Lead Applied Value Engineer – CPG & Retail

Celonis is the trusted platform to industrialize Enterprise AI. At our core is the Celonis Context Model — which combines process data, business knowledge, and intelligence into a living digital twin of the enterprise that AI can actually understand, turning AI's operational blind spots into operational clarity. World's leading companies trust Celonis and its global ecosystem of partners to make their AI agents, people, systems, and processes work together, achieving transformational outcomes. We believe there's a massive opportunity to unlock global productivity and sustainability by giving AI the context to understand how every business process really works. Join our mission to make processes work for people, companies, and the planet. Role Description As a Lead Applied Value Engineer, you will push the envelope in solving business-critical problems for strategic customers within our Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) & Retail Vertical. You will partner with our most important clients to understand their unique objectives—from global supply chain resilience and trade promotion optimization to inventory shrink reduction and large-scale margin expansion programs. By combining the world’s leading Process Intelligence (PI) platform with technologies from top AI and ML partners (Microsoft, OpenAI, Databricks), you will build innovative solutions that drive measurable impact. Using our PI platform, we feed operational context to AI, bridging ERP, WMS, POS, and e-commerce platforms so it understands our customers’ complex commercial realities. This enables CPG brands and retailers to industrialize AI and unlock real ROI at scale. You will prototype these solutions, demonstrate their value to CPG and retail executives, and ensure successful implementation, adoption, and value realization to expand our footprint across the global retail and consumer ecosystem. Key Responsibilities - AI Discovery & Solutioning: Understand customers' AI strategies and sector-specific challenges (e.g., demand forecasting, out-of-stock prevention, shelf placement, trade spend analytics). Find the best problem-solution fit and translate business requirements into innovative, needle-moving solutions. - Pre- and Post-Sales Execution: Drive the full customer lifecycle. Lead technical discovery and capability demonstrations during pre-sales, and remain deeply involved post-sale to guide implementation and ensure agreed value and adoption thresholds are met. - Hackathons & Prototyping: Leverage cutting-edge AI technologies to rapidly build creative prototypes during customer hackathons. Solve critical pain points specific to inventory routing, fulfillment, and promotional alignment with a proactive, "can-do" approach. - Agentic Process Transformation: Shift customers from traditional, rule-based automation to autonomous AI agents empowered by Process Intelligence (e.g., autonomous inventory replenishment, intelligent deduction management), ensuring real ROI on AI deployments. - Proof Projects: Architect and execute business-critical Proof-of-Value projects. Deliver secure, scalable LLM/agent systems with RAG, tools, and guardrails, integrating seamlessly with enterprise retail data, identity protocols, and consumer data privacy frameworks. - Domain & Industry Leadership: Serve as the primary technical subject matter expert for the CPG and retail sectors. Scale deep domain expertise across the organization to deliver high-value solutions for global brands, mega-retailers, and distribution partners. - Smart Warehouse & Fulfillment Operations: Champion modern distribution initiatives. Specialize in warehouse management system (WMS) optimization, RFID inventory tracking, micro-fulfillment centers, dynamic order routing, and fulfillment center workflows for high-velocity retail operations. - Omnichannel & DTC Transformation: Act as a technical advisor on the transition to seamless omnichannel and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) execution. Optimize order-to-cash cycles, customer returns processing, dynamic pricing models, and loyalty program integrations. - Sustainable Supply Chain & Eco-Fulfillment: Drive technical strategy for sustainable retail operations. Focus on tracking Scope 3 emissions, optimizing cold-chain efficiency, reducing perishable food waste, and streamlining sustainable packaging workflows across the distribution network. Requirements - Experience: 8+ years leading end-to-end technical pre-sales and post-sales engagements within the CPG, retail, or e-commerce space. Proven ability to define AI roadmaps, build compelling ROI/TCO business cases, and guide technical implementations to value realization. - Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of retail and CPG business processes. In-depth experience in domains such as Inventory Management, Supply Chain, Trade Promotion, Category Management, or Loss Prevention, with the ability to translate strategic requirements into impactful solutions. - Technical Proficiency: Solid knowledge of Python and common ML libraries (LangChain, pandas, pydantic, sklearn, PyTorch), as well as data engineering tools relevant to handling large-scale POS, transactional, and inventory data. - Communication Skills: Strong presentation and storytelling skills for both internal and external stakeholders (C-level executives, VPs of Merchandising, and