Our data is at the core of our growth strategy and fundamental to how our League, Partners, Sponsors, Advertisers, Clubs, Players, and millions of Fans connect, explore, and engage with one another. We are seeking a hands-on leader who will own management of our data, while partnering and collaborating with team members to deliver data as a product (DaaP), as well as creating data product solutions that power our digital ecosystem. This is an opportunity to not only own data management, but also to contribute with both internal and external-facing data products.
The successful candidate is passionate about treating data ‘as a product’ to discover new insights, automate business processes, drive competitive advantage, and deliver immersive and outstanding fan experiences. You apply a product management mentality by aligning on business need and objectives before you begin building any new data product, then following that same approach in planning through OKRs, executing through agile principles, and delivering value through your data products.
The ideal candidate will demonstrate an established background in data and analytics, broad technical depth, excellent product/project management skills, superb communication, and stakeholder management skills. You have the motivation to achieve tangible results in a dynamic environment, providing thought-leadership and strategy, while also knowing when to jump in, roll up your sleeves, and lead from the front. “Hands-on” in this role means you will be expected to own, review and when necessary, assist with data architecture, data models, algorithms, code, and other development tasks as required.
Responsibilities
Lead Major League Soccer’s Data Management & Analytic Engineering team, which owns overall management & governance of our data (i.e., identification, cataloguing, modeling, semantics, protection, and privacy).
Full accountability for the data products in our Data Lakehouse/Warehouse and delivery of Data as a Product for self-service, including design, curation, build and maintenance.
Partner with the League’s key data producers and consumers as you negotiate needs and value-add priorities, map out your roadmap, broker data contracts, and follow the data product lifecycle to deliver and generate results.
Create processes for federated data governance across the League and Clubs; promote autonomy for various domains to create and deliver data products, while adhering to global interoperability – maximizing speed and agility, with common governance policies.
Build strategic and technical capabilities to enable end-to-end data collection standards, observability standards, and data management standards that adhere to GDPR, CPRA, and other privacy regulations
Partner with engineering & technology leaders to balance the delivery of product features that drive the League vs. platform foundational capabilities that drive scalability and resiliency.
Take accountability and partner with other engineering and technology teams to drive the right self-serve infrastructure and tooling to both producers and consumers of data so that they can do their jobs easily and efficiently.
When applicable, lean in as an internal consultancy and manage analytic engineering demand, prioritizing value-add projects and delivering results to our business partners
Continuously review the strategic technology needs of the League and our supported business functions relative to new technological developments and trends. Keep abreast of the industry and emerging technology, following research and open-source development/publications
Build a culture of learning, knowledge sharing and high performance. Advocate for the highest standards of technical and operational excellence. Ensure we’re building highly scalable and repeatable capabilities in the best manner possible.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree; M.S. or Ph.D. in a technical field preferred (electrical or computer/systems/software engineering)
12+ years of experience, with 8+ years’ experience working at companies that own/process high volumes of data, and where the quality of data is critical to the proposition
Experience leading data governance initiatives, and the creation and deployment of frameworks, policies, processes, and tools
Deep expertise in data munging, data wrangling, data mining, data matching, and related ELT/ETL techniques to extract and transform data from a variety of data sources.
Experience with advanced data techniques, including advanced qualitative and quantitative data mining, complex predictive modeling, regression, and other real-time pattern detection methods
Experience developing algorithms and products with Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Image/Voice Recognition, Unsupervised Process and Pattern Mining using popular ML frameworks
Knowledge of dynamic authorization methods, such as role-centric attribute-based access control (RABAC), attribute-based access control (ABAC) and policy-based access management (PBAM)
Understanding of graph data model concepts (domains, nodes, labels, relationships, properties, etc.) and graph data modeling design
Understanding of distributed compute architecture as well as high-scale or distributed columnar RDBMS (preferably cloud-based) and knowledge on NoSQL platforms
Understanding of dynamic data resiliency principles (scale-out architecture, automatic self-healing capabilities, load balancing, etc.) and data restoration methods
Understanding of large-scale digital marketing projects across design and measurement (A/B test), multi-arm bandits, causal inference, forecasting, and prediction a plus
Required Skills
High-level of commitment to a quality work product and organizational ethics, integrity and compliance
Ability to work effectively in a fast paced, team environment
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively communicate, both verbally and in writing
Demonstrated decision making and problem-solving skills
High attention to detail with the ability to multi-task and meet deadlines with minimal supervision
Proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Total Rewards
Starting Base Salary: $200,000 – $235,000. MLS/SUM base salaries are contingent upon several factors including individual qualifications, market financials, and operational business needs.
We are committed to providing a Total Rewards package that attracts, supports, engages, and retains talent through the following:
Benefits – comprehensive and competitive medical, dental, and vision benefits, as well as a suite of programs to promote well-being including a $500 Wellness Reimbursement. A generous PTO offering, and hybrid Office/Remote Work Schedule are also offered to promote Work-Life balance.
Career & Professional Development – on the job training, feedback, and on-going educational opportunities to continue your personal and professional development.
Employee Engagement – office perks, discounts and employee events that go “beyond the traditional paycheck” to make you feel a part of our team and inspire you to elevate the Game!
We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
