Talent Insight & Development Lead

WRU - Welsh Rugby Union; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Life assurance scheme

Pension plan

Ticket allocation

Birthday leave

Employee assistance programme

Hybrid working arrangements

Parking and gym

Store discounts

Job summary

WRU - Welsh Rugby Union is seeking a visionary leader to headline Talent Insight and Management across Welsh rugby, establishing a uniquely Welsh DNA for identifying, understanding and developing players from pathways to international level.

You will design and drive an integrated national player pipeline, connect scouts, data science, AI and human factors, and lead a multidisciplinary team to deliver evidence-led insights and strategic talent decisions for coaches and executives.

Qualifications

• Significant senior experience in elite sport or high-performance environments.
• Experience designing strategy across complex performance systems.
• Deep understanding of talent identification and development.
• Strong grasp of data science, predictive modelling and longitudinal analysis.
• Knowledge of AI, automation and agentic systems in performance workflows.
• Ability to translate qualitative and quantitative evidence into insight.

Responsibilities

• Define and embed Talent Insight and Management strategy across Wales’ rugby performance systems.
• Lead integrated national player pipeline from pathway to senior international level.
• Head a multidisciplinary team combining AI, data science and human factors.
• Contribute to What It Takes to Win and Welsh Rugby DNA in talent decisions.
• Collaborate across departments to create a cross-disciplinary view of players.
• Develop national/international talent intelligence networks.
• Establish and evolve world-class scouting and Talent ID capabilities.
• Lead trajectory modelling and predictive analysis for player development.
• Provide coaches with clear, decision-ready intelligence on depth and potential.
• Build learning systems and agentic AI to improve talent development.

Skills

Talent insight

Data science

AI/ML

Strategy development

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Performance analytics

Job description

WRU - Welsh Rugby Union is seeking a visionary leader to headline Talent Insight and Management across Welsh rugby, establishing a uniquely Welsh DNA for identifying, understanding and developing players from pathways to international level.

You will design and drive an integrated national player pipeline, connect scouts, data science, AI and human factors, and lead a multidisciplinary team to deliver evidence-led insights and strategic talent decisions for coaches and executives.