Senior Biomechanics Researcher, Athlete Performance

Nike; Beaverton (OR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Nike NSRL seeks a Senior Researcher to plan and execute applied, athlete‑centric research focused on performance and protection in sport. You will analyze biomechanics data from lab, field, and wearables, build analysis pipelines, and translate findings into actionable recommendations for product and athlete experiences.

The role emphasizes cross‑team collaboration with digital technology, engineering, data science, service design, and innovation to advance Nike products and athlete outcomes.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in biomechanics, bioengineering, exercise science, kinesiology, or a related field.
• 3+ years of research experience analyzing human participant or athlete data from laboratory, field, or remote settings.
• Deep knowledge of biomechanics, experimental design, statistical methods, and human movement data.
• Experience working with data from human movement technologies, such as foot and body scanners, instrumented treadmills, pressure mapping, force plates, marker‑based or markerless motion capture, inertial measurement units, electromyography, and other wearable sensors.
• Strong proficiency in Python and SQL for data processing and analysis. Experience with Databricks or similar large‑scale data platforms strongly preferred; Visual3D, OpenSim, or musculoskeletal modeling a plus.
• Experience cleaning, merging, and analyzing large, messy, multi‑source data sets, including time‑series sensor and survey data.
• Experience communicating results through clear visualizations and dashboards.
• Demonstrated curiosity, initiative, attention to detail, and comfort working independently in ambiguity.
• Industry research and experience in running or lateral sports strongly preferred.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to deliver high‑quality work in a fast‑paced, collaborative environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, including explaining complex topics to technical and non‑technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Condition, process, and analyze biomechanical and human movement data from in‑lab, on‑field, and remote studies with athletes of different levels and backgrounds.
• Analyze large‑scale field data sets from wearables, surveys, and digital platforms, combining sources to answer priority research and product questions.
• Build and maintain repeatable, well‑documented data pipelines, quality checks, and analysis workflows in Python and Databricks.
• Apply sound statistical methods to study design, analysis, and interpretation, including mixed, longitudinal, and repeated‑measures data.
• Interpret results and share credible, decision‑ready insights through reports, dashboards, and visualizations for physical and digital product innovation.
• Partner with data collection researchers on protocols and data standards, and support in‑person collections as needed.
• Share feedback to improve data quality, research processes, and athlete insight.
• Apply foundations of computational biomechanics to analysis and interpretation of human movement data.

Skills

Biomechanics

Data analysis

Python

SQL

Statistics

Experiment design

Communication

Project management

Independent work

Sports research

Education

Master’s degree in biomechanics, bioengineering, exercise science, kinesiology, or related field

Tools

Databricks

Visual3D

OpenSim

Musculoskeletal modeling

Job description

Nike NSRL seeks a Senior Researcher to plan and execute applied, athlete‑centric research focused on performance and protection in sport. You will analyze biomechanics data from lab, field, and wearables, build analysis pipelines, and translate findings into actionable recommendations for product and athlete experiences.

The role emphasizes cross‑team collaboration with digital technology, engineering, data science, service design, and innovation to advance Nike products and athlete outcomes.