Head of Youth Development

Organisation: The Football Association
Salary: Competitive
Location: The National Football Centre, St. George's Park
Contract type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 15 February 2026
Job Description: The Head of Women's Youth Development provides strategic leadership of the women's pathway, shaping long-term development philosophy, influencing policy across the domestic and global game, and ensuring England's youth players are future‑ready. The role leads the delivery of the England Youth Team Strategy – One Pride Built to Roar – to provide outstanding player experiences and high-quality development opportunities. This role provides football leadership within the pathway and senior leadership team, supporting, guiding and developing national coaches while driving a long-term vision for player and coach development, partnering with FA Learning to nurture high-potential English coaches of the future.

Please provide a cover letter with your application, clearly outlining why you are interested in the role and how you meet the specified criteria.

What will you be doing?

Provide strategic leadership and long‑term vision for the development and evolution of the England Women's Youth Team Strategy – One Pride, Built to Roar, ensuring it continues to shape the future direction of the pathway.
Lead the delivery and implementation of the strategy, including annual calendar planning and the creation of a high‑quality, development‑focused games programme.
Provide technical leadership to align and implement the national team playing strategy – How We Play – in collaboration with Senior Team and WU23 technical staff.
Offer authoritative technical insight across the women's pathway, drawing on deep expertise in women's football and global trends to shape long‑term development priorities. Guide decision‑making across youth national teams and influence strategic working groups through high‑quality football knowledge.
Ensure youth team environments are safe, well-managed and enable players to thrive, working closely with internal colleagues.
Develop medium-term cycle plans for WU17 and WU19, including preparation for tournament finals.
Provide strategic direction and oversight to the technical aspects of tournament project groups for Women's U17 & U19 European Championships and FIFA Women's U17 & U20 World Cups.
Lead the tournament review processes for WU17, WU19 and WU20 age groups to ensure insights drive continual pathway and performance improvement.
Lead the attraction, selection and development of highly skilled Women's Youth Team Coaches, ensuring they receive the insight, mentorship and support needed to elevate coaching quality and drive outstanding player development across the pathway.
Strengthen the development of England's coaching workforce by collaborating with the PFA, Women's National Coach Developers and FA Learning colleagues to create impactful support, development pathways and knowledge‑sharing across the game.
Work with the recruitment team to maintain a robust and well-led player recruitment infrastructure.
Track and monitor player experiences across the national team pathway.
Attend regular meetings to review the health of the player pipeline.
Develop a strong understanding of data and utilise it effectively in day-to-day decision-making, working closely with the Women's technical data and technology team to inform strategy, player development, and performance insights.
Provide the Women's Technical Director and Senior Women's Head Coach with up-to-date positional depth analysis for future major tournaments.
Build and lead strategic relationships with WSL Ltd, UEFA, FIFA and global youth development networks to enhance England's competitive advantage, while shaping and influencing youth development policy across the domestic and international game.
Lead, coach and inspire the National Youth Coach Team – turning strategy into delivery. Ensure standards are met.
Manage the department's budget within agreed limits.
Comply with rules and regulations set by UEFA, FIFA and other relevant football authorities.
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 wellbeing 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?

Essential for the role:

UEFA A Licence.
Proven experience coaching football at the highest elite level. Experience designing and delivering individual player development plans.
Demonstrated success in developing elite female football players.
Strong knowledge of the women's international game, particularly youth age groups.
Deep technical and tactical understanding of the game.
Experience working in elite tournament environments.
Ability to use player insights and data to drive informed performance decisions.
Proven experience developing, mentoring, and supporting coaches.
High-level people development and leadership skills.
Proven ability to manage complex stakeholder environments.
Ability to build strong, effective working relationships across teams.
Excellent communication skills, including high-quality presentations to diverse audiences.

Beneficial to have:

FA Coach Educator
Experience contributing to high-performance environments within women's and international football.
Experience of coach development and mentoring at international level
Experience collaborating with UEFA and FIFA to support the growth of the women's game.

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 in 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, encouraging 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' days leave, volunteering days as well as 25 days 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.
How to apply: For further information and to apply please follow the link below; https://careers.thefa.com/jobs/vacancy/head-of-youth-development--nfcsgp0526-national-football-centre-st-georges-park/2954/description/