Senior Research Scientist, Trucking

Solve the world's most challenging problems in the Trucking industry with data

The opportunity:

Flexport Trucking is looking for a creative, technically-minded Senior Research Scientist who is motivated to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems in the Trucking industry.

Flexport Trucking’s Convoy Platform is the nation’s leading digital freight network. We build technology to find smarter ways to connect brokers and shippers with carriers, solving some of the toughest problems in the 800-billion-dollar freight industry. Our interconnected network and platform capabilities enable the movement of millions of truckloads across the country - saving money for shippers and brokers, increasing earnings for drivers, and avoiding unnecessary carbon waste for our planet. Come learn what it’s like to work on complex problems in a massive industry at the center of our economy.

Research Science is at the core of Flexport Trucking’s Convoy Platform. We build models that power freight pricing, shipment relevance engines matching shipments and drivers, auction bidding strategy, and other core services. We also forecast business metrics, evaluate the causal impact of business decisions, design statistical and machine learning models to optimize our product, and leverage our data to generate insights for our customers. The breadth of the problem space is huge, spanning machine learning, optimization, causal inference, experimental design, and econometrics domains. We have only begun to dig into the difficult and diverse problems in our two-sided marketplace. 

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Research Scientist to contribute to the development of new Science-powered features within our marketplace, including but not limited to expanding our best-in-class auction mechanisms to better service our diverse broker and carrier base, developing algorithms for workforce planning and management to staff Flexport operations team, building fraud prevention and risk management systems to safeguard Convoy’s carrier network, producing load recommendations for carriers within the app, etc.

You will:

• Own the expansion and development of existing and new science-powered features within the Convoy Platform Design and develop innovative auction systems and load recommendation engines that match shippers and brokers with carriers more efficiently, and ensure fair pricing. Develop prediction models that minimize the business risks within Convoy’s carrier network. This entails analyzing data, developing scientific models, and implementing algorithms that work efficiently for different trucking capacities, routes, and market conditions.
• Develop feedback-aware automated decision-making systems
  There are many situations where models simply do not outperform humans. We are looking for individuals who are open to building systems capable of ingesting human inputs. This means as part of the role, you will continuously analyze feedback from brokers, shippers, and carriers to identify areas for improvement, fine-tune auction parameters, and optimize performance.
• Engage collaboratively
  Science drives automated decisions across many domains at the Convoy platform. We seek individuals with a history of leading successful collaborations with cross-functional teams including product managers, engineers, and data scientists to ensure seamless integration of the modeling solutions within the Engineering systems. 
• Innovate Deliberately
  We’d like the individuals joining our team to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in machine learning, optimization techniques, and market dynamics to drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge.

You should have:

• Leadership and Domain Experience
  Ph.D. or MS in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Math/OR, Engineering, or related quantitative field with a minimum of 5+ years of experience developing machine learning solutions.
• Technical Aptitude
  Experience using Python tools and SQL to train, maintain, and deploy models with a robust service API for production.
• Technical Problem Solving
  Ability to frame business problems as automated decision solutions and contribute as a technical leader on our collaborative teamsIntelligent but practical; you want to get things done and love simplicity.
• A plus if you have experience in 
• Two-sided marketplaces, financial markets, and economic theory.
• Developing mature models and doing the tough research work to unlock value.

Successful Flexporters share these traits:

• We’re passionate about solving complex problems and get excited about diving deep to understand an issue.
• Our titles don’t define us, we do what’s needed to prioritize our customers.
• We support others through change and uncertainty and stay the course when things get challenging.
• We believe in our mission and the potential for impact in our space.

Worried about not having any logistics experience? 

Don’t be! Our mission is to make global trade easy for everyone. That’s why it’s important to bring people from diverse backgrounds and experiences together with our industry veterans to help move the global logistics industry forward.

We know this industry is complex. That’s why we invest in education starting day one with Flexport Academy, a one week intensive onboarding program designed specifically to set every new Flexport employee up for success.