Head of Mental Performance

Norwich City Football Club; Colney; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Complimentary matchday ticket for home

25 days annual leave + bank holidays

Pension Scheme with Royal London

CPD opportunities

Wellbeing support including GP access

Structured professional development

Job summary

Norwich City Football Club are seeking a Head of Mental Performance to drive elite performance through psychology and wellbeing within the Performance department. Based at Avant Training Centre in Norwich, this full-time role leads the club’s mental performance and wellbeing strategy, embedding psychological principles across coaching and player development.

The role requires a postgraduate qualification in psychology or sport psychology, HCPC registration and significant experience in elite

Qualifications

• Proven track record applying psychology in sport settings.
• Ability to embed mental performance in coaching systems.
• Strong communication and collaboration with medical/welfare teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver a club-wide mental performance vision.
• Enhance performance through evidence-based psychology programmes.
• Embed mental skills training to improve focus and resilience.
• Provide tailored support to players, staff, coaches and leaders.
• Foster a high-trust culture enabling peak performance.
• Lead mental health and wellbeing provisions in partnership with medical teams.
• Integrate psychology into talent ID, recruitment and development.
• Govern and continuously improve the club's psychology services.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Elite sport experience

Evidence-based practice

Stakeholder engagement

Education

MSc/PhD in Psychology or Sport Psychology

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced candidate to join the Performance department at Norwich City Football Club in a new role of Head of Mental Performance. This is an excellent role for someone who is passionate about driving elite performance through psychology and wellbeing.

This is a full-time, permanent role based at the Avant Training Centre in Norwich.

Key tasks/responsibilities include, but is not limited to:

• Develop and deliver a club-wide mental performance vision that supports sustained elite performance.
• Enhance player and staff performance through evidence-based psychology programmes and interventions.
• Embed mental skills training to improve focus, resilience, emotional control, and decision-making under pressure.
• Provide tailored support to individual players, teams, coaches, and senior leaders.
• Foster a high-trust, opportunity-focused culture that enables people to thrive and perform at their best.
• Lead the Club’s Mental Health and psychological wellbeing provision in partnership with medical and welfare teams.
• Integrate psychological insights into talent identification, recruitment, and player development processes.
• Lead, develop, and govern the Club’s psychology services, ensuring best practice, compliance, and continuous improvement.
• To act in a manner that supports the Club’s Values of Growth, Integrity, Belonging, Resilience, Pride and Commitment

Qualifications/Experience:

Essential

• Postgraduate qualification to MSc/PhD level in Psychology or Sport Psychology
• Active Practitioner Psychologist status registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC), along with BPS Chartered status or SEPAR alignment.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience delivering service in elite sport.
• Proven history of embedding psychological principles directly into integrated coaching systems, rather than just delivering isolated 1-on-1 clinical sessions.

Desirable

• Experience of delivering service in First Team professional football environments.
• Demonstrated experience providing performance consulting or executive coaching to Sporting executives and/or Head Coaches.

Background in driving applied research projects that directly convert academic evidence into pitch-side competitive edges.

Successful candidates will benefit from a comprehensive range of club benefits. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Complimentary matchday ticket for home fixtures
• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Enhanced family friendly leave policies
• Pension Scheme with Royal London
• Access to Reward Gateway recognition and discount platform
• Enhanced CPD opportunities and structured professional development pathways.
• The opportunity to get involved in wider club initiatives through a variety of Working Groups.
• A range of wellbeing support, including 24/7 access to a GP for employees and their dependents, as well as access to gyms and exercise classes at both Carrow Road & Avant Training Centre.

Norwich City Football Club are committed to ensuring equal opportunities are given to all and welcomes applications from all areas of the community regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignments, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnerships.

Norwich City Football Club are an equal opportunities employer and recognises the importance of safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in the workplace. Please be aware that a criminal disclosure and identity check will be carried out for this post. Engagement will be subject to a satisfactory DBS disclosure.

In line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (2026) guidance, we may conduct online searches as part of our due diligence processes on shortlisted candidates.