Basketball Analytics Scientist—Data-Driven Roster Strategy

WNBA; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

The Los Angeles Sparks seek a Data Scientist to elevate competitive decision-making through statistical modeling, automated reporting, and data-driven insights. You will collaborate with coaches, scouts, performance staff, and front-office leadership to inform player evaluation, roster construction, and development.

Ideal candidates are quantitative thinkers with basketball domain knowledge and experience handling complex datasets, turning data into actionable insights used in real basketball

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related quantitative field preferred.
• 2+ years of professional experience in data science or related fields.
• Strong proficiency in R or Python and SQL.
• Experience building statistical or machine learning models on real-world datasets.
• Translate complex data into clear, accessible insights for non-technical audiences.
• Experience building data viz using ggplot2, Plotly, Shiny, Dash, etc.

Responsibilities

• Develop predictive models to support player evaluation, lineup optimization, scouting, in-game strategy, and roster management.
• Analyze player tracking data, play-by-play, and event-level datasets to uncover performance trends and competitive advantages.
• Design analytical reports, visualizations, and tools used by coaches, scouts, and front-office staff.
• Build and validate models for player evaluation, player development, skill-specific growth, and opponent scouting.
• Conduct research on new basketball metrics and methodologies that enhance internal evaluations.
• Maintain reproducible research workflows and documentation.
• Partner with the Data Engineering team to define data needs, improve infrastructure, and ensure reliable, well-structured datasets for analytics.
• Build features, transformations, and metrics for use in models and internal reports.
• Integrate league providers (Second Spectrum, Synergy, etc.) into an internal data synthesis and reporting structure.
• Assist in software development related to data science work produced by the R&D team.
• Prepare clear, concise explanations of analytical findings for scouts, leadership, and coaches.
• Support the main decision making periods needed throughout the season (Free Agency, Draft, and Staffing).
• Work collaboratively across Basketball Operations to create a data-driven environment.

Skills

R

Python

SQL

Predictive modeling

Data visualization

Basketball analytics

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related quantitative field

Tools

ggplot2

Plotly

Shiny

Dash

grobbR

Job description

The Los Angeles Sparks seek a Data Scientist to elevate competitive decision-making through statistical modeling, automated reporting, and data-driven insights. You will collaborate with coaches, scouts, performance staff, and front-office leadership to inform player evaluation, roster construction, and development.

Ideal candidates are quantitative thinkers with basketball domain knowledge and experience handling complex datasets, turning data into actionable insights used in real basketball