12 Month Contract - Data Scientist, ONCAP/Chatters (2025)

ABOUT CHATTERS:

Chatters Canada (“Chatters”) is a leader in the Canadian beauty sector as the largest retailer of professional hair care products in Canada and one of the largest hair salon operators in the country with 114 stores across eight provinces.  Founded in 1991 in Red Deer, Alberta, Chatters has evolved to become a true Canadian success story, and the company’s entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with a diverse and loyal workforce, have enabled its significant growth across the country. 

Chatters has stores across Canada with 41 stores in Alberta, 26 in B.C., 24 stores in Ontario, 16 in Saskatchewan/Manitoba and 7 stores in other provinces. The Company generated revenue in 2021 of ~$102 mm comprised of ~60% retail and eCommerce sales and ~40% salon services. The Company offers a broad selection of over 2,500 SKUs, and in addition to hair products and hair tools, it also sells skin/body/nail products and accessories.  For the services business, the Company’s revenues are split between hair-cuts, colour, styling, and esthetics.

Chatters has grown both organically and through acquisition.  Chatters has a differentiated business model (as shown below) with a strong retail and service offering, a strong brand in its core markets, attractive locations for customers with highly trained and educated stylists, an attractive platform for stylists who desire to improve their craft and grow their clientele, a profitable self-distribution and direct sourcing business model, and operates in recession resistant industry.

ABOUT ONCAP:

ONCAP is a leading private equity firm focused on building value with North American companies in partnership with their management teams.  ONCAP is an affiliate of Onex Corporation, one of North America’s oldest and most successful private equity firms with over $50 billion of assets under management. Since inception ONCAP has invested in 35 platform companies, completed over 190 follow-on acquisitions to build those platform companies and earned a 4.3x multiple of capital and a 42% gross IRR on all realized investments to date.  ONCAP has never suffered a capital impairment on any realized investment. More information can be found at www.oncap.com or www.onex.com.

ONCAP Management Partners (“ONCAP”) made a majority investment in Chatters in July 2015.  ONCAP was attracted to the Chatters’ leading market position, industry-leading operating metrics, scale, attractive unit economics, attractive real estate, good free cash flow generation characteristics, diversification (customer, province, supplier, SKU, product category), strong management team, long track record of growth, and the potential to be used as a platform for add-on acquisitions. ONCAP remains committed to continuing to support and build the Company through organic and acquisition growth initiatives.THE OPPORTUNITY:

Chatters, in combination with ONCAP, is seeking a Data Scientist to support the AI, Analytics and Data function. The successful candidate will work on various projects across Chatters and ONCAP including projects to support customer data management and inventory assessment.

This hire will report directly to the Head of AI, Analytics and Data for ONCAP with accountability to the Chief Financial Officer for Chatters.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

The successful candidate will play a key role in accelerating a data-driven evolution within Chatters and ONCAP by using advanced analytics to drive business value, and work with alternative datasets to curate novel insights. Key projects will include:

• Customer Data & Insights

• Segment customer data to drive targeted marketing and personalization strategies.
• Develop and maintain weekly, periodic, and quarterly reports using Tableau.
• Collaborate with the Marketing team to leverage data in alignment with business priorities.
• Assess data usage across platforms to enhance personalization ahead of the Loyalty Program launch.
• Support data requirements for the Loyalty program setup and implementation.
• Explore AI-driven personalization opportunities to optimize customer engagement.
• Inventory Analytics & Optimization
• Conduct in-depth inventory analytics to evaluate inventory quality, store opportunities, and identify operational challenges.
• Develop insights to optimize store clusters based on revenue and SKU performance (A/B/C tiering) to maximize sales and improve working capital.
• eCommerce & Distribution Strategy
• Analyze shipping and distribution data to determine the most cost-effective and efficient fulfillment strategy (e.g., store vs. distribution center).
• Provide insights into eCommerce customer behavior to enhance growth strategies.
• Technology & IT Efficiency Assessment
• Assess current data and technology platforms to identify opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
• Targeting
• Leverage AI and data-driven targeting techniques to identify, evaluate, and prioritize high-potential acquisition targets aligned with the fund’s investment thesis.

WHAT YOU WILL BRING:

Professional Characteristics:

• 1-3 years relevant experience is data science and analytics.
• Expert proficiency in programming and querying languages including Tableau, Python, SQL, C#, strongly typed and/or functional languages a plus.
• A strong intuition for analytical methodologies and desire to solve novel technical challenges.
• Familiarity with data analysis and fundamental ML modeling techniques.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical audiences effectively both orally and in writing.
• Be passionate about the application of data science to drive business impact, and intellectually curious about solving real-world questions from data.

Personal Characteristics:

• Judgment and Flexibility: Thinks about issues and develops solutions that thoughtfully take the broader context into account. Positively deals with a shifting demand for time, priorities, and the rapid change of your environment.
• Ownership and Initiative: Takes ownership for and “rolls up sleeves” to meet objectives.
• Excellence: Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness. Ensures quality and demonstrate a strong attention to detail and follow-through. Commits to implementing best practices and continuous improvement.
• Teamwork: Cooperates with management, colleagues, and third-parties and operates with humility. Seeks and is open to give and receive suggestions to develop better solutions and to make the team stronger.
• Communications: Demonstrates strong written skills and presents analysis, suggestions, and other information clearly and concisely; presence and self-confidence to interface with the key constituents of the firm including management teams of companies, deal professionals, service providers and others.
• Great relationship management skills – networking, influencing, collaborating – and a proven ability to build trust with clients and other organizational partners.
• Ability to drive a process forward through completion, and to effectively prioritize competing objectives and urgent deadlines.
• A pattern of excellence, both personally and professionally, demonstrated by the individual’s education, career track record, intellect, and professional reputation; self-awareness, maturity, irreproachable integrity.

EMPLOYMENT DETAILS: 

• Minimum of 3 days per week in office required.
• Location: Downtown Toronto.

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