Football AI Fellow at San Francisco 49ers

This is a fellowship opportunity in which the Football AI fellow with use artificial intelligence, large language models, and generative AI to support four verticals within the Front Office of the San Francisco 49ers: Player Personnel, Football Technology, Coaching, and Player Performance. A successful fellowship will leverage a data-driven approach to assist stakeholders in decision-making, automating workflows, performing statistical analysis, and generating operational intelligence through new and existing AI infrastructure. The position will work closely with the Football Systems and Research & Development groups to incorporate workflows in the 49er proprietary scouting application, and will be exposed to a variety of different events associated with the football calendar, including, but not limited to, Training Camp, Roster Cut-Down day, Game Days, Free Agency, NFL Draft, and the Offseason in order to gain experience in the day-to-day operations of a professional sports front office.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Support the San Francisco Football Operations, including, but not limited to, Player Personnel, Football Technology, Coaching staff, Football R&D, and Football Administration with artificial intelligence tools and adoption
• Develop, build, improve, and deploy both new and existing AI-based applications and tools
• Generate well-documented code and participate in code review and version control processes following standardized documentation protocols
• Identify and pursue opportunities for club to incorporate artificial intelligence tools into workflows which will translate into on-field wins
• Use analytical methods to assist stakeholders in decision-making and automating of processes
• Integrate various streams of data including textual reports, tabular data, and video into easy-to-use tools, including scraping, cleaning, and maintain data ingestion
• Transform data from games and practice into actionable conclusions for scouting and coaching strategy
• Collaborate with and assist Scouting Dept with pro and college scouting processes
• Attend regular meetings with Player Personnel, Football Systems, R&D, and Coaching staff
• Stay apprised of research and analysis by partners, potential partners and 3rd party sources to then evaluate promising ideas for potential use by Club
• Work with external vendors supplying on-field performance metrics and statistics
• Create and identify useful metrics to improve analysis and projections
• Advise internal staff regarding new technological advances and other opportunities to further Club’s use of AI to make intelligent decisions
• Submit written reports, visualizations and summary data as needed
• Communicate results to management in a timely, clear, concise and efficient manner
• Other duties as assigned

Required Abilities and Skills

• Deep understanding of state-of-the-art AI tools, workflows, and generative AI to automate workflows and build tools to assist decision-making
• Ability to use logic and reasoning to evaluate information to determine how it should be best interpreted
• Ability to produce clear, concise work products from open ended assignments
• Ability to achieve planned objectives through completing relevant tasks and focus
• Ability to write clean, reproducible, and well-documented code
• Ability to create a relationship of trust and loyalty by delivering accessible, efficient, and reliable services and products for stakeholders
• Strong communication skills and ability to translate complex data into actionable insights
• Sees the value of assignments and seeks new & additional opportunities to contribute while maintaining focus on the task at hand; works efficiently, proactively and completes assignments in a timely fashion
• Has a strong desire to expand knowledge of the game of football, working in an NFL front office, and quantitative methods for analyzing sports data

Education and Experience

• Introductory understanding of the game of football
• Advanced degree (preferred) in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related quantitative field
• Expertise using cloud computing environments and associated programming languages (e.g. Python)
• Experience with Git, SQL and Microsoft Office Suite
• Experience with various statistical and machine learning techniques, as well as rationale for chosen methods

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

The employee will be sitting in a typical office environment most of the time and may be exposed to outdoor weather conditions.

The employee is frequently required to sit, use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls and reach with hands and arms. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk and lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

This position requires the ability to work extended hours and/or weekends.

Travel

0% of travel time expected for the position, outside of possibly attending conferences, etc.