---
title: 'Staff Applied Scientist (Distribution Center) at Afresh'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-applied-scientist-distribution-center-afresh-united-states-nf7sdrhb7s12'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Staff Applied Scientist (Distribution Center) at Afresh

- **Company:** Afresh
- **Location:** United States
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-07-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/afresh/jobs/6105868004

## Job description

Afresh, the AI platform for grocery, began by tackling the most complex problem in the industry: fresh, and has evolved into the core AI platform for grocers.

By leveraging proprietary AI designed for high-volatility environments, we empower partners like Albertsons, Meijer, and Wakefern to drive smarter decisions across their entire enterprise.

Following record-breaking 70% revenue growth in 2025, we have scaled to 6 enterprise-grade solutions, with solutions live in over 10% of the U.S. grocery market. Our platform now orchestrates billions of decisions from the store floor to the distribution center and prevented over 200 million pounds of food waste last year alone.

If you're looking for a role where your work directly translates into massive scale and social good, and you want to be part of the team that defines how the world eats, there is no better time to join us.

## About the Role

The Afresh Intelligence team is responsible for the development and performance of AI/ML models that power our core replenishment technology. Our models are directly responsible for ordering millions of dollars of fresh inventory across the world every day. Fresh food ordering is an extremely complex high-dimensional decision-making problem, and we face the complex challenges presented by decaying product, uncertain shelf lives, varying consumer demand, stochastic arrival times, extreme weather events, and tight performance constraints (to name a few). We tackle these problems with a mix of machine learning, large-scale simulation, and optimization technologies.

We are looking for a Staff Applied Scientist to lead R&D work at Afresh. You will take your existing knowledge of machine learning, forecasting, operations research, and stochastic optimization and apply it to the challenging and important problem of perishable inventory control. You will research, implement, and rigorously validate improvements to our core replenishment system. This will include modeling consumer demand, item-level perishability, and complex multi-echelon supply chains. Your work will be visible from day one, will make a substantial impact on decreasing food waste, and will lead to fresher, healthier produce for millions of people across the world.

## What You’ll Do

- Set technical direction for core replenishment R&D — define the modeling roadmap across demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and decision-making policy, and align it with product and business strategy.
- Model complex problems such as inventory decay, promotions, price elasticity, and inventory uncertainty, and implement solutions to multi-stage and multi-echelon inventory optimization problems.
- Drive fundamental changes to our core system from research through production, writing rigorously tested and scalable code — we are not an analytics team.
- Lead research and development for new product and business challenges.
- Raise the technical bar across the Intelligence team: mentor scientists and engineers, set standards for experimental rigor, and review designs and results.
- Push the boundaries of AI capabilities in both products and scientist workflows.

What Makes You a Great Fit

- MS or PhD in Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or another quantitative field, or equivalent practical experience.
- For candidates with an MS, 8+ years of industry experience; for candidates with a PhD, 4+ years of industry experience.
- Experience researching and building systems that support large-scale decision making under uncertainty.
- Prior experience in areas such as inventory optimization, supply chain management, network optimization, forecasting, game theory, decision analysis, stochastic optimization, approximate dynamic programming, or related fields is a plus.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills. You should be able to explain complex mathematical ideas to product teams in plain English and easily translate business requirements into constrained optimization problems.
- Ability to independently deliver high quality software implementations of your solutions in the Python data stack (numpy/torch/pandas/etc.) or similar technologies. Prior experience with Python is not required.
- Nice to Have skills: understanding of ML Platform and a passion for mentorship

This position is not eligible for company sponsorship.

Salary Range in U.S.: $191,760 - $287,640 + meaningful early-stage equity + benefits

## Why You’ll Love Working at Afresh

At Afresh, our mission to eliminate food waste starts with investing in our people. We provide a comprehensive support system designed to help you do your best work while maintaining a healthy, balanced life.

- Comprehensive Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family, with the majority of premiums covered by Afresh. We also provide dedicated mental health support and counseling services.
- Invested in Your Future: Competitive base salary, meaningful equity (U.S. employees), and a 401(k) program with a generous company match.
- Flexible & Modern Workspace: Whether you work from home or a local office, we support your setup with a home office stipend and "Coworking Wallets" for flexible workspace access.
- Growth-Obsessed Culture: We believe in continuous learning. Every employee receives an annual professional development budget to master new skills and grow their career at Afresh.
- Holistic Monthly Stipends: Beyond your paycheck, we provide monthly stipends for "Betterment" (wellness/lifestyle) and telecommunications to ensure you have what you need to thrive.
- Time to Recharge: Flexible paid time off to take the time you need to recharge.

