, at the appropriate level of detail, with a clear description of the limitations and assumptions made

What we’re looking for: 

• Proven numeracy and an outstanding academic record, probably demonstrated by a good STEM degree (or higher qualification) from a top university
• Demonstrable experience of using data to answer open ended research questions and provide rigorous interpretations of the results
• A keen eye for detail, with the inquisitiveness and drive to understand things in depth
• Speed of learning, an ability to quickly pick up new ideas and use a wide range of tools to solve challenging problems
• Ability to communicate clearly and precisely with technical and non-technical teams, both verbally and in writing
• Drive to continually improve yourself and your team, and to find better ways of working

Bonus points for experience with any of the following:

• Python, SQL, Google BigQuery or Data Studio, or any other analysis tools or approaches
• Professional or academic data-driven research
• Use of simulation to understand complex systems
• Applied statistics (e.g. significance testing, regression, machine learning)
• Retail, fulfilment, supply chain or logistics
• Business process mapping within operations or technology
• Recommending or implementing business performance improvements
• Working with software development teams and business stakeholders
• Kanban or other agile methodologies

What do I get in return:

• Hybrid working (2 days in the office) 
• 30 days work from anywhere globally 
• Remote working for the month of August + 50% of December
• 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after 5 years service (plus optional holiday purchase)
• Pension scheme (various options available including employer contribution matching up to 7%)
• Private Medical Insurance
• 22 weeks paid maternity leave and 6 weeks paid paternity leave (once relevant service requirements complete)
• Train Ticket loan (interest-free)
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Opportunity to participate in Share save and Buy as You Earn share schemes
• 15% discount on Ocado.com and free delivery for all employees
• Income Protection(can be up to 50% of salary for 3 years) and Life Assurance(3 x annual salary)

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