Freelance Component Engineer Jobs in Atlanta, GA

Department: Operations - Basketball
Contract: Full-time
Salary: $57,500 base salary
Location: Atlanta, GA (Hybrid)
Start Date: Early-Mid September
Role and Team Overview
As our Basketball Technology Coordinator, you'll be an essential part of the team keeping roughly 60 optical tracking systems running smoothly across the NBA, G-League, and WNBA. You'll split your time between hands-on hardware quality assurance, mentoring system operators, traveling to arenas across North America, and supporting live games directly from our Atlanta HQ.
Working closely with our Basketball Leadership group, you will troubleshoot real-time hardware and software issues, dynamically shifting your focus as operational priorities evolve throughout the season.
We will equip you with comprehensive training, ongoing support, and full exposure to our proprietary systems - giving you a strong foundation to grow your career and make a lasting impact on what we do.
Key Responsibilities

• Operational Quality & System Readiness: Accountable for the live data quality of our NBA and G-League Tracking Systems. Oversee pre-game checks in accordance with standard procedures and verify system readiness for assigned games.
• Live Operations Supervision: Assist and remotely oversee game technology operations from the Atlanta office. Act as the primary point of contact for operators, providing day-to-day communication, live operational support, and feedback.
• Hardware Quality Assurance (HQA) & Field Support: Execute day-to-day HQA tasks at the direction of the Basketball Management Team. Travel as needed for system calibrations, installations, hardware maintenance, and replay deliveries.
• Issue Escalation & Resolution: Identify potential operational and technical issues in real time. Work with the Basketball Leadership group to escalate live operational hardware anomalies and find quick, effective solutions.
• Process & Workflow Optimization: Proactively implement workflow changes to improve operational effectiveness across the operator pool and communicate system updates clearly.
• Operator Mentorship & Training: Act as a mentor to select Live Operations team members. Focus on building operator system knowledge and identifying knowledge gaps to deliver targeted feedback.
• Stakeholder & Arena Coordination: Coordinate actions across arenas, ensure complete follow-up and issue resolution, and maintain clear, professional external communication.

What Does A Typical Week Look Like?
Office / Warehouse Week:

• Attending daily Root Cause Analysis (RCA) calls and taking hardware-related action items.
• Ensuring clear execution plans are in place to resolve open hardware issues.
• Prepping and dispatching hardware directly from the warehouse.
• Coordinating with local freelancers in destination cities to receive shipments, then guiding them remotely (via Slack, phone, or FaceTime) to ensure hardware issues are resolved accurately.

Travel Week:

• There could be weeks where you are entirely on the road for a stretch, hitting one or multiple Basketball sites.
• These trips could consist of lighter maintenance, heavier hardware swaps, camera adjustments / moves, rack moves, calibration trips, and more!

Essential Skills, Attributes, and Requirements
Essentials

• In-Depth Basketball Knowledge: Comprehensive understanding of basketball operations, officiating, terminology, and workflows.
• Leadership & Mentorship: Strong leadership, time management, and interpersonal skills with a desire to mentor operators and guide team performance.
• Technical Troubleshooting & Operations: Previous experience in a similar role within live sports operations or sports technology. Proven ability to prioritize, troubleshoot high-priority issues, and escalate when necessary.
• Physical Capability: Comfort performing physical labor, including lifting, racking, and transporting hardware and servers weighing up to 50 lbs.
• Professional Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical ideas clearly and logically to external clients and arena staff.
• Software Proficiency: Proficient with project management platforms (e.g., ClickUp) and presentation/data software (e.g., Google Slides, Google Sheets).
• Technical & Hardware Aptitude: Comfortable assembling PC components, troubleshooting hardware, and understanding basic IP networking and connectivity.
• Schedule & Travel Flexibility: Ability to work a highly flexible schedule-including late nights, weekends, and holidays-and a willingness to travel for on-site support, calibrations, and installs as business needs dictate.

Desirables

• Live Broadcast/A/V: Familiarity with live sports production environments or broadcast engineering setups.

What Difficulties Might I Face?
Up to this point, while there may be many things that you find intriguing about this role, the difficulties you may face should not be ignored.

• Unpredictable Travel: Travel is a core component of this position. Trips can arise on short notice, requiring quick planning, booking, and execution of on-site maintenance.
• Off-Hours Escalation: You will serve as an escalation point for our Operations team when hardware issues occur. Because live games happen on evenings, weekends, and holidays, being available to support your team during in-season game windows is a core expectation of the role.

Team Culture
At Hawk-Eye, we pride ourselves on a collaborative, high-performance culture where trust, passion, and innovation thrive. We believe in fostering an environment where every team member is empowered to push boundaries and contribute to the future of sports technology. Our work is guided by three core values:

• We are Brave: We challenge the status quo, embrace big ideas, and constantly seek new ways to innovate in the sports entertainment industry. We aren't afraid to take risks in pursuit of excellence.
• We are Owners: We take personal accountability for our work, our decisions, and our collective success. We celebrate our wins together and treat every challenge as an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve.
• We are Inclusive: We believe our diversity makes us stronger. We cultivate a welcoming environment where unique perspectives are valued, all while being united by our shared love for sports and technology.