Research & Development Analyst

About The National Hockey League

Founded in 1917, the National Hockey League (NHL®) is the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

With more than 1500 employees across the US and Canada, the NHL is a global sports and entertainment organization committed to building healthy and vibrant communities using the sport of hockey.

At the NHL, we are looking for dynamic, energetic and impactful individuals who are committed to doing the same by sharing in our philosophy that Hockey is for Everyone – and inclusion belongs on the ice, in the locker rooms, boardrooms and stands.

Summary

WHAT WE EXPECT OF YOU

We are seeking a Research and Development Analyst to join our Information Technology department. This role's primary responsibility will be to support the NHL's initiatives to translate the League's Puck and Player Tracking Data into automated hockey events, driving advances in official scoring and advanced statistics.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of deriving insights from big data, having advanced hockey knowledge, being self-motivated, detail oriented, adaptive, a quick learner and a team-player in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

This position will work closely with senior members of the NHL's Information Technology Department, Stats and Information Department, and third-party vendors to work hands-on through all stages of the software design, development and deployment process.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Auditing and Data Quality Control:

• Identify issues, inconsistencies and bugs in big data, relating to hockey events and statistics, including automated data, manually collected data and game video data
• Use statistical analysis to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure and improve data quality
• Monitor nightly error logs, issue tracking and bug fix follow-up
• Produce reports and dashboards in the forms of graphs, charts and tables
• Compile, categorize, calculate and verify all levels of statistical information related to NHL hockey as utilized internally and by third-party partner applications
• Contribute to the design and development of auditing tools, establishing long-range objectives and the functionality to achieve them
  
  

Hockey Automation Development:

• Seek an in-depth understanding of the NHL's Puck and Player Tracking automated hockey event definitions. Utilize experience developing automated events to drive future definition improvements
• Create detailed and accurate manual ground-truth hockey event data sets from game video
• Use a combination of hockey knowledge, logic-based thinking, mathematical applications, existing event definitions and machine learning techniques to support the NHL's initiatives for AI-assisted and automated hockey events and advanced statistics generation
• Review current models for areas of weakness and develop improvements
• Develop statistical models for current and new advanced hockey stats
• Write technical documentation for new developments
  
  

Cross-Functionality:

• Assist the Statistics and Information Department, media partners, marketing partners, data partners, third-party vendors and non-technical departments in telling engaging stories through advanced hockey data
  
  

Qualifications

Knowledge Areas/Experience

Required

• Intimate knowledge of NHL hockey
• The ideal candidate will have 5+ years in a role working with advanced hockey statistics, preferably with some experience utilizing the NHL's Puck and Player Tracking data in a professional capacity
• Proven experience manually tracking hockey statistics
• Strong proficiency in big data analysis techniques. Excel, scripting languages (Python or R preferred) and object-oriented style programming required
• Relational database experience, proficiency in SQL or similar language
• Strong data visualization skills
  
  

Preferred

• Experience with Tableau or similar product is a plus
  
  

Education/Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Analytics, Information Technology, Mathematics, a related field, or equivalent relative job experience
  
  

Required Skills

• Excellent creative problem-solving skills. Projects will often be without precedent
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex technical information clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Excellent collaboration skills and ability to work as part of a team
• Self-motivated with a standard of high quality
• Ability to work occasional nights and weekends during NHL games
  
  

CORE COMPETENCIES

These core competencies reflect the underlying values that are necessary to represent the National Hockey League:

• Accountability
• Adaptability
• Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Inclusion
• Professionalism
• Teamwork & Collaboration
  
  

The NHL offers U.S. regular, full-time employees:

Time to Recharge: Utilize our generous Paid Time Off (PTO) to focus on your well-being and ensure a healthy work/life balance. PTO includes paid holidays, vacation, personal and sick days, plus an extra day off for your birthday.

Ability to Focus on your Health: Along with competitive salaries, the NHL offers comprehensive health benefits to employees and their eligible dependents effective on their first day with us – there is no waiting period. The NHL subsidizes a large portion of the health benefits costs, therefore your cost for medical, dental and vision coverage is minimal.

We also offer our employees and members of their household access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support mental, physical, and financial health. In addition, employees have access to a digital wellness resource designed to improve health and happiness through courses in sleep, movement, and focus. These services are confidential and at no-cost to our employees.

Childcare Leave: Because your family is the NHL family, employees are offered comprehensive Childcare Leave to welcome your new addition. The primary caregiver to the child is entitled to up to 12 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.

Employees that are not the primary caregiver to the child are entitled to up to 6 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, which must be taken within the first 6 months following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.

Confidence in your Retirement Goals: Participate in the NHL’s Savings Plan which includes a 401K (pre-tax and Roth options) plus non-elective (employer) contributions to keep your retirement goals on track.

A Hybrid Work Schedule: The NHL recognizes the value of flexibility in work locations/schedules to help our employees balance work/life priorities. Hybrid work schedules are available for a majority of our roles.

Our New Headquarters: Our new, state of the art, offices are located at One Manhattan West in Hudson Yards. When you’re in the office, you can conduct meetings in one of our high-tech conference rooms, have lunch with a view or play in the game room. Employees can also enjoy New York’s newest neighborhood that is home to more than 100 shops, culinary experiences, and public artwork.

A Savings for Commuting: Participate in the NHL’s pre-tax commuter benefit plan which helps offset the financial cost of traveling to and from our office.

NHL Partner Rates: Unlock exclusive pricing from our Partners that include savings on travel, consumer goods and services, plus the NHL Store.

Life at the NHL: In your first few days, you meet with your new teammates and the HR Team. You have the opportunity to learn more about the NHL and our workplace culture. Employees are invited to play hockey during our Tuesday Night Skate at Chelsea Piers, join our Employee Resource Groups and more. You are a part of our team and we encourage you to be your authentic self, adding to our dynamic workplace culture.

SALARY RANGE:

$100-130K

Actual base pay for a successful candidate will be determined based on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to: experience/training, market demands, and geographic location.

When applying, please be sure to include a cover letter with your salary expectations for this role. We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity, however only qualified candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. NO EMAILS OR PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

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.