We are excited to be recruiting an England Women's Talent Pathway Medical Lead to play a key role in supporting the safe, effective and inclusive delivery of the Talent Pathway for players aged 13-16.

This is a brilliant opportunity for a physiotherapist or sports therapist with strong clinical, organisational and people-management skills to help shape and strengthen medical provision across a growing national programme.

The England Women's Talent Pathway identifies and supports talented young players with the potential to progress towards future England teams. As the pathway continues to expand, this role will provide dedicated medical leadership across national and regional activity, helping to ensure players and staff are supported in safe, high-quality environments.

This is a part time role, (0.8FTE) and is a fixed term contract that will run until March 2029. National travel will be required.

Please note that interviews will be held at The National Football Centre, St. George's Park on Wednesday 22nd July 2026.

What will you be doing?

• Lead the planning, coordination and delivery of evidence-based physiotherapy and medical provision across the England Women's Talent Pathway, including National Talent Events and wider pathway programmes that support and prepare players aged 13-16 for National Teams.
• Provide clinical leadership and specialist support to players, physiotherapists and staff, ensuring consistent assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, injury prevention and female athlete health practices.
• Oversee injury and illness surveillance, clinical record keeping and reporting, using insight to inform medical planning, risk management, player welfare and long-term athlete development.
• Build effective relationships with clubs, national teams, academic partners and internal stakeholders to support player transitions, information sharing, research, learning and collaborative working.
• Recruit, induct, support and develop pathway physiotherapy staff, ensuring appropriate workforce planning, supervision, professional development and succession planning.
• Manage medical equipment provision across England Women's Talent Pathway activity and events, ensuring equipment is appropriately maintained, serviced and available to meet pathway requirements.
• Ensure all physiotherapy practice, qualifications, policies, procedures, safeguarding standards, emergency action plans and incident reporting meet professional and organisational governance requirements.
• Work collaboratively with coaches, physical performance, safeguarding, technical and wider support staff to promote a holistic approach to player health, wellbeing, performance.
• Work closely with the FA's Technical Team on the progress and implementation of the Women's Technical Strategy.
• Attend departmental meetings as and when required.
• Executes additional tasks as required to meet the FA's changing priorities.
• Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of health, safety, and well-being can be maintained.
• As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for someone who can combine sound clinical judgement with excellent organisation, communication and leadership skills. You will be confident working in a youth talent environment, understand the importance of safeguarding and player welfare, and be able to create clarity and consistency across a geographically dispersed workforce.

Essential for the role:

Knowledge

• Degree in Physiotherapy or Sports Therapy with professional indemnity and registration to relevant governing body (CSP/HCPC etc) 
• ATMMiF or equivalent pitch-side emergency qualification
• Strong knowledge of sports physiotherapy, injury prevention, rehabilitation and return-to-play processes within football or elite sport.
• Understanding of safeguarding, clinical governance, emergency action planning and player welfare requirements in youth and pathway environments.

Experience

• Experience delivering medical or physiotherapy support within football, elite sport or a talent pathway environment.
• Experience coordinating medical provision across events, fixtures or multi-disciplinary environments.
• Ability to build trusted relationships with players, parents or carers, clubs, coaches, practitioners and internal stakeholders.
• Experience supporting, supervising or developing physiotherapy staff, casual practitioners or multi-disciplinary colleagues.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team to support player health, wellbeing and performance development.

Technical Skills

• Competent use of injury surveillance, medical record keeping and reporting systems.
• Strong planning, organisational and risk-management skills across medical delivery settings.
• Ability to analyse and communicate medical information clearly to support decision-making and player care.

Beneficial to have:

Knowledge

• Postgraduate qualification or advanced training in sports physiotherapy, sports medicine, strength and conditioning or a related discipline.
• Knowledge of female athlete health, growth and maturation, adolescent athlete development and the women's football landscape.

Experience

• Experience working within women's football, international football, national teams or academy/pathway environments.
• Experience designing or improving medical systems, injury surveillance processes, clinical governance frameworks or practitioner development programmes.
• Experience managing medical provision across residential camps, tournaments, national events or multiple delivery sites.
• Experience contributing to research, insight, education or innovation that improves player health, wellbeing or performance outcomes.

Technical Skills

• Ability to use athlete management systems, medical databases or performance platforms to inform planning and reporting.
• Project management skills to support pathway-wide medical initiatives, workforce planning and service improvement.
• Ability to present clinical insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders and multi-disciplinary teams.

What's in it for you?

We are committed to ensuring everyone can flourish in their roles. To achieve this, we have unique office spaces under the arch of the iconic Wembley National Stadium, which is the home of English Football. We are also delighted to offer a world-class, Elite Performance Centre, St. George's Park in Staffordshire, which is an exceptional setting to develop and inspire high-performing England teams and leaders.

We pride ourselves on offering a competitive salary as well as great opportunities to develop and grow in your role. But that is not all; we also have a range of exciting benefits, some of which can be found below:

• Access to event day tickets at Wembley Stadium, alongside a host of regular internal events throughout the season, encourages you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and well-being.
• Free, nutritious lunches at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
• Free private medical cover.
• A contributory pension scheme.
• An additional 'Thank You' day's leave, volunteering days, as well as 25 days of annual leave (based on a full-time, permanent contract)
• A hybrid working model offering greater flexibility.

For more information on what it is like to work at The FA, please visit our FA Careers page, https://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/careers

Currently, we are working within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model, and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary. The contractual location of this role can be found on the FA Careers page.

We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The Football Association actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work.

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.