First Team Data Scientist

Swansea City AFC; Swansea; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A professional football club is seeking a First Team Data Scientist to provide data support for match analysis and team performance. This full-time role includes responsibilities for maintaining key performance indicators and conducting trend analyses while supporting various departments in the football club. Ideal candidates will have experience with data science applications in football and possess strong analytical skills.

Benefits

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Cycle to Work Scheme

Private Medical Insurance & Health Cash Plan

Complimentary home match tickets

Discounted Club Merchandise

Enhanced Family Leave Payments

Qualifications

• Degree in STEM or related field preferred.
• Experience in data analysis and handling large data sets.
• Understanding of data science applications in football.

Responsibilities

• Support coaching and analysts with match and training data.
• Conduct performance analyses and report findings.
• Design data visualisations for coaches and analysts.

Skills

Handling large data sets

Data science in professional football

Using football event data

SQL database interaction

Data visualisation with Python

Presenting data to non-technical audiences

Using Mac OS and Microsoft Office

Education

STEM degree

Masters in Data Analytics or similar

Tools

Python

Tableau

PowerBI

Job description

Overview

JOB TITLE First Team Data Scientist
DEPARTMENT First Team Analysis Department
SALARY Depending on Experience
BENEFITS 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays
Cycle to Work Scheme
Private Medical Insurance & Health Cash Plan
2 x Complimentary home match tickets
Discounted Club Merchandise
Enhanced Family Leave Payments
RESPONSIBLE TO Head of Data
KEY RELATIONSHIPS 1st Team Performance Analysts, First Team Coaching Staff
CONTRACT Full Time (40 hours)
WORKING HOURS The role requires an individual who can perform such hours as necessary to complete their roles and responsibilities. The position will involve working irregular hours (e.g., Evenings/Saturdays/Sundays/Bank Holidays) based around team schedules.

The Role

This role will be responsible for the day-to-day use of data within the First Team Football Departments. Embedded within the First Team Analysis department, this role will foremost support the first team coaches and analysts with the match analysis cycle of opposition, individual, team performance and training analyses through the use of data. Additional responsibilities of this role will be to support the use of data across the wider football department including Sports Science, Medical and Recruitment.

Responsibilities

• Be an integral part of the club’s use of data across the match analysis cycle, providing data support and reporting across each of the following areas: Opposition Analysis, Live Match Analysis, Post Match Analysis.
• Monitor team, opposition and individual performances.
• Build and update bespoke club specific KPIs.
• Conduct trend analysis across the league and the wider footballing world, reporting on findings and comparisons with the first team.
• Keep up to date with the latest developments in football analytics and drive the club’s use of data to stay at the forefront of this space.
• Design and build data visualisations for use by first team analysts and coaches.
• Attend all home matches supporting live match analysis with data and provide remote support for away matches.
• Contribute to ongoing projects and research and support the use of data across the football department in Analysis, Coaching, Medical, Sports Science & Recruitment.
• Perform ad-hoc analyses as required.

Skills / Experience

• STEM degree (Preferred)
• Experience of handling and manipulating large data sets for data analysis
• Understanding of how data science can be applied in a professional football setting
• Knowledge of & experience using football event data (Statsbomb, Opta, WyScout etc.)
• Comfortable interacting with databases using SQL
• Data visualisation experience using Python and BI Tools such as Tableau (preferred) or PowerBI
• Experience of a programming language, preferably Python and accompanying packages such as pandas, numpy and football/sport specific packages
• Experience of presenting to audiences that do not possess data/technical backgrounds
• Proficient using Mac OS and/or Windows OS & software including Keynote, Numbers, iBooks, Microsoft Office (Excel, Powerpoint, Word)

Desirable

• Masters in Data Analytics, Data Science, Computer Science or similar
• Experience of retrieving and handling data from APIs
• Experience handling Tracking Data (Second Spectrum, TRACAB, GPS etc.) with the ability to extract practical insights
• Experience with football data analysis software (Catapult Matchtracker or Hudl Insight)
• Full UK driving license & access to vehicle

Policies

SAFEGUARDING & WELFARE The Company is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people involved in activities and events at the Company. As part of the Company’s recruitment and selection process any offers of work involving working in regulated activity with children are subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS Disclosure and barred list check (depending on the level of supervision, frequency, and nature of contact with children). The Company may also conduct online searches of candidates who have been shortlisted as part of its safer recruitment procedures. Appropriate references will be required.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT Swansea City AFC strives to ensure it provides an environment where everyone's rights, dignity and individual worth is respected and takes a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination. Equal Opportunity is an integral part of our recruitment and selection process, and we welcome applications from all individuals who feel they meet the core requirements of the role. We are particularly encouraging applications from women, disabled people and individuals from diverse ethnic communities who are currently under-represented within the organisation. All appointments will be made on merit of skill and experience relative to the role.

GENERAL STATEMENT Should an adequate number of applications be received prior to the closing date, Swansea City AFC reserve the right to remove this advert. Due to high demand in applications the Club will be unable to respond to those applicants who have not been shortlisted for interview.