Academy Auditor (Coaching)

This is an exciting opportunity to work across the Premier League, EFL, and the FA. As part of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) — the Professional Game’s national strategy for developing youth footballers in England — professional club Academies are placed into one of four categories (Category 1 to 4). These categories are based on a combination of factors, including investment levels, facilities, staffing, and the quality of provision across key multidisciplinary areas.

To effectively categorise Academies and to support the continual raising of standards in elite player development, an independent standards organisation has been developed, mandated by the professional game, to monitor safety, compliance and the quality of work being delivered across both the male and female environments. The female talent pathway aims to support the development of more and better home-grown players through two key programmes.

The independent standards organisation oversees a multidisciplinary assessment of Academies across Leadership and Management, Coaching, Performance Support, Education, Player Care, Safeguarding, Pathway and Productivity. As part of the above, the Coaching Auditor will be responsible for auditing organisations and practices across the multidisciplinary areas of development pathways.

The Role:

• Review and Evaluation of Coaching and Multidisciplinary Programmes: Using the Academy Standards assessment framework, assess the quality of Coaching provision across talent development pathways.
• Accurately and fairly report findings, identifying quality, risk and development areas.
• Manage the end-to-end auditing/quality assurance process, ensuring the operation runs as smoothly as possible for the club and auditing team.
• Ensure a consistent assessment is given, no matter the auditor or club.

General Responsibilities:

• Deliver annual Club visits to ensure adherence with Safe to Operate and Compliance guidelines and the Youth Development Rules and FA Criteria.
• Support the development of a suitable Academy standards framework and auditing practices.
• Using outcomes from Club audits to undertake trend analysis to inform future learnings.
• Meet tight deadlines.
• Ensure the auditing team maintains an up-to-date knowledge of good practice.

Experience:

• Experience working, coaching and leading development programs with young athletes, especially within an academy system or development squads (male or female pathways).
• Leading or mentoring other coaches, including designing CPD programmes or overseeing coaching frameworks.
• Experience in navigating complex and highly pressurised working environments and cultures, establishing effective working relationships across a diverse range of stakeholders (sporting directors, senior decision makers, first team managers/coaches).
• Working within a multidisciplinary environment, collaborating with analysts, sports science, medical, education, player care, safeguarding, etc.
• Previous experience in reviewing, assessing and developing recommendations for multidisciplinary development programs at a strategic level.
• Prior leadership and management experience.
• Experience working with children and adults at risk and/or knowledge and understanding of issues that affect their safety and wellbeing.

Knowledge:

• High practical and theoretical understanding of coach and talent development demands in elite level sport (age-appropriate coaching principles, long-term player development models, talent ID and progression mapping).
• Understanding and appreciation of context and cultural differences between clubs of different sizes and philosophies.
• Sound knowledge of talent identification and pathways.
• Understanding and comfort in Quantitative and Qualitative assessment.

Personal Attributes & Other Requirements:

• Person-centred approach and a sound understanding of the rights, needs and best interests of children and adults at risk.
• Demonstrating our commitment to safeguarding and driving continual improvement to promote and protect the safety and well-being of children and adults at risk.
• Motivated by being part of a successful game-wide Academy system.
• Sets and works to high standards.
• Interviewing skills and observational analysis.
• Ability to make sound judgments based on evidence gathered during audit activity.
• Clear and concise verbal communication skills.
• Ability to present written information in a structured and balanced way appropriate to the needs of the reader.
• Comfortable following systems and processes, applies a structured approach to projects and planning.
• IT literate.
• Ability to regularly travel across the U.K.
• Enhanced Level DBS Check.

PGAAC is an equal opportunity employer and strives to create an inclusive culture where talent can flourish. We believe in the potential of everyone and open our doors to those who share those values. All appointments will be made based on merit; however, we particularly encourage applications from women, people from minority ethnic communities, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people.

Our commitment to safeguarding includes implementing robust safer recruitment procedures to assess the suitability of individuals applying for roles that involve work with children and adults who are or may be at risk of harm. For further information, please see our Safeguarding Policy and Safer Recruitment Guidance.

To apply, please visit our careers page and apply with your CV and a cover letter. The closing date for applications is 13 July 2025.

We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact.