Performance Wellbeing Lead – Women’s Football

Reports to: Associate Sporting Director - Women's Football

Location: Training Ground - Jersey Road / Various

Department: Women's Football

Sub-department: Performance Wellbeing Lead

Salary: £20 per hour

Contract: 12-month fixed term (part-time), with clear intention to extend, subject to review at nine months.

The Club Brentford Football Club is a bit different from other Premier League football clubs. We put our fans first, we are a true community club and while we are financially sustainable, we are not afraid to take calculated risks. We take huge pride in our environment and culture within the Club which focuses on development, inclusion and not being afraid to think differently. Being progressive, humble and respectful while sticking together as one team across the Club guides how we work and the decisions we make each day. We also firmly believe that a diverse workforce is a better workforce which will help us develop ideas, solve problems and ultimately grow Brentford Football Club. We play in a new stadium, 15 minutes from Heathrow in vibrant west London.

Job Overview Brentford Football Club Women is looking for a Performance Wellbeing Lead to join our growing women's football department. This is a new, part‑time role, offered on a 12-month fixed-term contract with the clear intention to extend, subject to review at the nine-month point. We are being honest that this is a first appointment into a new area and equally honest that we are building it to last. This is not a welfare role that waits for something to go wrong. Performance wellbeing at Brentford is part of how we get the best from our players and we want the person who takes this on to help us prove and sustain it. Working across the physical, mental, social and career/transition dimensions of wellbeing, the post-holder acts as a trusted point of contact, connector and signposter not a sole expert. Female athlete health runs as a golden thread through the role. In line with the FA's Female Athlete Health Framework and Reaching Higher strategy, the post-holder is our Female Athlete Health point of contact, bringing that standard into everyday practice at Tier 5 and ensuring players are supported as people first and athletes second.

Key Responsibilities

• Know the player, not just the athlete: Build trusted relationships that create psychological safety, belonging and connection. Understand every player as an individual before they are viewed as an athlete including the realities of work, study, money, travel, family, culture, neurodiversity and identity for example. Ensure decisions across the programme are informed by the pressures players actually carry, representing the player perspective in planning without trading individual confidences for influence.
• Lead individual support and dual-career navigation: Provide proactive one-to-one support across every stage of a player’s journey, from onboarding through to a positive exit. Help players hold football alongside university, apprenticeships, employment and family, including in periods of high demand. Support players through confidence, identity, performance pressure, motivation, injury, non-selection, role change and transition and through planning for skills, identities and careers beyond football.
• Embed female athlete health: Act as the club’s Female Athlete Health point of contact and align practice to the FA Female Athlete Health Framework. Deliver or commission education for players and staff, drawing on resources such as FootballHER and the Female Health Hub. Work with medical and performance staff so that female health menstrual health and performance, kit and breast health, fueling, injury risk and resilience is factored into planning, load and availability rather than treated as a separate conversation.
• Work within a connected, ethically-held multidisciplinary team: Act as a connector between players, coaches, safeguarding and support staff, contributing insight that improves communication and planning within agreed limits on what is shared. Maintain strong alignment between wellbeing, safeguarding and player-care processes and support early identification of concerns. Operate transparent confidentiality and consent arrangements: what a player shares stays with the post-holder unless the player consents or there is a safeguarding or risk‑of‑harm duty explained to every player, in accessible language, at onboarding.
• Build the framework and the network: Design a proportionate performance-wellbeing framework that fits a part‑time programme and can scale as the club grows covering onboarding, check‑ins, education, referral, safeguarding alignment and exit support. Establish and maintain relationships with external specialist services so that signposting always leads somewhere real. Keep the framework light enough to survive a busy season, and report progress to the Associate Sporting Director each quarter against agreed measures.

Knowledge

• Degree-level qualification, or equivalent professional experience, in a relevant field such as psychology, sport and exercise psychology, counselling, education, youth work, social work, sport and exercise science, wellbeing, community development, or health and social care.
• Experience supporting young people, students, athletes or performers in developmental or high-performance environments, including building trusted one-to-one relationships and delivering pastoral, wellbeing, mentoring or player-care support.
• Demonstrable understanding of the demands of balancing sport alongside education, employment and personal commitments, and of working with diverse groups and varying personal circumstances.
• Understanding of safeguarding principles and reporting procedures, and of when and how to escape. FA Safeguarding Children certificate and Mental Health First Aid qualification or a willingness to complete both, funded by the club, before working unsupervised with players.

