Applied Football Data Scientist — Performance & Strategy

Sporting Kansas City; Center (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Sporting Kansas City is seeking a Data Scientist to drive end-to-end applied modelling projects that strengthen decision-making and support an evidence-informed predictive framework. This onsite role in Center, TX will collaborate with coaches, scouts, analysts, and data teams to build interpretable models across medical, sports sciences, scouting, squad planning, and performance analysis.

You will partner with stakeholders to translate football questions into modelling tasks, deploy

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, or a related STEM subject.
• Experience in a Data Science, Machine Learning, Applied Statistics or similar role.
• Proven experience designing, validating, and monitoring applied machine learning models.
• Strong experience using SQL and Python for data analysis, modelling, and automation.
• Strong understanding of statistical modelling, experimental design, and model evaluation.
• Excellent communication skills, translating technical concepts into practical solutions.

Responsibilities

• Partner with coaches, analysts, scouts, and other stakeholders to identify football questions and translate them into advanced modelling work.
• Lead end-to-end development of applied modelling projects, from problem definition through deployment and review cycles.
• Coordinate with the wider Data and Analytics team to align modelling with Club and department strategy.
• Collaborate with the First Team Data Engineer to ensure reliable data and production-ready workflows.
• Work with the First Team Data Analyst so model outputs become clear, actionable insights for end users.
• Champion adoption of advanced analytics across Sporting Kansas City through ongoing communication.
• Build robust tooling for testing, validation, versioning, monitoring, model governance, and documentation.
• Continuously evaluate model performance and incorporate stakeholder feedback.

Skills

Data science experience

Applied statistics

Experimental design

Analytical thinking

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/DS or related STEM

Tools

SQL

Python

Tableau

Job description

Sporting Kansas City is seeking a Data Scientist to drive end-to-end applied modelling projects that strengthen decision-making and support an evidence-informed predictive framework. This onsite role in Center, TX will collaborate with coaches, scouts, analysts, and data teams to build interpretable models across medical, sports sciences, scouting, squad planning, and performance analysis.

You will partner with stakeholders to translate football questions into modelling tasks, deploy