Sports Scientist/Performance Assistant (GSV)

Golden State • Oakland, CA

7d • $75,000 - $85,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Golden State Valkyries are looking for a Sports Scientist/Performance Assistant who will collaborate across the full player performance continuum by bridging strength and conditioning, readiness monitoring and advance analytics. To be successful in this role, you will have extensive experience translating data from multiple sources (athlete load-monitoring platforms, strength and performance diagnostics, athlete-management systems, game analytics) into actionable insights. You will oversee and drive the end-to-end data lifecycle: from data collection, cleaning, processing and modeling to create dynamic dashboards and actionable reports that inform training and rehabilitation teams to make recovery, readiness and return-to-play (RTP) decisions. You will collaborate with strength and conditioning, medical, and performance to embed evidence-based, scalable decision-making frameworks This is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise while learning more about this growing sports and entertainment organization that values your initiative and dedication! This is full-time position located in Oakland, CA with frequent travel to San Francisco.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in sports science, exercise science physiology, kinesiology, human performance or closely related field
• 3+ years applied experience in a professional or elite sports organization, preferably within basketball (or comparable team sport)
• 7+ years of leadership experience in performance science, analytics or multi-disciplinary integration
• Proven proficiency in athlete monitoring systems and technologies (e.g., GPS/IMU platforms, force plates/power diagnostics, wellness platforms) and experience delivering load/ recovery/ readiness monitoring frameworks
• Extensive programming and data-analytics experience and ability to work with coding languages and tools such as Python and/or R, SQL
• Experience with data visualization/dashboard tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Shiny, and/or custom web app or similar data cleaning/processing and statistical analysis
• Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills with the ability to earn athlete and staff trust, present complex findings in clear formats and collaborate across multiple stakeholders
• Statistical modeling and advanced quantitative methods such as regression, time-series, Bayesian inference, causal inference, machine-learning models for prediction (e.g., load-response modelling)
• Ability to work flexible hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays

Nice To Haves

• PhD in applied sport science, human performance, biomechanics, analytics or data science highly preferred
• Certification in Strength & Conditioning (e.g., National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) CSCS or equivalent) highly preferred
• Certification in Performance & Sport Science (e.g., NSCA CPSS or equivalent) higly preferred

Responsibilities

• Create, implement and manage the data pipeline for athlete performance monitoring: ingesting data from IMU wearables, athlete management systems (AMS), strength and power diagnostics, force plates, sport technology, rehab/medical metrics and game/practice statistics
• Clean, validate and merge heterogeneous datasets to develop processes and ensure data integrity, timeliness and consistency
• Conduct exploratory and advanced analysis to evaluate athlete-workload relationships, readiness, fatigue/recovery status, injury-risk indicators, return-to-play benchmarks and performance outcomes
• Build, maintain and monitor dynamic dashboards and interactive visualizations via Power BI, Tableau, or custom web apps that deliver meaningful performance insights and training to coaches, performance medical staff and athletes
• Translate quantitative findings into clear, practical recommendations to inform training design, recovery strategies, competition readiness, and player availability decisions
• Lead applied sport-science research and continuous improvement by reviewing emerging literature, validate new monitoring technologies, pilot novel metrics and integrate them into operational frameworks
• Provide leadership to drive culture change toward a data-empowered performance environment and facilitate education and training of staff and ensure data becomes embedded in decision-making
• Maintain professional standards including strict confidentiality of athlete data, ensure ethical use of data, comply with relevant data protection/regulation (e.g., GDPR) and support regular review of processes and tools
• Assist Head of Strength and Conditioning as needed

Benefits

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental and Vision benefits for employees and dependents
• Employer 401K match
• Vacation and a generous paid time off plan for pregnancy and parental leaves
• Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
• Golden State is an equal opportunity employer.
• We will ensure that qualified applicants with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees