The FA are looking for a Chief Medical Officer to deliver strategic medical leadership and clinical governance across England teams, ensuring the highest standards of medical governance and clinical practice, and provide guidance / standards to medical practitioners across our Men's, Women's and Para teams that ensure player health and welfare. This role will set medical policy, liaise with football stakeholders to agree clinical standards and oversee cardiac screening across English football and will be the principal medical authority on ethical, regulatory and risk-related matters.
Please include a covering letter with your application, clearly outlining why you are interested in the opportunity and how you meet the criteria.
What will you be doing?
1. Provide strategic leadership for medical governance across England teams, ensuring governance frameworks are robust, regularly reviewed and formally documented.
2. Lead the identification, assessment and management of clinical risks, ensuring timely escalation and mitigation to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of England players.
3. Chair and lead cross-pathway medical governance forums to drive consistent, evidence-based best practice across: Cardiac screening Medicines management and controlled drugs Medical records and data governance Injury surveillance Medical indemnity and healthcare costs Medical equipment standards
4. Provide senior medical leadership for the FA's Brain Health Strategy, leading the clinical and research components of the programme, including oversight of the annual Brain Health Symposium to share research and promote best practice across our football stakeholders.
5. Oversee the FA's medical research in areas such as current former player studies, other brain health projects, and female athlete health. Work in close partnership with the PFA and professional leagues to ensure alignment and consistency.
6. Lead and oversee the FA's game-wide cardiac screening programme, delivering a consistent, high-quality, end-to-end service across FA stakeholders, professional leagues in England and the PFA.
7. Represent the FA on external medical and scientific working groups within UK Sports Medicine forums, UEFA and FIFA, sharing best practice and influencing the development of international standards.
8. Act as the FA's senior medical representative on internal and external committees where CMO leadership is required (e.g. PFNCC Health & Safety Sub-Committee, UEFA Medical Committee).
9. Provide expert medical advice to FA committees and colleges on medical standards and processes, including integrity matters, research strategy, and inclusion (e.g. transgender and DSD policies).
10. Hold executive oversight of the FA's game-wide injury surveillance programme (covering England teams, EFL and WSL 1 & 2), working with the Premier League to align data and outcomes, and supporting the development of surveillance within the women's talent pathways and the wider grassroots game.
11. Hold responsibility for the FA's Home Office controlled drugs policy and its implementation.
12. Ensure effective coordination, communication and integration across all medical activity.
13. Lead, develop and inspire FA medical practitioners, creating a culture of collaboration, engagement, continuous improvement and clinical excellence.
14. Undertake any other such tasks that may be reasonably determined by the Chief Football Officer to be within the scope of the role.
15. Execute additional tasks as required to meet the FA's changing priorities.
16. Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of health, safety, and wellbeing can be maintained.
17. 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:
18. Specialist registration in Sport & Exercise Medicine or equivalent significant experience at senior leadership level in sport.
19. ATMMiF certificate or equivalent.
20. Detailed understanding of the requirements of medical provision and ‘what it takes to win' in elite sport, ideally football.
21. Evidence of working with high integrity and professional independence.
22. Calm, authoritative, and credible in high-pressure and public-facing contexts.
23. Experience of working across multidisciplinary teams.
24. Be self-motivated and able to proactively lead and implement strategy.
25. Have excellent written communication skills with attention to detail in written documents.
Beneficial to have:
26. Have a solid understanding of medical provision in a variety of sporting contexts, across male, female, professional, international and grassroots competition.
27. Experience in commissioning or leading research
28. Familiarity with the current scientific evidence base relating to brain health in sport.
29. Familiarity with the FA's emergency pitchside care courses and the wider background of emergency pitchside care in sport.
30. Familiarity with the principles of cardiac screening in sport.
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:
31. 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.
32. Free, nutritious lunches at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
33. Free private medical cover.
34. A contributory pension scheme.
35. An additional 'Thank You' days leave, volunteering days as well as 25 days annual leave (based on a full-time, permanent contract.)
36. 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,
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.