Academy Lead Performance Coach

We're looking for a Academy Lead Performance Coach to join our growing team at London City Lionesses - a women's football team competing in the Women's Championship.

The London City Lionesses are part of the Kynisca group, setting a vision and building an infrastructure in which all the players and staff can thrive.

Owned by Michele Kang, our vision for Kynisca is to:

1. Become the most preeminent sports organisation in the world;

2. Have a high-performance culture of winning on and off the pitch;

3. Train women as women; and

4. Motivate and inspire the next generation of girls and women.

If you have the aspiration, drive, and qualifications to join our professional Club, please apply with your CV and cover letter to careers@londoncitylionesses.com

Key Objectives of Role:

• Lead on the Sport Science support of London City Lionesses Academy players, managing Sports Science staff to create an elite standard pathway.
• Ensure integrated cutting-edge, and female-focused, Sports Science support for London City Lionesses Academy players.
• Lead in the management, design and delivery of the day-to-day wellness, physical training, recovery and match load monitoring.
• Support and develop women as women.
• Work closely with the Technical, Medical and Performance Multi-Disciplinary Team.

Main Duties/ Responsibilities

• Responsible for delivering bespoke monitoring, management, and development plans to all Academy players.
• Design and lead all on-field conditioning, warm-ups, speed development and individual development sessions for the PGA team.
• Work closely with technical staff to design weekly structure regarding the physical demands of each session to ensure targets are met from a developmental, and protective standpoint.
• Build bespoke IDP’s for each Academy player based on their physical attributes and clearly identify areas for specific development, as well as when & where these developments can be honed.
• Ensure there is a clear Performance Pathway to the First Team, enabling players to transfer seamlessly between the upper echelons of the Academy, to the First Team if/when called upon.
• Provide Sport Science support to PGA players during all training sessions and games, with travel required.
• Educate and support players, as well as produce appropriate visuals, on all performance and recovery related sport science themes.
• Collaborate with the Medical Lead to ensure all players receive individual physical programs, monitoring and management to track long-term player development.
• In conjunction with the First team Performance Staff, implement a training language and philosophy as the basis for training development and delivery.
• In collaboration with the global teams, develop appropriate daily reporting and data visualisation templates to optimise the impact of data on the management of individual players.
• Assist the Strength and Conditioning Coach, and Medical Staff, with the programming and delivery of gym-based strength and conditioning, and end-stage Return to Play sessions.
• In collaboration with global team, develop and oversee a centralised AMS system to optimise physical data visualisation and interpretation, as well as to house data to assist in the long-term development of all players at the club.
• In collaboration with the Performance and Medical staff create and monitor off-season training programs.
• Work collaboratively with the Medical Lead to provide Multi-Disciplinary support, and education, by implementing and monitoring optimal female health, wellbeing, recovery, physical profiling, strength and conditioning, training and match load monitoring, nutrition, psychology, and return to play strategies.
• Mentor undergraduate student volunteers, and interns. 
• Attend and assist with workshops, in-service meetings, professional development courses/workshops and other development opportunities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

The above provides an outline for the role required and should not be regarded as a conclusive list.

Essential Characteristics:

• Cutting edge and forward thinking
• A BSc in Exercise/Sports Science or a related field
• Master’s degree in Sports Science or performance related field.
• Minimum of three (3) years of experience in the field of sports science/performance, especially with female athletes
• Applied football experience preferred (exception may be granted for experience in other professional sports).
• Experience working with female athletes with an understanding of female physiology is essential.
• Sport Science support experience with youth athletes is preferred, with a clear understanding of Long Term Athletic Development models key.
• Hold either a UK Strength and Conditioning accreditation (UKSCA) Accredited Strength and Conditioning Coach qualification (ASCC), or the US National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach qualification (CSCS)
• Passion for the success of Women’s Professional Sports, innovation, research, and an appetite for an exciting new sports landscape
• Hold the Football Association level 2 Emergency First Aid in Football (EFAiF) qualification
• High level of knowledge of Women and Girls Athletic populations to meet the demands of Elite football
• Experienced in the planning and delivery of gym-based and pitch-based football programs

• Valid and accepted enhanced FA DBS or be willing to undertake this check if successful
• Ability to work in a fully integrated medical and performance department, to be committed to ensuring the safeguarding and welfare of all LCL athletes
• Maintain confidentiality and protect sensitive information regarding injured players
• Maintain confidentiality and protect sensitive information within football departments, upholding the highest levels of professional at all times
• Experience of developing and implementing innovative ideas and putting them into practice
• Enthusiastic and energetic team player, with experience of working as part of a Multi-Disciplinary team
• Experience in utilising sports science technologies such as: STATSports GPS, Polar, VALD (NordBord and Force Decks), and Athlete Management Systems.
• Strong PC skills (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint), and experience of data visualisation software such as Tableau, and/or Power BI.
• Possess exceptional organisation skills with a strong attention to detail and the ability to prioritise/multi-task
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, and a high degree of emotional intelligence
• A strong work ethic and friendly demeanour
• Ability to work on own initiative
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• Advanced and creative presentation skills
• Ability to work non-traditional hours, including scheduled games that can/will be weekends, evenings and perhaps Holidays.

Desirable

Be a UKAD Clean Sport Advisor

Experience within other football competitions i.e. UEFA Champions League, FIFA or other high level competition experience

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If you have the aspiration, drive, and qualifications to join our professional Club, please apply with your CV and cover letter to careers@londoncitylionesses.com before October 31st.

Interviews will be held at a date to be confirmed and only those invited to interview will receive return notification from London City Lionesses.

Safeguarding Statement:

London City Lionesses and Academy are committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to endorse this commitment.

This post requires Enhanced Criminal Records Checks and may include checks against the Barred Lists, as such it is exempt from Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974). Therefore all convictions including spent convictions that have not been subject to filtering by the DBS should be declared.

Equality Statement:

We are an equal opportunities employer.

The successful candidate must ensure a positive commitment towards equality and diversity by treating others fairly and not committing any form of direct or indirect discrimination, victimisation or harassment of any description and to promote positive working relationships between all internal and external stakeholders.