Data Scientist

Job Description

The Data Scientist – Purchasing will use advanced analytics, statistical modeling, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to support strategic decision-making across the Purchasing organization. This role will transform complex procurement, supplier, cost, and supply chain data into actionable insights that improve cost competitiveness, forecasting, supplier performance, risk management, and operational efficiency.

The position will partner closely with Purchasing, Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, and IT teams to identify high-value opportunities and deliver scalable, data-driven solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Analyze Purchasing, supplier, spend, material, logistics, and supply chain data to identify trends, risks, opportunities, and cost-reduction levers.

• Develop statistical models and machine learning solutions for demand forecasting, price prediction, should-cost analysis, supplier performance, risk assessment, and sourcing decisions.

• Build predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions to support negotiations, sourcing strategies, inventory decisions, and purchasing performance management.

• Create data products, dashboards, and analytical tools using Python, SQL, Power BI, and other relevant platforms.

• Integrate and prepare data from multiple sources, such as ERP, procurement, supplier, finance, and operational systems.

• Establish robust data preparation, feature engineering, model training, validation, deployment, and monitoring processes.

• Apply artificial intelligence and generative AI techniques to automate repetitive activities, extract insights from unstructured data, and improve Purchasing workflows.

• Translate business problems into analytical approaches, clearly defining objectives, assumptions, metrics, and expected business impact.

• Present complex analyses and model results in a clear and practical manner to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Partner with cross-functional teams to embed analytical solutions into business processes and decision-making routines.

• Ensure the quality, traceability, security, and appropriate use of data and analytical models.

• Document methodologies, assumptions, code, models, results, and user guidance in accordance with internal standards.

• Continuously monitor the performance and business value of analytical solutions, recommending improvements when necessary.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, Business Analytics, or a related field.

• Professional experience in data science, advanced analytics, machine learning, business intelligence, or a related area.

• Strong programming skills in Python and solid experience with SQL for data extraction, transformation, analysis, and modeling.

• Practical experience with statistical analysis, predictive modeling, machine learning algorithms, and model evaluation techniques.

• Experience working with large, complex, and heterogeneous datasets from multiple business systems.

• Experience developing analytical solutions that translate business questions into measurable insights and recommendations.

• Strong knowledge of data preparation, exploratory data analysis, feature engineering, visualization, and data storytelling.

• Experience using Power BI, Tableau, or a comparable data visualization and reporting platform.

• Ability to communicate technical concepts, analytical findings, limitations, and business implications clearly to different audiences.

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with business and technical stakeholders in a cross-functional environment.

• Professional proficiency in English, with the ability to participate in meetings and prepare technical and business documentation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Purchasing, Procurement, Supply Chain, S&OP, Strategic Sourcing, or Supplier Management.

• Experience with spend analytics, should-cost modeling, commodity analysis, sourcing optimization, or supplier risk management.

• Experience with Databricks, Oracle, Snowflake, Azure, AWS, or comparable data platforms.

• Familiarity with cloud-based machine learning platforms and MLOps practices.

• Experience with forecasting, optimization, simulation, recommendation systems, natural language processing, or generative AI.

• Knowledge of procurement and supply chain data structures, including materials, suppliers, contracts, purchase orders, invoices, and lead times.

• Experience with KNIME, Alteryx, R, Excel, or other analytics and automation tools.

• Familiarity with Agile methodologies, including Scrum.

• Master's degree in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

What Makes This Position Different

This role combines advanced data science with real Purchasing and Supply Chain challenges. The successful candidate will work directly with business leaders and operational teams to turn data into decisions that influence costs, suppliers, sourcing strategies, resilience, and productivity.

The position offers the opportunity to build practical AI and machine learning solutions with visible impact across the Purchasing organization, supporting its digital transformation and creating more predictive, efficient, and data-driven processes.

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us 

We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.

Accommodations

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