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Data Scientist - sports analytics/betting

OTA Recruitment
London
2 weeks ago
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Data Scientist

Salary: £55-70k plus attractive bonus on top

Location: London or Leeds (hybrid working, if preferred)


About us

We have an exciting opportunity for a Data Scientist to join our rapidly growing Sports Forecasting & Analytics company.


Purpose of the role

As a Data Scientist within the Modelling & Data Engineering department, you will play a key role in the design, development, and implementation of predictive models that power our sports forecasting products. You will work collaboratively within a sport-specific team to develop robust, scalable models, contribute to the research and development of new modelling methodologies, and ensure our forecasts remain accurate, low-latency, and aligned with client demands.

You will be expected to use your programming, analytical, and mathematical skills to extract insights from data, build high-performance modelling pipelines, and help improve modelling practices across the business. This role is ideal for someone with a strong foundation in data science who is looking to make a meaningful impact in a high-performance, fast-paced environment.


Key responsibilities

  • Design, build, and maintain statistical or machine learning models to support sports forecasting and pricing across various markets.
  • Extract actionable insights from large-scale sports datasets using sound mathematical and statistical principles.
  • Translate modelling requirements and business objectives into effective data science solutions, working closely with the Delivery Manager and Engineering teammates (Software and Data Engineers) within your modelling team.
  • Perform data cleaning, exploratory data analysis (EDA), feature engineering, and model evaluation to support continuous model improvement.
  • Write clean, efficient, well-documented code aligned with team standards for structure, reproducibility, and version control.
  • Work collaboratively with other Data Scientists to propose ideas, troubleshoot modelling challenges, and refine methodologies.
  • Contribute to the delivery of accurate, reliable forecasts with low latency under evolving client or market demands.
  • Participate in code reviews and collaborative design sessions to uphold technical quality across the team.
  • Provide mentorship and support to Junior Data Scientists working on the same or related projects.


Experience and knowledge

2+ years’ experience solving analytics and modelling problems, ideally in sport, gaming, or similar domains with forecasting needs.


Skills and competencies

Essential:

  • Experience working with Python or R in a production or research setting.
  • Strong experience using data wrangling tools (e.g. Pandas, NumPy, dplyr).
  • Solid grasp of statistical modelling and machine learning, with hands-on use of libraries such as scikit-learn, xgboost, PyMC3, TensorFlow.
  • Experience working with SQL and relational databases.
  • Ability to explain model behaviour through visualisations and reports.
  • Familiarity with Git and collaborative development workflows.
  • Good written and verbal communication; able to contribute to cross-functional discussions.
  • Proven problem-solving and time management skills.


Desirable:

  • Familiarity with cloud services (e.g. AWS S3, Athena, Lambda).
  • Basic understanding of data engineering or ML pipelines.
  • Knowledge of distributed systems (e.g. Kafka).
  • Interest in American sports or the betting industry.
  • Some exposure to .NET-based systems or application integration.


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