Data Engineer, Hockey Analytics

Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment - Newark, NJ

Full-time

Newark, NJ

About the position

The Data Engineer for Hockey Analytics at Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) will play a crucial role in supporting the New Jersey Devils' front office by enhancing hockey decision-making processes across various levels, including front office operations, coaching, and scouting. This position is designed for an individual who possesses a strong technical foundation and a deep passion for understanding the game of hockey. As a member of the analytics team, the Data Engineer will be responsible for developing and maintaining processes that ingest, clean, and organize hockey data, ensuring that the organization can leverage this information effectively to make informed decisions. In this role, the Data Engineer will manage and optimize the development and production infrastructure, which includes servers, systems, software, and workflows. They will design and implement the data infrastructure that underpins the organization's data systems, focusing on the processes for data acquisition, validation, and integration. The position also involves researching, evaluating, and integrating new data sources and technologies that can expand the organization's capabilities in analytics. Effective communication with analysts and Hockey Operations staff is essential to understand their data management and information needs, and the Data Engineer will be expected to produce documentation suitable for both internal and external communication. Additionally, the Data Engineer will contribute to the development of hockey thought and workflow optimization within the department and the broader organization. This role requires a strong team-oriented approach, aligning with the self-starting, service-oriented, and performance-driven culture of HBSE. The ideal candidate will be someone who embraces a dynamic and diversified workload, focusing on team results rather than individual accomplishments, and is eager to learn and develop within the team.

Responsibilities

• Management and optimization of the development and production infrastructure (servers, systems, software, workflow).
• Design and implementation of the data infrastructure underlying the organization's data systems, including the processes for acquisition, validation, and integration of data.
• Research, evaluation, and integration of new data sources and technologies that expand the capabilities of the organization.
• Communication with analysts and Hockey Operations staff to understand the group's data management and information needs.
• Documentation suitable for both internal and external communication.
• Contribute to the development of hockey thought and workflow optimization of the department and the holistic organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a technical discipline (computer science, engineering, etc.).
• Training in and/or experience with cloud-computing platforms (e.g. AWS, Snowflake, etc.).
• Training in and/or experience with data engineering, ETL processes, and database management (Python, SQL, dbt, etc.).
• Experience building data pipelines that support statistical analysis and machine learning.
• Experience developing data quality monitoring/alert systems for data pipelines.
• Familiarity with task orchestration and workflow automation tools such as Dagster.
• Demonstrated passion for hockey and familiarity with hockey rules and terminology.
• High attention to detail and willingness to dive deep into large datasets to identify problems.
• Independent self-starter capable of operating with minimal guidance and a commitment to continuous improvement.
• Have a growth mentality, eager to learn and develop within our team.
• Focused on team results not individual accomplishment.
• Embrace a dynamic, changing, diversified workload.

Nice-to-haves

• 3+ years professional software development experience.
• Passion for Sports and Entertainment experience in the athletic space.
• Diverse projects and experience in multiple business functions.