Senior Product Engineer

The company is experiencing significant expansion and is seeking a talented Senior Product Engineer to play a pivotal role in transforming how forecasting models are developed and deployed. This position is central to the organisation's strategic shift from a few large, monolithic models to a diverse and growing suite of specialised, plugin-based solutions. These innovative models are designed to serve a substantial customer base, numbering between 400 and 500, across both retail and wholesale sectors. The team has end-to-end ownership of the forecasting process, encompassing both newly developed models and those already in active production.

About the Role

This is an opportunity to be at the forefront of a major product evolution. The Senior Product Engineer will be instrumental in designing, building, and continuously refining the company's next-generation plugin-based forecasting models. This involves taking a holistic approach, from the initial stages of feature engineering and development through to rigorous testing and performance optimisation within live customer environments. You will be empowered to take complex forecasting challenges, stemming from business requirements, and transform them into fully functional models operating for clients. A significant aspect of this role involves true ownership of the technical decisions made throughout the development lifecycle.

You will engage directly with a multitude of customer environments, discerning patterns that allow for generalisable solutions while also identifying and addressing unique, customer-specific needs. A key element of this position is the innovative application of artificial intelligence and agentic tools. The expectation is not merely to use these tools passively but to actively push their capabilities and integrate them as a fundamental part of the engineering process. Operating within a distributed, autonomous team means there isn't a rigid, predefined playbook; instead, you'll contribute to shaping how the work is done, embracing a high degree of self-direction.

The responsibilities in this role are broad and impactful, covering the entire lifecycle of forecasting model development and deployment:

• **End-to-End Model Development:** Design, build, and enhance plugin-based forecasting models from conception to implementation. This includes feature engineering, comprehensive testing, and iterative performance improvements based on real-world customer data.
• **Problem to Solution Ownership:** Take ownership of forecasting challenges, translating business needs into robust, customer-ready models. You will have the autonomy to make key decisions throughout this process.
• **Customer Environment Integration:** Work directly across diverse customer environments, identifying commonalities for broad application and specific requirements for customisation.
• **AI-Driven Engineering:** Leverage AI and agentic tools as core components of your workflow, actively exploring and expanding their potential rather than simply utilising them as standard tools.
• **Autonomy and Innovation:** Operate with a high degree of independence within a distributed team, contributing to the definition of best practices and processes.
• **Customer and Stakeholder Communication:** Engage directly with customers and cross-functional teams to gather requirements, provide updates, and ensure successful model integration.
• **Occasional Travel:** Be prepared for occasional travel, approximately one to two trips per year, to support customer-related activities.

What They're Looking For

To excel in this role, candidates should possess a strong blend of theoretical understanding, practical experience, and a forward-thinking mindset:

• **Forecasting and Modelling Expertise:** A solid theoretical or applied understanding of modern forecasting methodologies and modelling techniques is essential.
• **End-to-End ML Ownership:** Demonstrated experience in independently managing machine learning or modelling projects from their initial concept through to successful production deployment.
• **AI Enthusiasm:** A genuine passion for agentic, AI-assisted engineering is crucial. Candidates should be comfortable being evaluated on their problem-solving approach and their ability to effectively direct AI tools, not solely on manual coding proficiency.
• **Comfort with Ambiguity:** The ability to thrive in environments with inherent uncertainty and a lack of fixed processes is highly valued.
• **Decisive and Agile:** Confidence in making independent decisions and a proven ability to deliver solutions within weeks rather than months.
• **Communication Skills:** Strong written and spoken English proficiency, along with the confidence to communicate directly with customers and internal stakeholders.
• **Bonus Experience:** Prior experience within the retail or supply chain sectors would be advantageous but is not a strict requirement.

For professionals in South Africa, roles involving advanced data science and engineering, particularly within fast-growing tech companies, can offer competitive remuneration. While specifics vary greatly, senior positions in this domain often command salaries that reflect the demand for specialised skills in areas like AI and machine learning. Companies like RELEX, with their global reach and focus on innovation, present opportunities for significant career growth and exposure to cutting-edge technologies.

• Applied or theoretical understanding of modern forecasting and modelling methods.
• A proven track record of independently owning ML or modelling work end to end, from first concept to running in production.
• Genuine enthusiasm for agentic, AI-assisted engineering, and comfort being evaluated on how you reason through problems and direct AI tools, not only on manual coding.
• Comfort working with real ambiguity and no fixed process.
• Confidence making decisions independently and shipping in weeks, not months.
• Comfort communicating directly with customers and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel occasionally for customer work (roughly 1 to 2 trips a year).
• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• As a bonus, prior experience in retail or supply chain is welcome but not required.