Technical Lead, Data Acquisition

Why UTR Sports

UTR Sports is a Silicon Valley based tech and sports high growth company that is both remote-friendly and people-driven. We are on a mission to revolutionize tennis and pickleball through technology and data. UTR Sports’ UTR Rating is the gold standard and the world’s most accurate singles and doubles rating system. Our vision is to unify racquet sports for everyone by bringing cutting edge analytics and community building technology to all players worldwide, regardless of level. We are backed by impressive investors in sports, technology and media including Amazon, Roger Federer’s Team8, Novak Djokovic, Endeavor/IMG, Tennis Channel, Tennis Australia and Larry Ellison. UTR Sports wants to work with people who are team-oriented and excellence focused.

To learn more, Watch this Video and visit www.utrsports.net.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly motivated and skilled technical lead for our Data Acquisition team to support and grow our data acquisition & data engineering initiatives. This role blends technical expertise with leadership responsibilities, making it ideal for individuals who enjoy hands-on work while guiding a talented team. UTR Sports provides a wide range of products and services, including player ratings, event management software, and a lot more. The Data Acquisition team is at the heart of many of these core products and is critical to the success and accuracy of our patented and gold-standard rating algorithms. 

Our team operates across multiple time zones, requiring a lead who excels at coordination and communication when not all team members are online. The ideal candidate will thrive in an independent work environment, demonstrating the ability to manage projects, solve problems, and drive progress autonomously. Strong communication skills are essential for success in this role. 

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership
• Design, build, and maintain robust data pipelines that run proprietary ML models and power our internal data dashboarding.
• Ensure data integrity and accuracy across all systems using SQL, Python, and .NET technologies.
• Manage the architecture and performance of data scrapers built with Python, leveraging tools like Zyte and MongoDB.
• Oversee and optimize backend services built with C#.
• Administer scheduling systems like Hangfire for job orchestration and task automation.
• Team Management
• Lead a distributed team of data engineers, coordinating projects and tasks across multiple time zones.
• Foster an environment of collaboration, ensuring clear and effective communication even when team members are not available simultaneously.
• Conduct one-on-one check-ins.
• Advocate for the team's goals and progress by liaising with leadership and other departments.
• Plan projects and allocate resources effectively to ensure successful execution.
• Collaborate across teams to deliver products used both internally and externally.

Technical Expertise

• Experience in data engineering, including designing and maintaining data pipelines and data transformation processes at scale
• Proficiency in Python and .NET (C#), with a strong foundation in SQL for data validation and analysis.
• Experience with data scraping tools like BeautifulSoup, Selenium, or Zyte.
• Experience with data storage technologies like MongoDB.
• Familiarity with scheduling tools such as Hangfire or equivalent systems.
• Experience working in a cloud-based environment (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

Leadership Skills

• Experience leading and mentoring engineering teams, balancing hands-on technical work with team management.
• Strong project management skills, including task prioritization, milestone setting, and stakeholder communication.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to coordinate effectively across distributed teams and time zones.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building backend services using .NET.
• Experience with delivering production-ready products using Azure services.
• Experience with data engineering and best practices at scale.
• Familiarity with Docker, Terraform, Data Lakehouse, Apache Iceberg, Spark, Databricks

What we Offer:

A reasonable estimate of the current base salary range is $150,000 to $175,000 plus an equity compensation package. The final base salary for this role will take into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to: skill sets, experience and training and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic location differential associated with where the position will be filled.

Universal Tennis is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA but this position is fully remote, US-based. In addition to salary and equity compensation, we offer flexible working hours and generous PTO. Our other benefits include:

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k)
• Paid Time Off (Unlimited Vacation & Sick plus Public Holidays)
• Short Term & Long Term Disability and Life Insurance
• Work From Home

We are an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity. We are committed to an inclusive environment. All candidates will be considered on the basis of qualifications, merit and business needs without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, non-qualifying mental or physical disability, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.