Director, Research and Innovation

The National Football League (NFL) is seeking an innovative, self-driven, technology-focused Director to join the Player Health & Safety department. This role will drive strategies to decrease player injuries and enhance the safety of the game, collaborating closely with the NFL Data & Analytics team on technology initiatives.

About the role

The Director will oversee the Digital Athlete program, an AI-backed platform created through a partnership between the NFL and AWS. This platform aggregates data from various sources to create a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the player’s on-field experience. The role involves defining strategic roadmaps for leveraging sports injury data to improve health within and beyond the NFL. The ideal candidate will balance day-to-day execution of scientific research and product innovations with synthesizing progress into actionable recommendations for senior leadership.

The Player Health & Safety team collaborates across the League to execute gameday medical operations and develop research and innovation strategies to reduce injuries and keep players healthy. This role joins the NFL at a pivotal time, with unprecedented investments in medical research, biomechanical engineering, epidemiology, and data analytics to accelerate science and identify new injury prevention and treatment technologies.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the Digital Athlete program, participating in the development of methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria.
• Contribute to programmatic strategic planning and budgeting for research-focused scientific and technological roadmaps.
• Collaborate with internal NFL cross-functional teams (particularly Data & Analytics), engineering and epidemiology consulting teams, and AWS team leads to ensure alignment on strategy, integration, and delivery of tasks and milestones.
• Collaborate with vendors and external sources for software, equipment, and analytics research involved in injury reduction.
• Manage budget and resource allocation.
• Create and conduct presentations of overall program progress, metrics, and contingency plans via status reports and management communication.
• Lead various innovation initiatives to develop new technologies and approaches to player training.
• Synthesize research results and data to make recommendations for actionable insights or future innovations to senior leadership.
• Liaise between the NFL League Office and NFL Clubs’ medical, training, and sports science personnel.
• Triage feedback from Clubs and vendors; provide vendor and internal support to ensure timely response to critical issues.
• Work collaboratively with company partners in IT, data & analytics, finance, marketing, sponsorship, management council, and football operations.
• Maintain a proactive view of the global sports injury reduction research and innovation space.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree strongly preferred.
• Minimum 10+ years of industry-relevant experience.
• Strong experience leading projects in matrixed organizations, including managing timelines, budgets, and stakeholder alignment.
• Proven people management skills.
• Advanced analytical and technological acumen, with experience in data analysis, technical program management, and/or DevOps.
• Demonstrated excellence in collaborating with others to achieve desired outcomes.
• Communication skills (written and verbal) effective with large and small audiences, including executive-level storytelling and strategic briefings.
• A style that is open to change and innovation, with an ability to delegate yet control, set high standards, and work collaboratively to implement change.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AWS cloud computing software.
• Experience leading technology, innovation, and analytics-based projects in professional or collegiate sports, or sports injury-related fields.

Skills

• Lives the mission, vision, culture, and values of the NFL.
• Unquestionable integrity, with an ability to command respect both within and outside the organization.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to persuade and negotiate effectively and be politically savvy.
• Recognized as a great listener, learner, and strategic contributor.
• Ability to identify innovation opportunities and incorporate them into ongoing work.
• Leadership style that builds and maintains a climate of caring, respect, and trust, inspiring commitment to achieve organizational goals.
• A strong sense of urgency and a bias for action in making sound decisions based on analysis, experience, judgment, and personal/business maturity.

Schedule

• NFL employees are required to work 40 hours per week in the New York office.
• This role will require time in excess of 40 hours per week and weekends.
• Travel: 20%.
• FLSA Exempt.

Pay

Salary range: $135,000—$170,000 USD. The NFL expects to hire for this position near the middle of the range. Only in truly rare and exceptional circumstances, where an external candidate has experience, credentials, or expertise that far exceed those required or expected for the position, would the NFL consider paying a salary or rate near the higher end of the range.

Benefits

To learn more about our comprehensive benefits offerings, please visit: NFL BENEFITS.

This role requires onsite presence at an NFL office or stadium location; remote and/or hybrid working options are not offered. No relocation assistance will be provided.