Women's Team Sports Pyschologist

Organisation: Ipswich Town Football Club
Salary: TBD
Location: ITFC Training Ground, Playford Road,
Contract type: Fixed Term (Part time)
Closing date: 4 August 2026
Job Description: Purpose/overview of the role:

• Apply the principles of sport psychology to support the development of players, staff, and teams by enhancing how they think, feel, and behave in relation to performance, using an evidence-informed and individually tailored practitioner approach.
• Place athlete health and welfare at the heart of all aspects of training and competition, ensuring psychological wellbeing is a fundamental consideration in decision-making and practice.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders and multidisciplinary staff to support the holistic development of individuals, enabling them to flourish both as people and as footballers.
• Provide psychological support, education, and resources that enhance psychological flexibility, enabling players, staff, and teams to adapt to the evolving demands of the game and consistently perform under pressure.
• Create and maintain an environment in which players feel psychologically and physically safe, secure, supported, and empowered to achieve their potential.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of a caring, inclusive culture within a high-performance environment that promotes respect, trust, accountability, and positive behaviours.

Accountabilities:
• To develop, implement, and deliver an evidence-based psychology provision for the Women's First Team.
• Enhance performance through applied psychological practice, enabling players and staff to cultivate self-awareness and intentionally shape their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours to meet the demands of the game with consistency.
• Deliver appropriate psychological support within the scope of professional competence, referring individuals to specialist services where appropriate.
• Regularly monitor and evaluate the impact of performance psychology support across the Women's First Team programme, using insights to inform continuous improvement.
• Design and deliver a comprehensive programme of one-to-one and group performance psychology sessions to support, educate, and develop, Players, Coaching and performance support staff
• Contribute to the planning and delivery of life skills and career development programmes in collaboration with the Performance Lifestyle Manager.
• Take part in multi-disciplinary ‘case meetings ‘providing input to discussions and decisions about players

What good looks like:
• Working collaboratively with the multidisciplinary performance team to develop and maintain a mental health and wellbeing strategy and action plan.
• Support coach development by applying and sharing core psychological principles, including learning styles, feedback processes, and personality preferences.
• Maintain detailed, accurate, and up-to-date records and databases of psychological work conducted with athletes, ensuring compliance with relevant policies and data protection standards.
• Provide psychological support to players across the demands of elite football, including injury rehabilitation, return-to-play processes, performance transitions, and ongoing management of performance-related pressure.
• Skilled in translating evidence-based information into clear, practical advice for different stakeholders.
• In collaboration with the wider Performance Team, support workshops, education sessions, and wellbeing initiatives that promote high-performance habits and personal development across the programme.

Skills, knowledge & experience required:
• Experience supporting high-performance female athletes, addressing both performance-related and off-field challenges, including societal pressures, wellbeing, and career transitions.
• Proven experience delivering psychological support to high-performance athletes, teams, and organisations within multidisciplinary environments.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate effectively into established and evolving multidisciplinary and management teams, particularly within women's professional sport.
• Expertise in designing and delivering psychological interventions that optimise individual performance, team dynamics, and collective behaviours.
• Strong understanding of the psychological demands faced by high-performance athletes both on and off the field of play, with a track record of applying evidence-based approaches to enhance performance and wellbeing.

Essential:

• MSc in psychology / sport psychology.
• British Psychological Society Chartered Status or BASES Accredited (or equivalent).
• Registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (“HCPC”) in the UK
• Mental Health England First Aid Certification
• FA Safeguarding Children Course
• FA Safeguarding Adults Course
• Experience of Women’s Elite Sport and/or Football

Desirable:

• Emergency First Aid / FA IFAiF
• PhD in psychology / sport psychology or relevant equivalent
• Qualification in validated psychometric instruments
• Experience of women’s high-performance sport and football
• Active engagement in professional development such as participation in conferences, workshops and ongoing learning opportunities.

Contract & Hours:
Part-Time (2.5 days a week)
Fixed Term until 30th June 2027
How to apply: If you are interested in applying for the role, please complete an online application at www.itfc.co.uk detailing why you are the ideal candidate for this position. Please note CVs will not be accepted for this role.

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Women's Team Sports Pyschologist