Dev Opportunity Radar #24: $100K NFL Big Data Bowl, $125K Mozilla Fellowships, and Cursor Ambassador Program

TL;DR

Welcome back to Dev Opportunity Radar!

This is a weekly series where I share opportunities, resources, communities, and interesting finds that I come across, with the goal of helping people discover things they might otherwise miss.

This week's edition features the NFL Big Data Bowl 2027, a football analytics competition with a total prize pool of $100,000; the Cursor Ambassador Program for developers interested in supporting and growing the Cursor community; and the Mozilla Foundation Fellowships 2027–2028, offering selected fellows up to $125,000 in funding. I'm also sharing Stanford CS221: Artificial Intelligence – Principles and Techniques, a free YouTube lecture series covering the foundations of AI, from machine learning and search to reinforcement learning, language models, and more.

If you're new to the series, you can browse previous editions, search past opportunities, and explore Community Finds, Reader Updates, and Resources Worth Checking Out on the Dev Opportunity Radar website. I've also written a short post about why I built it. You'll find links to both at the end of this article.

If you've discovered something through the Radar, I'd love to hear about it. Whether you applied to an opportunity, joined a community, completed a program, or found a resource you hadn't seen before, I'd be happy to feature your experience in a future 💙 Reader Updates section, with your permission.

And if you've come across an opportunity, resource, community, program, or event that deserves more attention, feel free to share it in the comments.

If I feature one of your Community Finds in a future edition, I'll always make sure to credit you. If you discovered it, that recognition belongs to you.

Table of Contents

• ⚡ Quick Scan
• 🔄 Still Open From Previous Editions
• 📍 This Week's Opportunities
  • 📌 NFL Big Data Bowl 2027
  • 📌 Cursor Ambassador Program
  • 📌 Mozilla Foundation Fellowships 2027–2028
• 📚 Resources Worth Checking Out
  • Stanford CS221: Artificial Intelligence – Principles and Techniques
• 🌟 Community Finds
• 💙 Reader Updates
• 👋 Until Next Friday
• 🌐 Dev Opportunity Radar Website

⚡ Quick Scan

Opportunities

Resource Highlight

📝 A quick note: I spend a lot of time researching and reviewing the opportunities I feature in Dev Opportunity Radar. However, deadlines, eligibility, program details, and application requirements can change after publication. Before applying, please visit the official program page, review the latest information, and confirm that you're eligible.

🔄 Still Open From Previous Editions

Before we get into this week's opportunities, here are a few from the two most recent editions that are still accepting applications or submissions.

As the Radar has grown, there are now quite a few opportunities spread across the different editions. I used to keep all the still-open opportunities here, but I don't think repeating a long list every week makes the editions easier to read.

So I keep this section to the two most recent editions as a quick reminder of opportunities you may have missed. Older opportunities are still available on the Dev Opportunity Radar website, where you can browse the collection and use the filters to find something specific.

I've already covered these opportunities in detail, so I won't repeat everything here. If any of them catch your attention, you can go back to the original edition for the full overview, eligibility details, and application links.

Please check the original editions for complete details and confirm that each opportunity is still accepting applications or submissions before proceeding.

📍 This Week's Opportunities

Here are a few opportunities I came across this week that I thought were worth sharing.

📌 NFL Big Data Bowl 2027

Who it's for: Data scientists, students, developers, and sports analytics enthusiasts interested in football data, statistics, and machine learning.

What it's about:

The NFL Big Data Bowl 2027 challenges participants to find connections between athletes' movements during the NFL Scouting Combine and their performance in regular-season NFL games.

Participants will get access to player-tracking data captured by sensors during Combine drills, alongside tracking data from regular-season games. The goal is to uncover useful patterns that could help teams evaluate players and better understand how their movement translates to on-field performance.

You could explore areas such as route running, change of direction, acceleration, agility, or how sensor-based measurements compare with traditional Combine tests. Participants are encouraged to focus on a specific position, drill, or aspect of movement rather than analysing everything.

