Job Title: Lead Data Scientist
Department: Data Science
Location: Bengaluru
About StepOut
Sports have an access problem. For decades, elite performance intelligence, tactical analysis, and scouting infrastructure have been accessible only to the top clubs. Everyone else has been left behind. StepOut is changing that.
We are building an AI-powered football intelligence platform that transforms raw match footage into structured performance data, tactical insights, and scouting intelligence using proprietary computer vision and machine learning.
We are building this from India, while our technology is being used by clubs like Real Madrid and AFC Ajax, along with leading football ecosystems across 29 countries globally.
If football means something to you beyond entertainment, this might be your place.
The Role
We’re looking for a Lead Data Scientist to help build intelligent systems that understand football at scale.
This is not a research-only role. This is not a notebook-only role.
This is an innovative builder’s role.
You will create production-grade machine learning systems that directly influence how clubs, coaches, scouts, and players make decisions.
As a lead, your role goes beyond building models. You will define technical direction, shape the data science function, mentor talent, and help create the foundations of what this team becomes.
What You’ll Do
- Build and deploy end-to-end ML systems for football intelligence products
- Translate football concepts into scalable data models, metrics, and decision systems
- Own the full ML lifecycle: experimentation, deployment, monitoring, and iteration
- Work closely with Product, Engineering, and Computer Vision teams to solve real-world problems
- Debug messy, imperfect data and design reliable analytical pipelines
- Define technical direction for the data science function
- Mentor junior team members and raise engineering and analytical standards
- Help hire and shape the future data science team
- Drive prioritization and decision-making in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
- Constantly engage in learning new and upcoming research topics and subjects in sports analytics
- Obtain a deep and implementational level understanding of established advanced analytical research areas and models
Must-Haves
- Strong ML fundamentals across supervised and unsupervised learning, experimentation, and model evaluation
- Strong Python, SQL, data analysis, and production engineering mindset
- Experience taking ML systems from idea to production
- Strong ownership, judgment, and decision-making ability
- Ability to communicate clearly with both technical and business stakeholders
Football Passion (Mandatory)
- You must actively follow football and genuinely understand the game.
- Formations, tactical systems, player roles, match flow, performance context - these should feel natural to you.
Good to Have
- Computer vision experience (YOLO, tracking, PyTorch, TensorFlow)
- Sports analytics experience
- LLM or agentic AI experience
- Public ML or football analytics work (GitHub, blogs, research)
Who Will Thrive Here
This role is for someone who sees football as more than just a sport.
Someone who debates tactics, spots patterns others miss, and gets excited by the idea of building technology that changes how the game is understood.
You’ll thrive here if you:
- Love football deeply, not casually
- Love building from scratch
- Thrive in ambiguity and move fast without waiting for perfect instructions
- Want ownership, accountability, and meaningful impact
- Get excited by the idea of your work being used by elite football organizations
- Believe technology can fundamentally reshape sport
- Want to be part of something bigger than just another job
Why StepOut
Because opportunities like this are rare.
Where else can you:
- Build cutting-edge AI for football
- Solve hard problems at the intersection of sport and technology
- Create products used by elite clubs globally
- Build a global company from India
- Shape an entire function from the ground up
- Contribute to a mission bigger than business
We are building from a country ranked 142nd in world football, with the belief that world-class football infrastructure can be built from here.
But this is bigger than software.
Our long-term dream is to help build the infrastructure that contributes to India playing in a FIFA World Cup.
If that sounds unrealistic, even better.
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
At StepOut, we are building technology that sits at the cutting edge of football and artificial intelligence. If you are ready to contribute your precision and curiosity to a team that is reshaping how the game is understood — this is your opportunity⚽
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