Desirable: experience within football and/or supporting female athletes; FootballHER or other female athlete health CPD; counselling or mentoring accreditation (e.g. BACP); athlete‑lifestyle, player-care or safeguarding experience; a coaching qualification; and relevant postgraduate study.

Specialist Skills

• Able to design and run a light, proportionate wellbeing framework onboarding, check‑in rhythms, education, referral and exit support rather than reacting case by case.
• Able to apply the FA Female Athlete Health Framework in a live football environment and translate it into everyday practice.
• Able to deliver or commission workshops and education for players and staff.
• Able to build and test referral and signposting routes into specialist mental health, medical, financial and educational support.
• Organised, proactive and self‑sufficient in managing multiple relationships and priorities within a flexible part‑time role, and reliable in following through.

People Skills

• Relationship builder: establishes trust and credibility quickly with players from diverse backgrounds; warm, approachable and authentic, and able to hold conversations that are both supportive and challenging.
• Person‑centred and curious: leads with curiosity rather than judgement and sees the person before the athlete.
• Ethical practitioner: understands professional boundaries, consent and confidentiality and their limits, and knows when to refer rather than hold.
• Emotionally intelligent and an excellent listener and communicator, adapting across personalities, ages and preferences, and comfortable in sensitive, confidential environments.

Key internal relationships: Associate Sporting Director, Women's Head Coach, Women's Performance Lead, Club Safeguarding Team, Club Player Care colleagues, and the captain / leadership group. The role has no formal direct reports, though informal guidance to less experienced colleagues may be expected.

Decision Making

• Exercises independent professional judgement on when to hold, support or refer and on what information is shared with the multidisciplinary team always within agreed consent and safeguarding limits.
• Agrees three year‑one priorities with the Associate Sporting Director and develops a proposal for a defined budget for signposting, education and CPD moving into year two which they will manage.
• Escalates any safeguarding or risk‑of‑harm concern promptly through established routes, including routes independent of the football department.

Innovation

• Creates rather than inherits: designs a new performance-wellbeing function from the ground up within a growing programme.
• Builds a framework that is proportionate now and can scale as the women’s programme develops.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and energised by shaping something new rather than maintaining something established.

General Club Accountabilities

• To comply with all Club policies, including health and safety, data regulations and other legal, ethical and social requirements.
• To build and maintain good working relationships while maintaining a professional image.
• To keep confidential any information gained regarding the Club and its personnel.
• To always maintain a flexible approach to work.

Inclusion Statement

Brentford Football Club is proud to be an organisation that values equity, diversity and inclusion. We strive to create a culture that celebrates difference and ensures fairness, safety, representation, and belonging. We recognise that some groups remain underrepresented in our workforce and are actively working to change this. As part of that commitment, we strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds — particularly those from ethnically diverse communities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and disabled people. We’re committed to a fair and inclusive recruitment process, with all decisions made based on merit and suitability — regardless of background or protected characteristic. Should you be selected for interview, we welcome the opportunity to discuss any specific arrangements, accommodations or reasonable adjustments you may require to be made.

Safeguarding Statement

Brentford Football Club is fully committed to promoting equality, and to safeguarding the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and is a core part of the Club’s culture. All staff and volunteers share a collective duty to create and maintain a safe and supportive environment, both on and off the field. To ensure this, all staff are required to complete regular safeguarding training appropriate to their role. This training supports a proactive and informed approach to safeguarding practice. The successful candidate will be expected to understand, adhere to, and actively uphold all relevant safeguarding policies and procedures. This includes recognising signs of abuse or harm, responding appropriately, and reporting any concerns in a timely manner to the Club’s Safeguarding Team. Brentford Football Club operates safer recruitment practices. We remind individuals that it is a criminal offence for a person barred from engaging in regulated activity to apply for a role that involves such activity.