Positive signals
The role must have a direct connection to the analysis of decisions and their consequences: for example, schedules, routes, staffing, assignments, inventory policies, capacity, dispatch or network design. Qualifying responsibilities include:
- Developing, researching or evaluating optimization models, algorithms, solvers and other operational decision technology.
- Using simulation to compare operating alternatives or evaluate decision policies under uncertainty. A solver is not required.
- Technically integrating, deploying, maintaining or adapting qualifying decision technology in real systems.
- Technical presales involving customer-specific optimization demonstrations, solution design or substantive integration advice.
- Technical leadership or ownership directly supporting this work. Personal authorship of a model is not required.
- Quantitatively comparing or selecting operational policies under uncertainty, including matching, bidding and resource allocation models.
In a mixed role, qualifying decision work must be a substantive, regular responsibility. An incidental mention, optional qualification or vague promise of “decision support” does not establish fit.
Technical engineering may directly feed or implement qualifying decision technology without personal model authorship. Generic data, platform or agent integration work needs an established direct connection to that technology.
Negative signals
- Standalone forecasting, predictive modeling, model fitting or improving prediction accuracy, even if someone later uses the output for planning.
- Generic website, marketing or product A/B testing, causal inference, effect estimation or uncertainty measurement.
- Scientific or physical simulation without an operational decision purpose.
- Routine operation of an existing model, planning tool or scheduling system. Building a scheduling system can qualify; running it to produce daily schedules does not.
- Time studies, workflow redesign, quality improvement or line balancing without substantive quantitative modeling or comparison of operating alternatives.
- Routine purchasing, inventory monitoring, coordination, business advice, generic sales or standard business configuration.
- Generic software, data pipelines, platforms, DevOps or computing performance optimization without an established direct connection to qualifying decision technology.
These activities can appear in a qualifying role when the posting also establishes substantive operational decision work.
OR and Maybe OR
OR means the posting establishes qualifying responsibilities. Maybe OR means a material ambiguity remains about whether the decision work is substantive or how the technical contribution connects to it. Maybe OR is not a positive classification. Not OR means the posting establishes nonqualifying work or falls outside scope; those jobs are not publicly listed.