We have a fantastic new opportunity to join our team at Smartodds as a Quantitative Analyst - Football.
Based in North London, Smartodds provides in-depth research and analysis on sporting events around the world, supported by world-class, bespoke software platforms. We are proud of our collaborative and dynamic culture, grounded in our core values of Boldness, Open-mindedness, Ownership, and Togetherness. We are a supportive and collaborative team - our environment is open, inclusive, and focused on doing great work together.
About the role As a Quant Analyst, you will be responsible for providing clients with predictions for football outcomes across various betting markets. This role combines rigorous statistical modelling with production engineering. You will take models from research through to deployment, writing well-tested, documented code that integrates into our internal libraries. The atmosphere is collaborative and academic - peer reviews, research talks, and further education opportunities - but unlike academia, the market performance provides immediate feedback on model quality. This makes the job challenging but also very exciting.
You will have plenty of autonomy to execute your models from idea to code to validation to (hopefully) deployment. However, this autonomy operates within a structured framework: established coding patterns, weekly check-ins, high test coverage, and strict reproducibility standards.
We highly value the personal development of our team members and you will therefore be able to allocate dedicated time to improve your skills and gain the necessary experience that will enable you to progress into more senior roles.
While we are open to applications from anyone who meets the minimum requirements, we would be especially keen to hear from applicants with substantial research experience and a demonstrable passion for football analytics.
Key Responsibilities Contribute to identifying promising research directions; ensuring research is carried out to the highest standard.
Extend existing predictive models for football and develop new ones, aligned with the needs of clients and the business.
Own and execute the relevant research projects, providing updates and estimates for delivery.
Contribute to discussions and efforts to identify weaknesses and potential improvements in existing models across all sports.
Contribute to the review of the work and code of others within the team.
Develop and maintain software that supports the delivery of our model predictions, and the mathematical libraries behind our range of tools, providing updates and estimates for delivery.
Attend at least one event a year to support your professional development as a sports quant analyst: conferences, courses, meet-ups, networking events; in-person or remotely; on sports, statistics, machine learning, gambling, etc.
Skills & Experience
Required
Technical
Either :
MSc in Statistics or a related field (e.g., Data Science or Mathematics) with 3+ years of relevant work experience (e.g. sports quantitative analyst for a club, betting syndicate, or bookmaker. Or,
PhD or equivalent in Statistics or a related field (e.g. Data Science, Mathematics).
Candidates from adjacent fields (Computer Science, Engineering, Finance) are welcome via either route, provided they have solid applied statistics experience.
Applied statistics: Solid understanding of GAMs and GLMs.
Model diagnostics: Ability to evaluate predictive model performance using appropriate metrics, quantify and communicate predictive uncertainty.
Strong programming skills in a high-level language such as R (preferred) or Python. Must write production-quality code not just analysis scripts.
Clear written communication and documentation (including mathematical), can implement formulas from specs and code from formulas.
Working style
Collaborative team player, with a constructive approach to receiving and applying feedback.
Understands the importance of reproducible research…