Buffalo Sabres

Role Description The Data Engineer will be part of the Research & Development team, responsible for designing, building and maintaining internal systems used by management, coaches, scouts, analysts and all other Hockey Operations staff. The primary focus of the role will be back-end development but front-end development skills and systems management experience is preferred. This position is available for in-person or remote work (with occasional travel). - Develop, document, and maintain the schemas and ETL pipelines for all hockey operations databases - Maintain web interfaces for hockey operations use, in conjunction with department personnel - Work with other members of the R&D team to address and support all existing data-related requests from across hockey operations - Create, summarize, and deliver statistical reports to stakeholders across hockey operations - Optimize data collection, storage, manipulation and transformation tasks - Maintain a system for unit-testing and monitoring all hockey operations databases, data products and associated raw data feeds - Collaborate with a team of data scientists, data engineers, and other department personnel - Communicate effectively and directly with hockey operations staff - Perform all job duties in a variety of work settings including virtual meetings and distributed work environments, at in-person meetings, via phone/email, and in other settings - Document all data pipelines, code, processes, workflows, etc. - Perform ad-hoc and time-sensitive tasks upon request - Maintain the upmost confidentiality - Perform other related duties as assigned Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience) in software engineering, computer engineering, computer science, information technology, information systems or a related field - Demonstrated experience reading, writing and documenting code in Python. Experience working with common Python libraries (ex. numpy, pandas, etc.) and building or working with custom Python packages is preferred. - Ability to write ad hoc SQL queries to support data analysis - Ability to work with Git for version control, and experience working collaboratively on shared coding projects - Some front-end development experience with HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript - Some web development experience. Experience with Python Django preferred - Ability to work a flexible schedule (including nights, weekends and holidays when necessary) and to occasionally travel Requirements - Experience with R and/or Python for data analysis (preferred but not required) - Experience working with pipeline management tools (ex. Airflow) (preferred but not required) - Experience working with containers for application deployment (ex. Docker) (preferred but not required) - Experience working with distributed storage and computer infrastructures (ex. HDFS, Spark, Yarn) (preferred but not required) - Experience reading and writing with relational database systems (ex. Postgres) (preferred but not required) Critical Competencies - Strong attention to detail and highly organized - Ability to manage multiple projects at once - Excellent written and verbal communication skills - Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities - Collaborative and creative - Strong problem-solving skills Compensation This role will pay between $62,500 - $75,000 annually. Note: Wages will be determined based on factors such as candidate experience, qualifications, skill set and internal equity. Benefits - Medical Plans: Comprehensive and affordable medical plans; supplemental vision care, dental care, life insurance coverage, fully paid, short and long-term disability and life insurance coverage. - Investments: 401(k) with employer matching; annual discretionary defined employer contributions - Paid Time Off: Paid Volunteer Days - Sabres Experience: (up to 4) Comp tickets to Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits, Rochester Americans when available - Wellness: Annual Health & Wellness fair, monthly wellness initiatives including but not limited to lunch & learns, fitness classes and challenges. - Sabres Family: many annual social events for employees and their families to enjoy, including various holiday parties and activities. DEI committee with annual initiatives, ERG (Employee Resource Groups), Community Volunteer opportunities and more.

Role Description The Data Scientist will be part of the Research & Development team, responsible for designing, building and maintaining internal systems used by management, coaches, scouts, analysts, and all other Hockey Operations staff. The primary focus of this role will be creating and communicating knowledge about hockey players, teams, systems, strategies, development, and training using data, often via long-term research projects. This position is available for in-person or remote work (with occasional travel). - Quantify, evaluate, and project the performance and abilities of hockey players and teams - Analyze data from all aspects of hockey operations - Build, validate, and automate models for hockey player and team performance - Collaborate with other members of the R&D department to address and support all existing data-related requests from across hockey operations - Create, summarize, and deliver statistical reports to stakeholders across hockey operations - Communicate effectively and directly with hockey operations staff - Perform all job duties in a variety of work settings including virtual meetings and distributed work environments, at in-person meetings, via phone/email, and in other settings - Clearly communicate complex technical concepts to others - Creatively use existing data to advance our understanding of the sport of hockey, the performance of players and teams, etc. - Perform ad-hoc and time-sensitive data analyses upon request - Maintain the utmost confidentiality - Perform other related duties as assigned Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree or higher in statistics, data science, machine learning, computer science, mathematics, engineering, or a related field - Hockey and/or sports analytics experience is highly preferred - Demonstrated experience working with player/object tracking data (ex. via computer vision or RFID systems) and/or skeletal tracking data (ex. via pose estimation) is preferred - Strong knowledge of programming for data analysis, preferably using R and/or Python - Demonstrated experience working with large, complex datasets - Experience building a variety of statistical models, and an understanding of those models - Experience writing shared code and using version control tools in team work environments - Ability to responsibly analyze and handle sensitive and confidential data - Ability to work a flexible schedule (including nights, weekends and holidays when necessary) and to occasionally travel Requirements - Knowledge of and Applied Experience in Statistics, Machine Learning, Data Science, etc.: - Experience working on long-term, open-ended, data-driven research problems (preferably in sports analytics) - Understanding of (and experience building) a variety of statistical models (e.g. generalized linear models, generalized additive models, hierarchical models, mixture models, non-parametric models, tree-based models, Bayesian models, boosting, unsupervised learning, neural networks, time series models, etc.) - Understanding of modern techniques for analyzing spatio-temporal data, such as recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks, transformers, etc. - Hockey and/or Sports Analytics Experience: - Deep knowledge of hockey and/or sports analytics - Strong performance in public data analysis competitions - Demonstrated experience working with player/object tracking data (e.g. via computer vision or RFID systems) and/or skeletal tracking data (e.g. via pose estimation) - Critical Competencies: - Strong attention to detail and highly organized - Ability to manage multiple projects at once - Excellent written and verbal communication skills - Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities - Collaborative and creative - Strong problem-solving skills Compensation This role will pay between $62,500 - $75,000 annually. Note: Wages will be determined based on factors such as candidate experience, qualifications, skill set and internal equity. Benefits - Medical Plans: Comprehensive and affordable medical plans; supplemental vision care, dental care, life insurance coverage, fully paid, short and long-term disability and life insurance coverage. - Investments: 401(k) with employer matching; annual discretionary defined employer contributions - Paid Time Off: Paid Volunteer Days - Sabres Experience: (up to 4) Comp tickets to Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits, Rochester Americans when available - Wellness: Annual Health & Wellness fair, monthly wellness initiatives including but not limited to lunch & learns, fitness classes and challenges. - Sabres Family: many annual social events for employees and their families to enjoy, including various holiday parties and activities. DEI committee with annual initiatives, ERG (Employee Resource Groups), Community Volunteer opportunities and more.