First-Team Physical Performance Lead

Real Salt Lake; Herriman (UT); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Real Salt Lake in Utah is seeking a Head of Physical Performance to lead physical preparation for the Real Salt Lake first team, including strength and conditioning, load management, and recovery. This is a first-team-only role reporting to the Senior Director of Player Health & Performance, with close alignment to the Head Coach's game model.

The ideal candidate is a credible, hands-on leader with deep professional soccer experience who can manage staff, partner with coaching, medical, data

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a related field.
• 7+ years in elite or professional sport with leadership of a performance staff.
• Proven experience delivering physical preparation in professional soccer.
• CSCS, UKSCA ASCC, or equivalent certification.
• Experience with GPS wearables, force plates and athlete management systems.
• Ability to collaborate with medical staff on return-to-play.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop first-team physical performance staff.
• Develop and implement a Tactical Periodization model with leadership.
• Deliver on-field conditioning, warm-up, activation, and gym work.
• Manage load monitoring with data science and analytics.
• Produce dashboards and reports on training load and testing.
• Oversee preseason, in-season testing and a longitudinal database.
• Individualize preparation by position and minutes.
• Partner with Head of Sports Medicine on return-to-play criteria.
• Oversee equipment, tech, and facilities for performance.
• Collaborate with Academy Performance on player transition.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Collaboration

Presentation of complex information

Education

Master's degree in Exercise Science

Master's degree in Sport Science

Master's degree in Strength & Conditioning

PhD in Sport Science

Tools

GPS / Wearables

Force plates

Athlete management systems

Power BI / Tableau

Job description

Real Salt Lake in Utah is seeking a Head of Physical Performance to lead physical preparation for the Real Salt Lake first team, including strength and conditioning, load management, and recovery. This is a first-team-only role reporting to the Senior Director of Player Health & Performance, with close alignment to the Head Coach's game model.

The ideal candidate is a credible, hands-on leader with deep professional soccer experience who can manage staff, partner with coaching, medical, data