There are two tracks: the Open Track, which has no entry restrictions, and the University Track, which is only for individuals or teams made up entirely of undergraduate students. Both have separate $45,000 prize pools. Finalists will also be invited to present their work at the 2027 NFL Scouting Combine, where an additional $10,000 Grand Prize will be awarded.

Submissions must connect Combine tracking data with regular-season performance and include a clear write-up and a public Kaggle notebook. The write-up must be no more than 2,000 words and contain fewer than 10 tables or figures.

Total prize pool: $100,000

Open Track: $45,000

University Track: $45,000 (undergraduate students only)

Grand Prize: Additional $10,000 for an invited finalist

Format: Online

Submission deadline: January 6, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. UTC

Anticipated results: January 26, 2027

Explore the NFL Big Data Bowl 2027 on Kaggle

📌 Cursor Ambassador Program

Who it's for: Developers and community members who enjoy helping others get started with Cursor and bringing people together.

What it's about:

The Cursor Ambassador Program, whose application form is titled Build and Bot Ambassador Applications, gives community members an opportunity to help more people discover and use the products.

Ambassadors can help new users get started, organize community meetups, hackathons, and workshops, share feedback directly with the team, and help keep community spaces welcoming and active.

The programme offers benefits such as early access to new features, free credits for personal use, funding for community events, stickers and merchandise, moderation permissions in forums, and access to a private Slack group.

There are limited spots available, and the application page doesn't mention a closing date.

What you'll do: Help users, organize events, share product feedback, and support the community

Benefits: Early access, free credits, event funding, merchandise, and private Slack access

Applications: Open (no closing date specified)

Apply to the Cursor Ambassador Program

📌 Mozilla Foundation Fellowships 2027–2028

Who it's for: Builders, technologists, and researchers who have already worked on meaningful projects and want to take their work further.

What it's about:

Mozilla Foundation is accepting applications for its 2027–2028 Fellowship, with 10 fellowships available for a 12-month period.

You might remember the Human-Scale AI Incubator from last week's edition. This is a separate Mozilla programme. While the Incubator supports existing AI projects with early product-community fit, these Fellowships support individual builders working on ambitious technology projects across a wider range of areas.

There are two tracks:

• Embedded Fellows: For rising mid-career builders who have already shipped meaningful work. Fellows work with one of five host organizations on a specific community challenge. The funding is $100,000, split between a $75,000 stipend and a $25,000 project budget.
• Independent Fellows: For senior, established innovators with a strong record of independent work. Fellows develop their own projects in one of the programme's focus areas. The funding is $125,000, split between a $100,000 stipend and a $25,000 project budget.

The focus areas include neurotechnology, biotechnology, physical AI, computing and energy infrastructure, AI, security and auditing tools, sovereign AI, and new business models for the web. There's also a Creative Advocacy track for one Fellow and a Wildcard option for work outside the listed areas.

Applicants should be able to show something they've already built, such as a repository, demo, dataset, deployment, or research work. Projects should have a clear public benefit and be achievable within the 12-month period. Creative Advocacy is the exception to the existing-work requirement.

A few eligibility details are worth checking. The Embedded track has specific host-country and time-zone requirements, with host organizations in Chile, Germany, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the United States. The Independent track is intended for senior-level applicants. Applicants must also be legally able to receive Mozilla Foundation funding, and their projects must have a charitable purpose.

Number of Fellowships: 10

Duration: 12 months, starting June 1, 2027

Format: Remote, with travel for key programme events

Letter of Intent deadline: December 17, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (December 18, 1:29 p.m. IST)

Full application deadline: March 12, 2027 (shortlisted applicants only)

The first step is submitting a Letter of Intent. Only shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a full application, with invitations expected on February 16, 2027.

If you've already built something in one of these areas and are considering taking it further, this could be worth a look. There's still time to go through the focus areas, host organizations, and eligibility requirements before applying.

Explore the Mozilla Foundation Fellowships | Full RFP | Application FAQs

📚 Resources Worth Checking Out

Not every useful find comes with an application deadline.

Here's one resource worth checking out this week.

