Director, Data Science and Engineering - #9857

Company Overview
As a global leader in licensed sports merchandise, Fanatics is building the leading global digital sports platform and changing the way fans purchase their favorite team apparel, jerseys, headwear and hardgoods through an innovative, tech-infused approach to making and quickly distributing fan gear in today’s 24/7 mobile-first economy. Operating multi-channel commerce for the world's biggest sports brands, Fanatics offers the largest collection of timeless and timely merchandise whether shopping online, on your phone, in flagship stores, in stadiums or on-site at the world's biggest sporting events. Through Fanatics’ innovative commerce capabilities and cutting-edge tech platform, the company has assembled one of the best databases of fans globally which is now being leveraged across the broader sports ecosystem to build new, large-scale digital sports businesses outside of merchandise. Fanatics is the majority owner of Candy Digital, a next generation digital collectibles company that is partnering with prominent sports properties - including MLB and MLBPA - to build an official NFT ecosystem where fans and collectors come to purchase, trade and share officially licensed NFT’s. Additional ventures that will build out Fanatics’ footprint across the broader digital sports landscape will be announced in the coming months.  Fanatics’ partners include all major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, MLS, PGA) and hundreds of collegiate and professional teams, which include several of the biggest global soccer clubs.  In addition to e-commerce, the capabilities of Fanatics include omnichannel-integrated physical retail operations across a broad portfolio of flagship stores, team retail and special events; international capabilities that provide a global sports retail platform; and an in-house merchandise and manufacturing division that is a licensed partner of professional and collegiate teams and helps fans express passion through a broad range of apparel and non-apparel products created under the Fanatics, Nike, Top of the World, Majestic and WinCraft brands. As a market leader with more than 8,000 employees and over 300 partners, suppliers, and vendors in 11 countries, we take responsibility for driving toward more ethical and sustainable practices. We are committed to building an inclusive Fanatics community, reflecting and representing society at every level of the business, including our employees, vendors, partners and fans.  Fanatics is also dedicated to making a positive impact in the communities where we all live, work and play through strategic philanthropic initiatives. At Fanatics, we’re a diverse, passionate group of employees aiming to ignite pride and passion in the fans we outfit, celebrate and support.  We recognize that diversity helps drive and foster innovation, and through our IDEA program (inclusion, diversity, equality and advocacy) at Fanatics we provide employees with tools and resources to feel connected and engaged in who they are and what they do to support the ultimate fan experience.     
About the Team
Fanatics is first and foremost a technology company. We are powered by cutting-edge tech created by our small agile teams using the latest tools and technologies under our highly analytical, forward thinking, and open-minded leadership. As the global leader in licensed sports merchandise, we challenge ourselves by improving our new fully responsive NodeJS cloud commerce platform, Elasticsearch engine, and deep data science capabilities while building the best-in-class retail manufacturing and supply chain technologies. Our tech teams work together to revolutionize data science and engineering initiatives, provide highly scalable real-time and streaming platforms, and create secure e-commerce and in-stadium fan experience products. Our own e-commerce platform transacts in over 190 countries, 17 languages, and 14 currencies. Our motto is “#GSD”—get stuff done—and we do just that. If you want to be at the nexus of sports, commerce, and technology, come be a part of our industry-leading team here at Fanatics Tech.
At Fanatics, we are passionate about leveraging data, ML and AI to drive growth and operational efficiencies. We firmly believe in putting data at the forefront of delivering an engaging experience for our sports fans! 
Fanatics Inc. is looking for highly motivated leader to lead our Marketing Data Science and Engineering team. You will collaborate closely with marketing business unit, analytics team, other ML Engineers, Software engineers, PMs, cross functional business units to address challenging problems using techniques from applied statistics, machine learning and/or data mining fields. 
Job Responsibilities 
-   Define the research vision for data science, and oversee planning, resources, and prioritization to make sure the team is advancing that roadmap. Deliver on concrete work that advances that roadmap.-     Define standards and establish the processes and frameworks for continuous monitoring and improvements, build and help building new models or calibrate existing ones, run experiments and share findings with broader teams-  Engage internal and external stakeholders to identify intelligence gaps and develop innovative solutions to close identified gaps, in addition to being on the lookout in industry’s ongoing trends in AI and Machine Learning
- Experience identifying and solving major architectural problems for building and deploying analytical solutions. Extend, improve, or, when needed, build solutions to address architectural gaps or technical debt. 
Job Requirements 
- Use analytical skills to identify growth & optimization opportunities, effectively gather & analyze marketing channel performance using large datasets, and use data to inform business decisions-  Models and algorithms for marketing  ROI optimization and drive growth- Strong algorithmic thinking and passion for empirical research to answer hard questions.- Ability to communicate complex quantitative analysis, analytic approaches and findings in a clear, precise, and actionable manner.- Designing and evaluating A|B experiments and monitoring key product metrics, understanding root causes of changes in metrics- Strong communication skills - Ability to build strong working relationships with peers, internal and external customers and management- Detail-oriented, with strong analytical, technical and problem-solving skills
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Statistics, Machine Learning, Applied Math, Operational Research, Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence or equivalent combination of education and experience equivalent. MS/PhD in relevant fields strongly preferred.- Relevant work experience in leadership position and leading data science teamsTryouts are open at Fanatics! Our team is passionate, talented, unified, and charged with creating the fan experience of tomorrow. The ball is in your court now.
Ensure your Fanatics job offer is legitimate and don’t fall victim to fraud.  Fanatics never seeks payment from job applicants.  Fanatics recruiters will only reach out to applicants from an @fanatics.com or @fanatics.co.uk email address.  For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at www.fanaticsinc.com/careers
Fanatics is committed to responsible planning and purchasing (RPP) practices, working with its business partners across its global and multi-layered supply chain, to ensure that planning, sourcing, and purchasing decisions, along with other supporting processes, do not impede or conflict with the fulfillment of Fanatics’ fair labor practices.
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS/APPLICANTS: In connection with your application, we collect information that identifies, reasonably relates to or describes you (“Personal Information”). The categories of Personal Information that we collect include your name, government issued identification number(s), email address, mailing address, other contact information, emergency contact information, employment history, educational history, criminal record, and demographic information.  We collect and use those categories of Personal Information about you for human resources and other business management purposes, including identifying and evaluating you as a candidate for potential or future employment or future contract positions, recordkeeping in relation to recruiting and hiring, conducting criminal background checks as permitted by law, conducting analytics, and ensuring compliance with applicable legal requirements and Company policies.