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Data Scientist - sports analytics/betting

OTA Recruitment
London
3 weeks ago
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Overview

Data Scientist - sports analytics/betting


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This range is provided by OTA Recruitment. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.


Base pay range: Direct message the job poster from OTA Recruitment


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

  • Experience working with Python or R in a production or research setting.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Follow our company page

Follow OTA Recruitment Limited on LinkedIn to stay updated on current and upcoming job vacancies.


Seniority level

  • Mid-Senior level

Employment type

  • Full-time

Job function

  • Analyst and Science

Industries

  • Software Development


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