Stanford CS221: Artificial Intelligence – Principles and Techniques

Who it's for: Students, developers, and anyone interested in understanding the foundations of artificial intelligence and how AI systems work.

What it's about:

Stanford's CS221: Artificial Intelligence – Principles and Techniques is a lecture series covering the fundamental concepts behind artificial intelligence, with a focus on the mathematical principles and techniques used to solve real-world problems.

The Autumn 2025 playlist contains 20 lectures covering topics such as machine learning, search algorithms, game playing, Markov decision processes, reinforcement learning, Bayesian networks, logic, and language models.

It also includes lectures on AI and Society and AI Supply Chains, offering a look at some of the broader topics surrounding artificial intelligence.

If you're looking to build a stronger foundation in AI or explore the concepts behind modern AI systems, this is a useful resource to work through at your own pace.

Format: Free YouTube lecture series

Lectures: 20

University: Stanford University

Course: CS221, Autumn 2025

Watch the Stanford CS221 Lecture Series on YouTube

🌟 Community Finds

One of my favorite things about this series has been seeing people share opportunities, communities, and resources that others might not have discovered otherwise.

We've had some really wonderful community finds over the last few weeks, and I honestly can't thank everyone enough for taking the time to find these opportunities, look through them, and send them my way. I know that takes time, and I appreciate every person who thinks of the Radar when they come across something they feel others might find useful 💙

This week, we weren't able to include a community find, but that's completely okay. Hopefully we'll have more wonderful finds from the community as we keep going.

So if you come across an opportunity, fellowship, grant, hackathon, conference, community, resource, or anything else you think more people should know about, please do send it my way. I love seeing what you find, and it helps make this series better for everyone.

If I feature something you shared in a future edition, I'll always make sure to credit you. If you discovered it, that recognition belongs to you.

One small request: If you're sharing an opportunity, please avoid posting raw URLs directly in the comments. DEV sometimes filters them before I get a chance to see them.

A short description alongside the link makes it much easier for me to review and potentially feature it in a future edition.

💙 Reader Updates

I'm looking forward to this section gradually growing over time, and I'd still love to hear from you.

One of my favorite parts of writing Dev Opportunity Radar has been hearing from people who discovered something they otherwise might have missed.

If you discovered an opportunity through the radar, applied to something, joined a community, attended an event, or simply found a resource you hadn't seen before, I'd genuinely love to hear about it.

You don't need to have been accepted or have a big success story to share. Sometimes simply discovering the right opportunity at the right time is already a win.

If you'd like to share an update, feel free to leave a comment on this edition. With your permission, I may feature it in a future 💙 Reader Updates section and tag you so other readers can celebrate your journey too.

I hope this section gradually becomes a place where we can celebrate those stories together, one update at a time.

👋 Until Next Friday

Before I go, I just want to say thank you.

Every week, I spend time searching for opportunities, resources, and communities that I think deserve a little more attention. But one of my favorite parts of this series isn't the research. It's seeing what happens after an edition is published.

Seeing someone discover an opportunity, apply to a program, share a resource, suggest a Community Find, or come back to tell us what they learned reminds me why I started Dev Opportunity Radar in the first place.

The goal has always been simple:

Help people discover opportunities they otherwise might have missed.

Thanks to all of you, it feels like we're doing exactly that.

Whether you've been reading since the very first edition or this is your first time here, thank you for being part of the journey. Every comment, suggestion, and shared opportunity helps make this series better than I could build on my own.

If you ever come across an opportunity, resource, event, community, or anything else you think deserves more attention, I'd love for you to share it in the comments. And if Dev Opportunity Radar helped you discover something exciting, I'd love to hear that too.

Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for helping make this our radar, not just mine.

I'll be back next Friday with more opportunities, resources, and Community Finds.

Until then, take care, and I hope you discover something amazing this week 💙

🌐 Dev Opportunity Radar Website

If this is your first time discovering the series, you can explore every edition, browse opportunities by category, discover Community Finds, and catch up on Reader Updates on the Dev Opportunity Radar website.

👉 Website

I also wrote a short post about why I built the website and the journey behind it.

👉 Website Launch Post