Executive Director, Research & Development (Basketball Operations)

About the role

The Executive Director, Research & Development will serve as a key member within Basketball Operations. This position is responsible for the leadership, strategic direction, and integration of all analytics, research and data-driven functions within the organization. Additionally, this position will structure and oversee the Bulls’ Research & Development department, direct the data infrastructure and systems that support the department, and serve as a primary advisor to Basketball Operations leadership on analytics insights. We are seeking a strategic leader who combines technical expertise, intellectual curiosity, and a passion for basketball. The ideal candidate is an open-minded learner, an effective communicator and a collaborative leader who can guide both people and ideas. This individual will have the technical ability to lead advanced research and development initiatives while translating complex concepts into actionable insights for decision-makers across Basketball Operations. As a builder and innovator, they will foster an organizational culture that embraces analytics, identify opportunities for competitive advantage and establish the priorities, systems, and team needed to drive long-term success.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Bulls’ Research & Development department
• Serve as a primary advisor to senior leadership on analytics insights
• Recruit, develop, and retain a diverse, high-performing group of specialists, and build a team culture centered on curiosity, intentionality, and impact
• Continuously scan existing and emerging research for competitive advantages the organization can capture, and build the operational processes needed to put those advantages into practice
• Set clear goals, priorities, and performance metrics for the Research & Development department, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives
• Establish a structured process for project prioritization, balancing long-term research with short-term operational needs
• Lead the buildout of predictive models and decision-support tools that inform how the team acquires, deploys, and develops players
• Surface new research directions, whether from existing data, newly acquired sources, or data synthesized across systems, and carry the most promising ones from concept through to a functional tool
• Partner with other leaders and departments to ensure that research outcomes translate directly into competitive advantages on the court
• Direct the creation and evolution of internal data infrastructure, web applications, and workflows that enable advantage-seeking research and decision-making at scale
• Oversee engineering efforts to ensure clean data pipelines, intuitive user interfaces, and seamless integration across Basketball Operations
• Design and implement organizational strategies around the use of agentic tools in Research & Development, simultaneously balancing system reliability, decision-making accuracy, and security
• Partner closely with stakeholders across Basketball Operations including Coaching, Player Development, Performance, and Scouting to embed Research & Development outputs into day-to-day decision-making
• Facilitate regular communication and collaboration between Research & Development and coaching/on-court staff, ensuring research insights are practical, timely, and actionable
• Translate technical concepts into clear narratives and presentations for all audiences

Requirements

• Master’s or Ph.D. in Statistics, Data Science, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, or equivalent practical quantitative research experience
• Experience with high-stakes decision