Women’s First Team Psychologist
About the Women's Team: Our team is committed to fostering a supportive environment that empowers female athletes to showcase their skills and reach their full potential.
We prioritise player development through tailored training programs that focus on technical skills, tactical understanding, and physical fitness.
The SAFC Women’s Football Team benefits from strong collaboration with our Coaching and Analysis teams, ensuring that our strategies and training sessions are informed by the latest insights and best practices.
The Opportunity: We are looking for an experienced, professionally registered Women’s First Team Psychologist to play a central role in supporting the mental performance and psychological wellbeing of Sunderland AFC Women’s First Team squad.
You will provide one-to-one, group and team-based sports psychology support aligned with training and competition demands, contributing to player availability, psychological readiness for performance and long-term mental health and wellbeing.
This is a part-time, fized-term contract of 20 hours per week, with the working schedule to be negotiated.
What We Ask For: We are looking for a suitably qualified practitioner with an MSc in psychology or sport psychology and appropriate professional registration, such as UK HCPC registration or an equivalent recognised accreditation. You will also hold British Psychological Society Chartered status, CASES accreditation or an equivalent professional standing.
You will bring experience from high-performance or professional environments, with a strong understanding of how psychological strategies can be embedded into coaching practice, team culture and individual player development. Experience supporting injured athletes through return-to-play transitions will be important in helping players manage the mental demands of recovery and performance.
The successful candidate will be able to build trusted relationships with players, coaches and performance staff, while maintaining clear professional boundaries, confidentiality and ethical practice. You will be comfortable managing competing priorities and contributing constructively within an inter-disciplinary team environment.
In addition, you will need appropriate professional liability insurance to work with and advise WSL players, together with FA Safeguarding, an Enhanced DBS, UKAD Introduction to Clean Sport, and a valid certified Mental Health First Aid Certificate.