*Full-time U.S. employees are eligible for these benefits

## About Afresh

Founded in 2017, Afresh is using AI to tackle the #1 solution to curb climate change: reducing food waste. By building AI specifically for the intricacies of grocery—from the fresh perimeter to the center store—we help grocers minimize waste and maximize sales.

Afresh sits at an incredible intersection of positive social impact, rocket ship financial growth, and cutting-edge technology. Our best-in-class AI research has been published in top journals, including ICML, and our investors include Al Gore’s Just Climate, former Whole Foods Market CEO Walter Robb, and Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors.

Grocery is the past, present, and future of our food system – the waste we create today will impact our planet for years to come. Join us as we continue to build a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive team that embodies our company’s values of proactivity, kindness, candor, and humility.

Afresh provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis protected by law.

Here at Afresh, many of our employees work remotely provided that they reside in one of the following states: AL, AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, KY, MA, MI, MT, MO, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OR, PA, TX, WA, UT, VA, WI.

## About Afresh

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Grocery technology, supply chain optimization, AI
- **Target customers**: B2B – large grocers (e.g., Albertsons, Meijer, Wakefern) and enterprise retailers
- **Mission**: Eliminate food waste and make fresh food accessible to all ([afresh.com/about/company](https://www.afresh.com/about/company))

## Products & Services
- **Afresh Platform**: A unified SaaS suite covering store ordering, production planning, inventory management, and distribution center buying. Uses proprietary AI designed for high-volatility fresh inventory to balance sales, waste, and labor tradeoffs. ([afresh.com](https://www.afresh.com/))

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: Recorded 70% revenue growth in 2025; platform now live in over 10% of the U.S. grocery market; prevented over 200 million pounds of food waste in the last year. ([boards.greenhouse.io/afresh](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/afresh))
- **Notable Partners**: Albertsons, Meijer, Wakefern (among others) ([boards.greenhouse.io/afresh](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/afresh))
- **Growth Signals**: Scaled to six enterprise-grade solutions; expanded from store-level to distribution center buying; headcount approximately 160–200 employees ([builtin.com/company/afresh](https://builtin.com/company/afresh), [afresh.com/about/company](https://www.afresh.com/about/company))

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI built specifically for fresh foods** – handles high volatility, incomplete data, and complex cross-department planning that traditional forecasting tools cannot.
- **Unified platform** – connects store, production, inventory, and DC buying in one system, enabling coordinated, predictable performance.
- **Proven adoption** – deployed at major national grocers, demonstrating real-world impact on waste reduction, margins, and labor efficiency.

## Strategic Focus
- Continue scaling the platform across more grocers and geographies
- Deepen AI capabilities to further reduce food waste and carbon emissions
- Expand enterprise-grade solutions to cover the entire fresh supply chain

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven**: Directly contribute to eliminating food waste and fighting climate change (over 200M lbs of waste prevented, 4B gallons of water saved, 1B kg CO₂ reduced) ([afresh.com/about/company](https://www.afresh.com/about/company))
- **Engineering culture**: “Calling all engineers” – work on the most advanced AI platform in grocery, solving complex challenges at scale ([afresh.com/about/careers](https://www.afresh.com/about/careers))
- **Work model**: Hybrid workspace (combination of remote and on-site); many engineering roles are fully remote (U.S. and Ontario, Canada) ([builtin.com/company/afresh](https://builtin.com/company/afresh))
- **Benefits**: Competitive compensation, equity packages, 401k matching, generous parental leave, flexible vacation, professional development stipend, home-office stipend, comprehensive health plans ([afresh.com/about/careers](https://www.afresh.com/about/careers))
- **Diversity & inclusion**: Has a diversity manifesto, mandated unconscious bias training, Employee Resource Groups, and a focus on belonging ([builtin.com/company/afresh](https://builtin.com/company/afresh))

## Sources
1. [afresh.com](https://www.afresh.com/)
2. [afresh.com/about/company](https://www.afresh.com/about/company)
3. [afresh.com/about/careers](https://www.afresh.com/about/careers)
4. [boards.greenhouse.io/afresh](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/afresh)
5. [builtin.com/company/afresh](https://builtin.com/company/afresh)

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