Senior Data Scientist, Hockey Operations

Organization Overview: The Florida Panthers enter their 33 rd season in 2026-27 as one of the National Hockey League’s premier franchises. As back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in 2024 and 2025, the Cats have emerged victorious in 11 of their past 12 postseason series and have captured four Eastern Conference championships. The Panthers are led by President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Bill Zito entering his seventh season, and President of Business Operations Michael White who begins his first full season.

As the NHL’s southernmost team, the Panthers operate four facilities in Broward County, Florida: Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise; the Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs; the state-of-the-art Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale; and the renovated War Memorial Auditorium, which hosts concerts and events for the South Florida faithful year-round.

An organization with deep roots in the community, the Panthers are owned by Vincent J. Viola, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a veteran of the U.S. Army. Emphasizing a culture of selfless service both on and off the ice, the Panthers pillar program, “Heroes Among Us,” honors a United States military veteran at every game. The Florida Panthers Foundation focuses on four core pillars: veterans’ affairs; children’s health and education; raising awareness for the endangered Florida Panther; and growing youth hockey throughout the region. The Panthers remain committed to empowering our fans to live sustainably and to strengthen the resiliency of our diverse communities throughout Florida and the tri-county area.

Senior Data Scientist, Hockey Operations

Organization: Florida Panthers Hockey Club

Department: Hockey Operations – Research & Development

Reports To: Director of Research and Development

FLSA Status: Exempt (Salaried)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: Baptist Health IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale, FL — On-Site

Schedule: Flexibility required for evenings, weekends, and holidays during key periods of the hockey calendar (Trade Deadline, Amateur Draft, Training Camp)

Job Summary

As a Senior Data Scientist, you will be a foundational member of the R&D team responsible for driving analytical initiatives related to Hockey Operations and its supporting departments. You will build and deploy models, metrics, and tools that inform Hockey Operations decision-making and help communicate those insights clearly to stakeholders at all levels.

This role requires strong analytical depth, proficiency across the modern hockey analytics stack, and the ability to translate complex findings into compelling, actionable outputs. You will report directly to the Director of Research and Development and play a meaningful role in shaping how the organization applies data to competitive decision-making.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Build, maintain, and enhance analytical tools, metrics, and models in support of Hockey Operations' initiatives and decision-making

Create data visualizations and reports that communicate key ideas, findings, and recommendations in an accessible and compelling way for both technical and non-technical audiences

Represent R&D in discussing new projects, priorities, and analytical deliverables with coaches, scouts, and Hockey Operations decision-makers

Contribute to the mentorship and professional development of junior analysts, providing feedback, code reviews, and guidance as needed

Collaborate with analysts and engineers to ensure production-ready data products are available to decision-makers in a timely manner

Continuously evolve the organization's analytical capabilities and practices to remain at the cutting edge of hockey analytics research

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in a related technical field required; advanced degree preferred

Minimum of 3–5 years of professional experience in an analytical role, ideally within sports or a data-intensive industry

Prior experience working in hockey analytics, sports R&D, or with NHL-specific data sources preferred

Expertise in production-grade predictive modeling, machine learning, and statistical methods

Working knowledge of cloud computing, storage, and data warehousing platforms

Strong proficiency in SQL and Python for analytical modeling, data manipulation, and pipeline development

Knowledgeable in hockey analytics, NHL data sources, and the concepts that drive modern hockey evaluation; familiarity with multipoint skeletal tracking or spatiotemporal sports data is a plus

Strong communication skills — able to deliver findings clearly to Hockey Operations staff

Creative mindset, intellectual curiosity, and a desire to operate in a learning culture

Position Type / Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time exempt (salaried) position. You will be on-site at our facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, working alongside Hockey Operations staff daily. Must be able to work evenings, weekends, and holidays during key periods of the hockey schedule. At the Florida Panthers Hockey Club, Arena Operating Company, Panthers IceDen, Sanza Food Service, War Memorial Benefit Corporation, and FLA Team Shop, we strive to make every employee feel valued and respected for who they are and the unique contributions they make. We believe that a diverse and inclusive company is a more innovative and successful company, which is why we aim to infuse diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into all aspects of our culture and our business.

We welcome all to apply and join our team.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.