Senior Data Scientist

Why UTR Sports

UTR Sports is a Silicon Valley based tech and sports high growth company that is both remote-friendly and people-driven. We are on a mission to revolutionize tennis and pickleball through technology and data. UTR Sports’ UTR Rating is the gold standard and the world’s most accurate singles and doubles rating system. Our vision is to unify racquet sports for everyone by bringing cutting edge analytics and community building technology to all players worldwide, regardless of level. We are backed by impressive investors in sports, technology and media including Amazon, Roger Federer’s Team8, Novak Djokovic, Endeavor/IMG, Tennis Channel, Tennis Australia and Larry Ellison. UTR Sports wants to work with people who are team-oriented and excellence focused.

To learn more, Watch this Video and visit www.utrsports.net.

The Opportunity

In this role, you will play a crucial part in extracting valuable insights from complex datasets, contributing to data-driven decision making processes, and driving innovation through advanced analytics techniques. As a Senior Data Scientist reporting to the Head of Data Science, you will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to develop models, algorithms, and predictive tools that will enhance our products and services. The core responsibilities will focus on development of our key data science products, including our patented and gold-standard rating algorithms.

Responsibilities:

• Utilize advanced data analysis and modeling techniques to extract actionable insights from diverse datasets.
• Design, develop, and implement machine learning models and algorithms for predictive and prescriptive analytics.
• Implement product data science to drive revenue growth and engagement on our web and mobile platforms
• Contribute significantly to product feature engineering to improve model performance and interpretability.
• Collaborate with software engineers to deploy models into production systems and monitor their performance.
• Communicate complex findings and technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders in a clear and understandable manner.

Requirements

Must have:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Proven experience (5+ years) working as a Data Scientist, solving real-world problems using data-driven approaches.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python and R, with experience using relevant libraries (e.g., pandas, scikit-learn, matplotlib, seaborn, pyplot).
• Ability to write complex SQL queries to extract and manipulate data from databases.
• Working knowledge of ELO-like algorithms
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure).
• Experience working with third-party platforms and APIs
• Proficiency in data preprocessing, exploratory data analysis, data visualization, and feature engineering.
• Experience with machine learning techniques including classification, regression, clustering.
• Experience with Deep Learning modeling using TensorFlow or PyTorch
• Excellent understanding of statistical concepts and hypothesis testing.
• Expert problem-solving skills and ability to work in collaborative, cross-functional environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to convey technical findings to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Advanced skills with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, etc.) to create meaningful visual representations of insights.

Good to have:

• C# experience and Azure ML experience strongly preferred
• Experience working with (or a familiarity with) Belief Networks

Benefits

What we Offer:

A reasonable estimate of the current base salary range is $120,000 to $155,000 plus an equity compensation package. The final base salary for this role will take into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to: skill sets, experience and training and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic location differential associated with where the position will be filled.

Universal Tennis is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA but this position is fully remote, US-based. In addition to salary and equity compensation, we offer flexible working hours and generous PTO. Our other benefits include:

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k)
• Paid Time Off (Unlimited Vacation & Sick plus Public Holidays)
• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Short Term & Long Term Disability and Life Insurance
• Work From Home

We are an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity. We are committed to an inclusive environment. All candidates will be considered on the basis of qualifications, merit and business needs without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, non-qualifying mental or physical disability, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.