Data Analyst - Basketball Strategy and Analytics

Who are we:
A professional basketball team and state-of-the-art arena/entertainment venue that specializes in creating memorable experiences for each guest we interact with. Some of our favorite things are live sports, concerts, comedy shows, family shows, and most any other world-class event you can think of, and we’re looking for someone who shares the same interests. We live for the fast-paced world of sports & live entertainment, and as such, we work hard, run fast, execute flawlessly, and party it up when it all comes together. Lastly, we strive to deliver wonderful experiences that create lasting memories, and we prefer to surround ourselves with those who are the best at what they do.

Who are you:
An enthusiastic lover of sports, live entertainment, and people. You have true passion for engaging in meaningful interactions and creating memorable experiences for all guests. You strive to be helpful, engaging, and knowledgeable of all things Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena. You enjoy being a part of an exciting and dynamic group, and you’re committed to continuously enhancing the productivity and effectiveness of your team. Lastly, you enjoy working hard and celebrating hard, and you’d be shocked if guests weren’t positively impacted by their interactions with you.

Purpose

This position will primarily focus on building reports, interactive tools, and conducting research focused on all areas of basketball operations – coaching, front office, and athletic performance. The tools and research will be used to support the Coaching Staff, Athletic Training Staff and Front Office in analyzing and interpreting data to influence strategic decision making.  The position will be a member of the Basketball Strategy and Analytics team.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, or a related field.
  • Equivalent experience in a professional setting may be considered if approved by the hiring manager.
• Experience working with sports or basketball data or in a sports role (internships included) is a plus.
• Significant experience and comfort with a scripting language is required – preferably R or Python.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Build, enhance, and maintain the current infrastructure for storing various types of basketball data.
• Present basketball data using automated and scripted reporting tools to Coaching Staff, Athletic Performance Staff and the Front Office.
• Respond in a timely and efficient manner to ad-hoc requests from Basketball Operations Executives.
• Lead and assist with quantitative analyses and research in support of Basketball Operations.
• Stay up to date on basketball research and statistical research focused on prediction, description and visualization.
• Collaborate with members of the Basketball Strategy & Analytics on basketball related research.
• Provide general support in all aspects of basketball operations as required.

Basic Requirements/Qualifications

General

• Willing and able to work evenings, holidays, and weekends during the NBA season and transaction periods (mid-September through mid-July, as required)
• Positive and collaborative communicator with a willingness to ask questions
  • General willingness and interest in learning new topics related to basketball analysis, statistical analysis and data visualization.
• Willing and Able to meet deadlines, both on advanced and on short notice
  • Comfortable working in a high-pressure environment, and willing to be flexible when requests come in
• Collaborative and willing to work in a team environment
• Demonstrates initiative on small- and large-scale projects with a drive to push them to competition
• Handles sensitive and proprietary data in a professional and appropriate manner, keeping confidential information protected and secure
• Attention to detail with exemplified ability to check work
• Knowledge of the rules of basketball, specifically the NBA and the G-League
• Passion for basketball, data science and data visualization.

Technical & Software

• Experience working with scripting languages for statistical analysis and visualization, specifically R and Python
• Experience working with APIs, relational databases, and SQL
• Experience building fast, interactive visualizations
  • Familiarity with R Shiny framework is a plus
  • Experience using JavaScript is a plus
  • Familiarity with CSS is a plus
• Experience building predictive models
• Experience maintaining well-organized and structured code repositories for reproducible analysis
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office – Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.

If this opportunity looks exciting to you, please complete the application process. Go Hawks!