Lead Data Scientist, Demand Forecasting

Responsibilities

• Develop Scout's inaugural probabilistic demand forecasting model, forecasting unconstrained demand at the business-planning granularity, converting reservation backlog into probabilistic signals, timing its conversion, and incorporating organic demand as a separate signal.
• Address cold-start by delivering a credible forecast before sales history exists, using reservations, configurator and order data, market analogs, and structured priors, then progressively replace assumptions with real data as the market provides it.
• Own demand data end to end: source, define, and steward the data powering the forecast; design pipelines and the feature/data layer; maintain data quality and shared definitions used downstream.
• Collaborate across the business to ensure inputs and outputs are grounded in real signals and delivered in a usable format for stakeholders and teams that consume the forecast.
• Make the forecast legible by documenting methodology and assumptions, quantifying uncertainty transparently, and explaining the model's logic to non-technical stakeholders in Finance, Commercial, Production, and Procurement.
• Work with IT and Product to productionize the model, moving from notebooks into the IBP digital product with pipelines, deployment, monitoring, and retraining capabilities.
• Establish forecast measurement, including back-testing, accuracy tracking, and model monitoring, so the forecast improves on a defined cadence as post-launch data accrues.
• Lay the foundation for next-generation planning capabilities by building scalable data and modeling infrastructure for Scout's AI/ML initiatives.

Requirements

• 12+ years of applied data science or forecasting experience, with a track record of building and shipping statistical or ML models that others depend on.
• MS or PhD in statistics, applied mathematics, physics, operations research, economics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent applied experience.
• Strong probabilistic and time-series modeling foundation, including hierarchical or Bayesian approaches suited to granular, sparse, and uncertain demand; you reason in distributions, not just point estimates.
• Fluency in Python and the modern modeling stack, strong SQL, and the ability to own data end-to-end — pipelines, data quality, and definitions, not only the model.
• Experience forecasting with sparse, new-product, or cold-start data using analogs, priors, and judgment-augmented methods, with honesty about their limits.
• Experience deploying models in production alongside engineering and product teams, focusing on deployment, monitoring, and retraining.
• Comfort working with AI coding tools (for example Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor) to accelerate prototyping and delivery while applying sound judgment on their usefulness.
• Ability to translate technical work for non-technical audiences and defend a forecast in cross-functional settings with senior stakeholders.
• High ownership mindset and comfort in a fast-moving, evolving environment where data and priorities are still maturing.
• Nice to have: automotive or manufacturing experience, demand sensing or hierarchical forecasting, ML Ops, and experience embedding models within a digital product.

Technologies

• Python
• SQL
• Claude Code
• Copilot
• Cursor

Benefits

• Competitive medical, dental, vision and income protection plans
• 401(k) with employer match and immediate vesting
• Generous Paid Time Off including 20 days planned PTO, 40 hours of unplanned PTO and 14 company or floating holidays annually; up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave for biological and adoptive parents; paid leave for bereavement, jury duty, voting time, or military leave

Location and Travel

• This role is onsite at Scout Motors corporate headquarters in Charlotte, NC.
• Expect 4-5 days per week in the office with regular in-person meetings and events.
• Occasional travel to participate in company events and collaborate with colleagues in person.

Pay Transparency

This is a full-time exempt role with base pay plus eligibility for an annual performance bonus. Final salary offered will reflect the candidate's skills and experience. The base salary range is $160,000 to $192,500 per year, and the internal leveling code is IC7. The annual bonus program is preset and not candidate-dependent.

Notice to Applicants

• To be considered for opportunities at Scout Motors, applicants must be 18 years of age or older.
• San Francisco residents: Scout Motors will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.
• Los Angeles residents: Scout Motors will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring.
• New York City residents: This role is not eligible for remote work in New York City.

Equal Opportunity

Scout Motors is an Equal Opportunity Employer dedicated to a diverse workforce. Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, disability, pregnancy, or any other legally protected status. Scout Motors complies with all applicable fair employment practice laws.