Data Scientist

Halfords operate a 3 days-per-week office based hybrid working policy at our support centre in Redditch.
About Us
At Halfords, our mission is to inspire and support a lifetime of motoring and cycling. As a specialist retailer, we lead the market through customer-driven innovation and a distinct product range. We are dedicated to providing our customers with an integrated, unique, and convenient service experience—from e-bike and electric vehicle servicing to on-demand solutions. Our commitment is to foster customer loyalty by offering compelling reasons to keep coming back to our stores, ensuring a lifetime of motoring and cycling enjoyment.

The teams at our Redditch Support Centre work with every other area of our business, putting them at the heart of the action and playing a key role in our success and growth. Everyone brings their individual knowledge and experience to work every day, working as one team to keep things moving smoothly.

If you're willing to get stuck in, you'll love it here too. So put yourself at the heart of a dynamic, fast-paced working environment where expertise and focus take people far.

The role
As a Data Scientist, you'll play a pivotal role in embedding data-driven thinking across the business, delivering high-impact models that shape pricing, customer experience, and operational performance. Joining a small but ambitious team, you'll lead end-to-end project delivery: from identifying high-value opportunities and shaping hypotheses to building robust models and deploying them into production via Azure Databricks. It's a high-trust environment where your curiosity, rigour and creativity will translate into real-world results.

You thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments where data science is both technical and consultative. You're confident owning the full lifecycle exploring large datasets, applying advanced modelling techniques in Python and PySpark, and clearly communicating insights to stakeholders across multiple different business functions. With solid experience in SQL, Databricks and Power BI, you understand how to turn models into decisions and bring stakeholders with you on the journey.

For you, this is an opportunity to help shape the future of data science within a major UK retailer. With a framework still in its early stages, you'll be influential in defining how data science is adopted across the business. Whether it's customer segmentation, price elasticity or next-best-action engines, you'll get stuck into a broad and varied portfolio and play a key role in embedding intelligence into the heart of our digital and customer-facing strategies.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the full lifecycle of data science projects from scoping opportunities and defining benefits to model deployment and real-world impact
• Deliver end-to-end solutions including opportunity identification, data extraction and transformation, feature engineering, model selection, and production deployment
• Collaborate closely with business stakeholders and end users to embed data science solutions into operational and strategic workflows
• Communicate complex modelling techniques and outcomes clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Contribute to a varied portfolio of use cases spanning pricing, supply chain, customer behaviour, and employee engagement
• Work in close partnership with the wider Data and Technology teams, using our Azure-based Databricks lakehouse and surfacing models through our Enterprise Integration Layer

About You

• Educated to PhD level in a Mathematics or Data Science related subject.
• Proven commercial, hands-on experience in data science
• Proficiency in Python (including segmentation, prediction, and time series), SQL, and data visualisation
• Familiarity with our modern data environment: Microsoft Azure, Databricks, PySpark, SQL, and Power BI
• A strong analytical mindset, with a proven ability to deliver real-time insights that lead to measurable business impact
• Deep technical expertise across data extraction, transformation, statistical modelling, deployment, lifecycle management, and visualisation
• Hands-on experience delivering data science solutions such as demand forecasting, customer segmentation, next-best-action, and price elasticity modelling
• A talent for turning complex data into clear, compelling visual stories that drive decision-making
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly explain insights to technical and non-technical audiences alike
• Comfortable working autonomously, confident making modelling decisions and driving projects forward independently
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to juggle multiple priorities and deliver high-quality work to tight deadlines

Reward & Benefits

• A fair and competitive salary evaluated against market data, annual discretionary bonus scheme, pension, life assurance, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and enhanced family leave.
• Commitment and dedication to your ongoing personal and professional development. We help you to own and grow your potential so you can be at your best in your current role and to support your future career aspirations.
• You will have access to a wealth of employee discounts across the Halfords suite of products and services.
• Wellbeing and inclusion are at the heart of our colleague experience. We offer resources and ongoing support to enhance your wellbeing at work and active Colleague Networks supporting inclusion initiatives across Halfords.

Not sure you meet all the criteria? We'd encourage you to take the wheel and apply anyway At Halfords we are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for our colleagues. We're an equal opportunities employer and proud to welcome applications from all backgrounds and embrace diversity within our one Halfords Family.

Halfords operate a 3 days-per-week office based hybrid working policy at our support centre in Redditch.