Supply Chain Leaders), capable of leading technical whiteboarding sessions, formal readouts, and live demos. - Education: Bachelor’s Degree required; Master's Degree in computer science, business analytics, engineering, mathematics, or a related field (or equivalent work experience) preferred. Nice to Have - Agentic Systems: Hands-on experience building agentic systems using LLM orchestration, RAG, function calling, and prompt engineering, with rigorous evaluations for enterprise consumer environments. - LLM Ecosystem: Working knowledge of OSS packages like LangChain or LlamaIndex. - Cloud & Enterprise Stack: Experience deploying and monitoring models at scale across major cloud platforms (AWS Bedrock, Azure AI, GCP Vertex) and familiarity with enterprise data structures (SAP, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Snowflake, POS formats). - Generative AI: Expertise in GenAI techniques (RAG, few-shot learning, multi-agent orchestration, multimodal understanding) to build high-impact use cases like automated customer service workflows, intelligent product catalog enrichment, or automated promotion generation. This role will be expected to spend the majority of their time in the field meeting with clients. Sponsorship is not available for this role. The base salary range below is for the role in the specified location, based on a Full Time Schedule. Total compensation package will include base salary + bonus/commission + equity + benefits (health, dental, life, 401k, and paid time off). Please note that the base salary range is a guideline, and that the actual total compensation offer will be determined based on various factors, including, but not limited to, applicant's qualifications, skills, experiences, and location. The base salary range below is for the role in New York, based on a Full Time Schedule. $196,000-$230,000 USD What Celonis can offer you: - Pioneer Innovation: Work with the global leader in Process Mining and the Process Intelligence Graph to shape the future of AI-driven business operations. - Ownership from Day 1: Every full-time "Celonaut" is an owner, receiving Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and merit-based refresh grants. - Unrivaled Family Support: Benefit from our inclusive parental leave policy—24 weeks of fully paid leave for primary carers and 12 weeks for supporting carers, available from your first day of employment. - Work-Life Integration: Enjoy Unlimited PTO (in applicable regions) and generous PTO globally, as well as a flexible hybrid work model that balances remote focus with vibrant office collaboration. - Continuous Growth: Elevate your skills through our 70-20-10 learning framework, mentorship programs, and access to a dedicated learning platform. - Holistic Well-being: Prioritize your health with subsidized Wellhub memberships, mental health counseling, and dedicated "Wellness Weeks" that prioritize work/life balance. - Drive Sustainability: Participate in annual Impact Days, where you receive paid time off to volunteer for community and environmental causes with your local office, or virtually. - Global Inclusion & Belonging: Find community through our Inclusion Think Tank and participate in our annual Inclusion Days, ensuring every voice is heard and valued. - Value-Driven Impact: Join a mission-led organization where our core values—Live for Customer Value, The Best Team Wins, We Own It, and Earth Is Our Future—drive every decision. About Us: Celonis is the trusted platform to industrialize Enterprise AI, empowering organizations to analyze, design, and operate AI-driven processes. The Celonis Platform is powered by the Celonis Context Model, which combines process data, business knowledge, and intelligence to create a living digital twin of the enterprise that AI can understand — turning AI’s operational blind spots into operational clarity. Industry-leading companies around the world trust Celonis and its global ecosystem of partners to make their AI agents, people, systems, and processes work together, achieving transformational outcomes. Celonis is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and New York City, USA, with more than 20 offices worldwide. Get familiar with the Celonis Process Intelligence Platform by watching this video. Celonis Inclusion Statement: At Celonis, we believe our people make us who we are and that “The Best Team Wins”. We know that the best teams are made up of people who bring different perspectives to the table. And when everyone feels included, able to speak up and knows their voice is heard - that's when creativity and innovation happen. Your Privacy: Any information you submit to Celonis as part of your application will be processed in accordance with Celonis’ Accessibility and Candidate Notices By submitting this application, you confirm that you agree to the storing and processing of your personal data by Celonis as described in our Privacy Notice for the Application and Hiring Process. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools We rely on an artificial intelligence tool to match the information from your resume to the relevant Celonis job descriptions. This processing is limited to the information provided in your resume or in your candidate profile. The tool produces a match score per candidate for a role, suggests preliminary ranking, and provides recommendations. 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