Senior Football Data Scientist

Senior Football Data Scientist
Location: Carrington Training Complex
At Manchester United, we believe that excellence on the pitch starts with excellence off the pitch. Our team thrives in a high-performance environment, united by a shared passion for success. We aim to elevate the standard of performance through collaboration and continuous growth, creating a space where everyone can contribute their best to our common goals.

We work together at our iconic Manchester United offices, enabling connection and innovation as we look ahead to what we can achieve as a global football club. We are excited to bring in passionate people who share our vision and drive for success. 

The Role:
You’ll be part of the Data & AI Team, playing a key role in the club’s transformation into a fully data-driven organisation. The team delivers powerful insights, builds trusted data products, and operates modern data platforms that enable better decisions and success on and off the pitch.

We’re looking for a Senior Football Data Scientist to play a key part in this transformation. In this role, you’ll help building, developing and maintain models that generate value from football data. If you’re passionate about building the quantitative models to enable our football experts to make data-driven decisions, we’d love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities:
As a Senior Football Data Scientist, you will:

Develop solutions using Data Science methods which contribute to solving football-related questions, across all of our teams: Men’s, Women’s and Academy, applied to recruitment, performance analysis, player development and football strategy. Apply a range of Data Science techniques as appropriate including Machine learning algorithmsStatistical and mathematical methodsSpatio-temporal modelling Build foundational football models and metrics (e.g. to capture a team’s underlying performance or a player’s skill, to predict future performance or understand how a player or team may behave under a different context). Collaborate with football experts to identify high-impact performance questions, translate them into a clear analytical framework and to communicate insights to enable data-informed decision making. Work closely in a multi-disciplinary data team to build and deploy well-documented models into an easily interpretable interface where scientific integrity is ensured. Execute, review and improve existing data pipelines and ML models. Own the full modelling workflow from data preparation and training to deployment and analysis. Work with cloud based tools (Azure and Databricks) to support model development and deployment.

The Person: Excellent mathematical and statistical knowledge, gained from a degree in a quantitative discipline, equivalent courses or demonstrable practical equivalent.Experience using programming languages to process and model large datasets.Demonstrable experience of applying data science techniques to sports data, such as Bayesian modelling, machine learning, predictive modelling and model validation and evaluation.Understanding of database technologies and software engineering principles including test-driven development, CI/CD, version control and working in a cloud-based infrastructure with data at scale.Ability to draw on knowledge of the tactical and technical aspects of football to explain outcomes and nuances of models to non-technical stakeholders.A growth mindset to actively seek feedback and continuous self-development as well as to positively impact the work of people around you.Diligent work ethic with flexibility to perform under pressure when neededA proactive mindset to come up with new ideas and solutions with a drive to innovate and continuously push our football analytics capabilities beyond the current state of the art.DesirableExperience researching and working with football data, including tracking data, event data, pose data. What We Offer:
At Manchester United, we recognise that our people are at the heart of our success. That’s why we offer a range of rewards designed to support your professional and personal well-being:Annual incentive schemeWellness Support with access to mental health resources, digital health checks, and & nutritionists through Aviva Digicare+ WorkplaceExclusive Discounts through our United Rewards platform, giving you access to exclusive deals from the club and partnersGym Facilities in our onsite locations and opportunities for regular social events and team-building activitiesEnhanced family Leave Benefits and an opportunity to purchase additional holiday daysEnhanced Career Development with access to professional learning platforms like LinkedIn Learning, and internal training programsA Supportive Work Environment that values diversity, equity and inclusion, and individual growth